UK ETA for US Citizens

Yes, you need one. Since January 8, 2025, every US citizen visiting the UK has needed an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before boarding, babies included. It costs £20 (about $27) per person, you apply only in the official UK ETA app or on GOV.UK, the form takes about 10 minutes, and many approvals arrive within minutes (GOV.UK says usually within a day, so allow three working days). One approval covers unlimited visits of up to six months each for two years, or until your passport expires.

Think of it as the UK's version of the US ESTA. It is linked to your passport electronically, so you print nothing.

Who needs an ETA and who does not

You need one if you hold a US passport and are coming for tourism, family visits, business meetings, a course of up to six months, or anything else the UK's visitor rules allow. You also need one if you change planes and pass through UK border control.

You do not need one if:

• You are also a British or Irish citizen (see dual nationals).
• You hold a UK visa, or permission to live, work or study in the UK.
• You change planes airside and never pass through border control.
• You live legally in Ireland and enter the UK from Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, with proof of residence.

Stays over six months, work, longer study or a UK wedding need a visa instead; see long stays. Permitted visitor activities are on our entry page.

How to apply in the UK ETA app

There are two official routes: the free UK ETA app for iPhone and Android, published by the UK Home Office, and the online form linked from gov.uk/eta/apply. The fee is the same. The app is faster because it reads your passport chip and takes your photo.

1. Pick the passport you will travel with. The ETA attaches to that passport number. If it expires within a year or so, renew first.
2. Download the app. Search "UK ETA" in the App Store or Google Play and check that the developer is the UK Home Office.
3. Scan the photo page. Lay the passport flat on a dark surface, away from glare.
4. Let the phone read the chip. Take off the phone case and hold the phone against the passport cover, moving it slowly until it connects. Two or three tries is normal.
5. Scan your face. Plain wall behind you, no glasses or hat, neutral expression, even light from the front. A poor photo is one of the main causes of delays and rejections.
6. Answer the questions. Address, email, job, criminal convictions and immigration history. Answer truthfully. No flight or hotel booking is needed.
7. Pay £20 by credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The charge is in pounds, so use a card with no foreign transaction fee.
8. Wait for the email with your 16-digit ETA reference number. Do not travel until it arrives.

Use the GOV.UK website instead if the app will not install, or if you are applying for someone who is not with you: you upload a photo of their passport page and of their face. The app works for others only when they are beside you.

What it costs

The fee has risen twice since Americans joined the scheme: £10 when applications opened to US citizens in late 2024, £16 from April 2025, and £20 (about $27) since April 8, 2026. It could rise again, so check GOV.UK before you budget. Nothing is refunded once you submit.

How long it takes and how long it lasts

Many applicants hear back within minutes. Officially, a decision usually comes within a day and can take up to three working days. Those are UK weekdays, so an application pulled for a manual check on a Friday evening can run into the next Wednesday.

This winter, Friday, December 25, 2026, Monday, December 28 (the Boxing Day substitute) and Friday, January 1, 2027 are UK bank holidays. For a holiday trip, apply by mid-December; better still, apply the week you book flights.

Once approved, the ETA lasts two years or until that passport expires, whichever comes first, for as many visits as you like of up to six months each. Back-to-back visits that add up to living in Britain invite refusal. Check your ETA and its expiry date at gov.uk/check-eta.

Children and families

Every traveler needs their own ETA, newborns included, at the full £20. A parent can apply for a child in the app if the child is beside them, or online if not. Approvals for one family can arrive hours apart.

• Each child has their own valid US passport, and the ETA is linked to it.
• Babies need a face photo too: lay them on a plain sheet in good light and shoot from above.
• A child traveling with one parent carries a signed letter from the other, as our entry page explains.

Dual nationals and other passports

This rule catches out many Americans at check-in. A British citizen cannot get an ETA, even on a US passport, and since February 25, 2026, airlines have enforced this: a dual British-American citizen with only a US passport can be refused boarding.

If you are British, GOV.UK accepts a valid British passport, or another passport (such as your US one) holding a Certificate of Entitlement to the right of abode. The certificate costs several hundred pounds and is slower than a renewal, so most people should renew the British passport months ahead. If a parent was born in the UK, check your own status before you apply.

Irish-American dual citizens travel on their Irish passport and need no ETA. With a second passport from an ETA country, such as Canada, choose one passport for the trip and get the ETA on that one.

