ETA - How to use it?

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nicholsong

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ETA is the Electronic Travel Authorisation.

This authorisation must be applied for in general by any person who is not a UK Citizen nor has UK residential status in some form. This applies to several MHF Members and/or spouses/partners.

An ETA will be needed by any traveler wishing to enter UK from 2nd April 2025. THAT IS 40 DAYS FROM NOW.

The process for obtaining one is described here:-

www.gov.uk

Get an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to visit the UK

Apply for an ETA to come to the UK if you’re a tourist, visiting family or for certain other reasons for up to 6 months. It costs £20. Find out if you need an ETA or a visa instead.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

Towards the end of that process is the following :-


After you apply​

You will get an email confirming you have got an ETA. It will be linked to the passport you applied with.

Your ETA lasts for 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner.

You can travel to the UK as many times as you want while you have an ETA.


What it does not say is what happens when one gets to one's airport or sea port of departure.

Obviously, since the advice states that the 'ETA will be linked to the passport one applied with' there should be no problem at Passport Control.

HOWEVER

As is the case already, airlines and ferry companies are obliged to return any passengers refused entry into UK to their point of departure, which is why airlines and ferry companies want to establish at check-in that a passenger has the right to enter the UK.

It is unclear what the airlines and ferry companies are going to do about checking whether a passenger has an ETA.

Do any of you with reservations for travel after 2nd April 2025 have any information about what you should do at check-in regarding the ETA?

In the information above the UK Government give no guidance about proving a valid ETA, e.g. printing off the e-mail confirmation.

Do any MHF Members have further information from Government or the airlines/ferry companies?
 
See all updates.

22 October 2024
'Who does not need an ETA': edited to clarify that you do not need an ETA if you are a British citizen, or you are a dual citizen with British or Irish citizenship.

Your a British Citizen and when we go to the UK in June we will have a month on our passport so renew for a nice new blue one while there. 😎 Bob.
 
bobandjanie said:
See all updates.

22 October 2024
'Who does not need an ETA': edited to clarify that you do not need an ETA if you are a British citizen, or you are a dual citizen with British or Irish citizenship.

Your a British Citizen and when we go to the UK in June we will have a month on our passport so renew for a nice new blue one while there. 😎 Bob.
Click to expand...

That information was all contained in my OP.
 
bobandjanie said:
I know that's where I read it. 😁 Bob.
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Show off ... a funster who can actually read and digest info so quickly! :LOL:

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nicholsong
I can see what's happening, your situation is simple but just realised the problem is your partner she will need one. :doh: Bob.
 
bobandjanie said:
nicholsong
I can see what's happening, your situation is simple but just realised the problem is your partner she will need one. :doh: Bob.
Click to expand...

This is not particularly personal as it affects every non-UK Citizen, including several Members on here and/or their families. We are unlikely to be travelling to UK in the next two years, but it might affect others soon.

In my OP I requested feedback from anyone travelling after April 2nd, whether needing an ETA or not, as to whether they had received information about how anyone should use ETA Authority when arriving at a departure airport or port, since UK government info I quoted seems to only refer to the ETA being on their system, not whether it is needed elsewhere, nor how to use it if needed.
 
Aneta has "Pre settled status" so will be ok?
She's polish, lived and worked here since 2022

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Just smiffy said:
Another bloody tax….😒
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It's to be paid for only by tourists and others who come to the UK from overseas and who are not British or Irish nationals. B##%dy stupid plan if indeed there was a plan better than #$£%%$ing Black Adder.
The money brought into the UK annually, by visitors, is huge. By tourists and business people.
It's about to drop. A tax/fee that will wipe out several times that amount in lost national income.
I know of several hotel operators who have stated publicly that they have noticed a clear drop in bookings volumes and value and that of those that were booked, many are now cancelling. Apart from nominally and in monetary amount, I see little difference, in principle, between ETA and tariffs. How can one be described as bad for the economy (and it is) whilst the other is being promoted by the same people; the government?!

To explain:
A fee of £10 per person.
Let's estimate daily 100000 visitors, for easy numbers.
Let's estimate a conservative average daily spend of 100 quid per head.

The expected drop is said to be about 10% in visitor numbers.
So, if we lose 10,000 visitors spending £100 per day, we've lost (as a country) 1m per day.
And we'll have raised 90000 * 10 in ETA fees = 900 000.

The numbers used are for example to demonstrate the income from ETA versus the thrown away visitor income.
The reality is that there is close to 1 million visitors per day and they spend an average of between 150 and 200 per day each. (I can't readily recall the exact average spend per day.)

We'll also have spent on the administration of the process and as a country, we'll have alienated a lot of spending visitors. NOt siure I can think of a company that succeeded after alienating its customer base. Oh yeh, Ratner. :rolleyes:
 
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We had to get ETA's to travel to New Zealand. I presume it will work the same way for the UK ones. They were linked to our passport and we had no problems at passport control in NZ. We applied using the app and had email confirmation back pretty quickly, as well as having the confirmation in the app but we didn't need to show anything at immigration, I presume they had the info from our passport numbers.
 
I recently did one for Cintia as we are returning on the 7th, it was a right pain in the :moon2: especially trying to photograph the passport and get the right lighting conditions… I nearly gave up and bought a dinghy instead…😳🚢
 
Just smiffy said:
I recently did one for Cintia as we are returning on the 7th, it was a right pain in the :moon2: especially trying to photograph the passport and get the right lighting conditions… I nearly gave up and bought a dinghy instead…😳🚢
Click to expand...
I must admit doing the photos was the worst bit for our NZ ones. We struggled to get the light right for Paul's photo, he nearly didn't come with me 🤣
 

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