UK ETA

UK Visas and Immigration

About this app

Use the UK ETA app to apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to come to the UK.

Who can apply
Find out if you need an ETA to travel to the UK at: https://www.gov.uk/electronic-travel-authorisation.

How to apply on the UK ETA app
1. Take a photo of your passport.
2. Scan the chip in your passport.
3. Scan your face.
4. Take a photo of yourself.
5. Answer some questions about yourself.
6. Pay for your application.

It should only take 10 minutes to apply.

You do not need to enter your travel details.

Before you start

To apply you will need:
• Android 12 and above
• NFC (Near-Field Communication) so the app can scan your passport – if you can use your phone to pay for things using contactless, this means it has NFC
• the passport you will use to travel to the UK
• a credit card, debit card or Apple Pay
• access to your emails

If you're applying for someone else they must be with you. If they are not, you should apply online at: https://www.gov.uk/electronic-travel-authorisation.

If you need to travel soon
You must apply for an ETA before you travel to the UK. You can travel to the UK while waiting for a decision.

After you apply
You'll usually get a decision within 3 working days, but you may get a quicker decision. Occasionally, it may take longer than 3 working days.
If your ETA is approved, we'll link this to the passport you applied with. You must use this passport to travel to the UK.

Privacy and security
The app is safe and secure. No information is stored on the app or your phone after you close it. You can delete the app after you have completed your application.

For information on staying safe online visit the UK Cyber Aware website: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware/home

Accessibility
You can read our accessibility statement at: https://confirm-your-identity.homeoffice.gov.uk/register/eta-app-accessibility

Ratings and reviews

Works ok, my only two complaints are 1) please add a retake option for the passport photo, I had to restart 3 times because the glare was bad even though it said it was ok (like really bad glare, not sure why it thought it was ok), and 2) the chip scan only worked by placing my phone under the front cover (between front cover and the first page), maybe recommend this to others too to help! Otherwise everything else worked great. Would be nice to have the app show status once completed.

How this has 1.9 stars is beyond me. It should be 1.0, and if possible it should be completely zero. It asked to verify your email every time you attempt to fill out an ETA. There's no reason there shouldn't be able to be done online. First you have to take a picture of your passport, it rarely works, oftentimes forcing you to start over and read put in your information. Then, if you're lucky enough to get past the photo part, you have to scan a chip in your passport, which crashes every time.

It worked well enough until the point where you are told to (NFC) scan the passport. I don't have that function, and my wife's phone wouldn't work despite having it. We finally realized after about 4 scan tries that it gives the option to skip that and manually verify. Would be nice if we could skip that up front, but otherwise it worked well.

What's new

Performance improvements