Changing planes in the UK

The transit rules have shifted since 2025. GOV.UK currently draws the line at border control:

• Airside transit, no ETA: you follow the flight connections signs and board your next flight without passing UK immigration. A Heathrow connection on one ticket usually works this way.
• Landside transit, ETA needed: you pass through border control, for example to recheck bags on separate tickets, move from Heathrow to Gatwick, or stay overnight in a hotel.

Some smaller airports have limited transfer facilities, so ask your airline how your connection works. If in doubt, £20 (about $27) is cheap insurance against being turned away at check-in in the US.

Ireland and the Common Travel Area

The UK and the Republic of Ireland share the Common Travel Area (CTA), which lets British and Irish citizens move freely between them. For Americans it brings fewer passport checks and several quirks:

• The Republic of Ireland needs no ETA. Americans need nothing in advance, and a UK ETA counts for nothing there. Irish immigration checks passports on arrival.
• Northern Ireland needs one. It is part of the UK, so a day trip from Dublin to Belfast needs an ETA, even though no one checks at the land border.
• Dublin to London flights usually land with no UK passport control, but the airline checks your ETA at boarding.
• US citizens living in Ireland need no ETA entering the UK from Ireland. Anyone 16 or older carries an original, valid Irish document as proof, such as an Irish Residence Permit or driving licence.

Routes are on our Ireland, Paris and Europe and Northern Ireland pages. The EU's planned ETIAS is a separate system; see our ETIAS explainer.

Lookalike websites and other mistakes

Search "UK ETA" and some top results, often sponsored ads, belong to private sites with Union Jack graphics. Some file the same form you could and add a large "processing" fee; others take your passport details and money and deliver nothing. GOV.UK says another website or app cannot get you a faster decision.

• Apply only in the UK Home Office app or on a page whose address ends in gov.uk.
• The price is £20. A price in dollars, or any other amount, means the wrong site.
• Skip sponsored results and type gov.uk/eta yourself.
• Ignore emails or calls offering to "speed up" your ETA, and never email a passport scan.
• If you used a lookalike site, confirm at gov.uk/check-eta that a real ETA exists, and call your card company.

The other common mistakes: applying on an old passport and traveling on the new one, typing the letter O for a zero, forgetting the baby, and assuming a British-born parent changes nothing.

At check-in and at the border

Your first check is at airline check-in in the US: with no valid ETA on record, you will not board. The same goes for Eurostar and for ferries from Europe or Ireland.

On arrival, US passport holders with an ETA can use the automatic eGates at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other large airports, and at the UK border in some Eurostar stations in Europe. Place your passport on the reader, look at the camera, and the gate opens. There is no stamp.

• You must be 8 or older and at least about 3 ft 11 in (120 cm) tall.
• Ages 8 to 17 go with an adult, one person per gate: a lone adult first; with two adults, one adult, then the children, then the other adult.
• A family with a child under 8 goes to a staffed desk together.
• Need a stamp, for example for a permitted paid engagement? See an officer. Anyone who uses an eGate by mistake has to find an officer before leaving.

An ETA does not guarantee entry; a Border Force officer still decides. If you see one, expect short questions about your plans, and have your return flight on your phone. Arrival and getting into town are on our flights and airports page.

Rejections, refusals and the visa route

A rejection means something was wrong with the application, such as a blurry photo or a passport number typo. You apply again with correct details and pay another £20. Changing any detail after you submit works the same way.

A refusal means the Home Office has decided not to grant you an ETA, usually because of a criminal record or an earlier UK immigration problem. There is no appeal. Your route is a Standard Visitor visa: £135 (about $180), an online form, a biometrics appointment, and a decision usually within three weeks.

No decision after three working days? Check your spam folder, then use the UK Visas and Immigration ETA webchat linked from GOV.UK. UKVI does not take ETA questions by phone.

UK ETA questions Americans ask

Do I need to print anything?

No. Keep the approval email on your phone in case an agent asks, and carry the passport you applied with.

Do I need an ETA for a cruise from Southampton?

If your cruise starts or ends at a UK port, you enter the UK and need one. For a cruise that only calls at a British port, ask your cruise line.

My passport expires next year. Should I wait?

Yes, if you can: renew first, then apply on the new passport to get the full two years. Our passport rules explainer covers renewal timing.

More short answers are on our UK FAQ, and customs allowances and banned items are on our entry requirements page.