UK Electronic Travel Authorisation Fee Jumps 25% Starting February 25, 2026

(UK) — The UK raised the fee for its Electronic Travel Authorisation to £20 from £16 on April 8, 2026, imposing a 25% increase on visa-exempt travelers who must secure approval before heading to Britain.

The increase, confirmed by the UK Home Office, lifts the price of the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, or ETA, to a level the government said aligns with comparable systems such as the U.S. ESTA and Canada’s eTA, while also helping recover IT development expenses.

The move affects travelers from 85 countries who now need the digital pre-travel clearance before boarding flights, ferries or trains to the UK. That requirement took full effect on February 25, 2026, when earlier leniency periods ended.

The fee rise lands after the British government completed the rollout of the ETA system across visa-exempt nationalities, including travelers from the United States, Canada, European Union countries and Australia. For many passengers, the system now stands as an extra step before departure as well as an added cost.

British and Irish citizens do not need the authorization. Other travelers who pass through UK border control generally do, even for short visits of up to 6 months for tourism or family travel.

Dual nationals face a separate requirement. They must use a UK passport or hold a £589 Certificate of Entitlement to avoid needing an ETA.

Some airside transit passengers remain exempt. Travelers connecting through Heathrow or Manchester without passing border control do not need the authorization.

The ETA remains valid for 2 years and allows unlimited entries, as long as the traveler uses the same passport. That makes the system more relevant for frequent visitors, who can use one approval for repeated trips during that period.

Applicants can file through the official UK app or website. The Home Office has said third-party sites may add surcharges, creating a higher overall cost than the official fee.

For travelers who applied before April 8, 2026, the price remained £16. After that date, the higher charge took effect for new applications.

Airlines and business groups have warned that the timing could catch out spring travelers, especially during busy conference periods. The concern centers on passengers who may have grown used to traveling without pre-clearance and now must complete another step before departure.

The ETA is now part of the travel check that carriers must enforce before a passenger boards. With full enforcement in place from February 25, 2026, travelers who need the authorization must obtain it in advance of flights, ferries or rail journeys to the UK.

That rule extends beyond holidaymakers. Family visitors and other short-term travelers also fall under the requirement when they are non-UK and non-Irish passport holders entering through border control.

For Indian travelers, the rules are tighter still. Indians require both a visa and ETA.

The policy’s expansion over the past year has also changed its price several times. The ETA began at £10 during pilot phases in 2025, then rose to £16 in April 2025 when the scheme expanded to European Union travelers.

With the latest increase to £20, the price has now doubled from the initial pilot level in little more than a year. That progression reflects how Britain has moved the ETA from an early-stage travel screening measure into a permanent part of entry procedures for visa-exempt visitors.

The Home Office has presented the new charge in part as a cost-recovery measure tied to technology spending. It has also framed the fee as consistent with systems already used by other countries, including the U.S. ESTA and Canada’s eTA.

For many travelers, the practical effect is straightforward: anyone covered by the rules must secure the authorization before departure, pay the new £20 fee, and keep track of the passport used in the application because the approval stays tied to that document.

A traveler who renews or replaces a passport would no longer be using the same travel document on which the ETA validity depends. The authorization’s 2-year validity and unlimited-entry design therefore favor people who expect repeated trips and do not anticipate changing passports during that period.

The UK has carved out only a narrow list of exceptions in the rules described so far. British and Irish citizens sit outside the system altogether, while certain airside transit passengers at Heathrow and Manchester avoid the requirement only when they do not pass through border control.

That distinction matters for people planning onward journeys. Passing through the border triggers the ETA requirement for non-UK and non-Irish passport holders, even if the stay is brief.

The breadth of the rule means the authorization now reaches far beyond first-time tourists. Business visitors, conference attendees, people making family visits and other short-stay travelers can all be affected if they come from one of the 85 visa-exempt countries covered by the scheme.

The spring travel calendar has sharpened attention on the change. Airlines and business groups have said the combination of the new boarding requirement and the higher fee could catch travelers who booked trips before realizing that full ETA enforcement had already begun on February 25, 2026.

Because the fee increase took effect on April 8, 2026, the date became an important dividing line for travelers who had not yet applied. Before then, they could still secure approval at £16; afterward, the same authorization cost £20.

The rise may appear modest for a single trip, but the shift is part of a broader tightening of pre-departure checks. Britain now requires many visitors who once boarded with only a passport to complete a digital authorization before reaching the airport gate, ferry terminal or train station.

That has also increased the importance of using official application channels. The government has directed travelers to the official app or website, while warning that third-party services may charge extra on top of the posted fee.

The ETA’s structure mirrors systems adopted elsewhere, but its effect in Britain now depends on how widely it applies. With travelers from 85 countries covered, the system reaches some of the country’s busiest inbound markets, including North America, Europe and Australia.

By setting the cost at £20, the UK has added another charge to short-haul city breaks, family visits and business travel that might otherwise have involved little paperwork for visa-exempt passengers. Frequent travelers may spread that cost over multiple trips because the authorization lasts 2 years and allows unlimited entries with the same passport.

Even so, the system does not eliminate other entry requirements where they already exist. Indian nationals still need both a visa and ETA, leaving them subject to a different process than visa-exempt travelers who need only the digital authorization.

What emerged over 2025 and into 2026 is a stepped rollout in both scope and price. The fee started at £10 in pilot operations, climbed to £16 during the European Union expansion in April 2025, and now stands at £20 after the latest increase.

For passengers heading to Britain now, the message is clear. The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation is no longer a limited pilot or a soft-launch requirement, but a fully enforced pre-travel check with a higher price tag after the 25% fee hike that took effect on April 8, 2026.