UK ETA For Americans 2026: The Step-By-Step Application Guide

Here’s how it usually goes. You book flights to London. You forward the hotel confirmation to your partner and feel pretty pleased with yourself. Then a few days later the airline sends a reminder, with one line in bold: make sure you have your ETA before you travel.

Your what?

If that’s you, relax. It’s a ten-minute job, and you can do it from your phone. But it’s also the one piece of UK trip planning where a small slip can cost real money or get you stuck at the check-in desk. A lookalike website. A typo in your passport number. Leaving it until the night before you fly.

So this guide goes through the whole thing in the order you’ll actually do it. Who needs an ETA. What it costs now (the price went up this year). How to apply. How long it really takes. And the mistakes worth dodging. No filler, just what you need to get approved and get on the plane.

The Short Version

• Americans need a UK ETA before travelling by air, ferry, or Eurostar.
• It costs £20 per person, babies and children included. That’s roughly $27, depending on the exchange rate.
• It stays valid for two years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first.
• Each visit can last up to six months.
• You apply through the official UK ETA app or on GOV.UK.
• Most decisions arrive within minutes or a day. Allow up to three working days to be safe.

What The ETA Actually Is (And What It Isn’t)

ETA stands for Electronic Travel Authorisation. It’s a digital permission to travel to the UK. Americans have always been able to visit without a visa, and that hasn’t changed. What’s changed is the bit of admin you do before you leave. If you’ve ever seen the ESTA that visitors to the US fill in, it’s the same idea.

It is not a visa. There’s no interview, no appointment, and no pile of documents. Your approval is linked electronically to the passport you applied with. Nothing to print, nothing to stamp. At the airport you show your passport, and the airline checks the system.

One thing worth being clear about. An ETA lets you travel. It doesn’t guarantee you’ll be let in. A UK border officer still makes the final call when you land, the same as in any country.

The scheme has rolled out in stages over the last couple of years. By 25 February 2026 it was fully in force. Airlines, ferry operators, and Eurostar check before you board. No ETA, no boarding. That’s why it’s worth sorting early rather than hoping it works out at the gate.

Who Needs One, And Who Doesn’t

If you’re travelling on a US passport, you need one. That includes kids and babies. Every traveler gets their own.

A few situations catch people out, so here they are.

Dual citizens. If you also hold British or Irish citizenship, you generally don’t apply for an ETA at all. You travel on your British or Irish documents instead. If that’s you, read the GOV.UK guidance first, because the rules for British citizens in particular are strict about which documents you show.

Green card holders and residents. The ETA depends on the nationality on your passport, not where you live. A US permanent resident travelling on another country’s passport needs to check whether that nationality is covered.

Just changing planes. Connecting through Heathrow and staying airside? The rules for transit have been different from ordinary visits, and they’ve shifted before. Check GOV.UK for your exact itinerary. If you’re not sure, applying anyway costs £20 and removes the worry.

Ireland trips. Visiting the Republic of Ireland doesn’t need a UK ETA. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, though. If you’re planning to pop up to Belfast, check the current Common Travel Area guidance on GOV.UK before you cross.

What You Can Do On An ETA

An ETA covers the things most Americans go to the UK for. Tourism. Visiting family and friends. Business trips like meetings and conferences. Short courses of study, up to six months.

What it doesn’t cover: paid work in the UK, long-term study, or moving there. Those need a proper visa.

The ETA also covers the whole of the UK, meaning England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. GOV.UK also lists the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, so if those are on your list, it’s worth reading the official page to confirm the details for your trip.

What It Costs In 2026

The UK ETA costs £20 per person. That’s up from £16, which was the price until 8 April 2026. It started at £10 when the scheme launched, so it has doubled in a short time.

Some practical points on the fee:

• It’s the same £20 whether you apply on the app or on the website.
• It’s charged per person. A family of four pays £80, roughly $107.
• It’s non-refundable. If your ETA is refused, or you cancel the trip, you don’t get the £20 back.
• You can pay by credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

A small tip nobody mentions: your bank may add a foreign transaction fee on a £20 charge. It’s not much, but if you have a travel card with no foreign fees, use that one.

Watch out for copycat sites. Search for “UK ETA” and some of the first results aren’t the government. Plenty of third-party sites charge £50 or more on top for filling in the same form you could do yourself in ten minutes. Some are upfront that they’re a paid service. Some aren’t. The Home Office says plainly that other application services may charge more, and that applying through them doesn’t get you a faster decision. If you’d like help, fine. Just know the official route exists, and it costs £20. The Home Office ETA factsheet spells this out.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Have these ready and the whole thing takes about ten minutes.

• The passport you’ll actually fly on. The ETA is tied to it, and it needs to stay valid for the whole trip.
• An email address you can open right now. A security code gets sent to it.
• A payment method. Card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
• A smartphone, ideally. The app reads the chip in your passport. If you can’t use the app, the website works too.
• A clear face photo. The app takes one for you. On the website you upload one with a plain background and good lighting.
• A few minutes of quiet. You’ll answer personal and security questions, and the session times out if you leave it sitting too long.

How To Apply, Step By Step

The app is the quickest route, so that’s what I’ll walk through. The website follows almost the same steps.

1. Get the official app. Go to gov.uk/eta and use the link there to the App Store or Google Play. Going through the government page means you won’t grab a lookalike by accident.

2. Verify your email. Enter your address, then type in the code that arrives in your inbox.

3. Scan your passport. Hold your phone against the photo page and the app reads the chip. It’s quick, and it saves you typing your details by hand.

4. Take your face photo. Look straight at the camera, plain background, no filters. The app tells you if it isn’t good enough.

5. Answer the questions. You’ll be asked for personal details and some security questions, including about any criminal record. Answer them honestly. More on that in a minute.

6. Pay £20. Check the amount on screen before you tap anything.

7. Submit and wait. You’ll get an email from UK Visas and Immigration with the decision. If approved, it includes a 16-digit ETA reference number. Keep it.

Using the website instead. Go to GOV.UK, choose to apply online, and upload a clear photo of your passport’s photo page plus a face photo. Everything else is the same.

Applying for someone else. On the app, you can apply for another person if they’re with you, because the app needs to scan their passport and face. If they’re not with you, apply for them through the website. A parent or guardian can apply for a child.

How Long It Takes

GOV.UK says you’ll usually get a decision by email within a day. Plenty of people get theirs in minutes, especially through the app.

But some applications trigger extra checks, and those take longer. The official advice is to allow up to three working days. Working days mean Monday to Friday, so weekends don’t count. If you fly on a Monday morning, don’t start the application on Friday afternoon.

The best time to apply is the day you book your flights. There’s no too early. The ETA lasts two years, so you won’t waste any of it.

Can you apply at the airport? Technically you can submit an application close to departure. But nobody promises a decision before your flight, and the airline can refuse to board you without one. It’s a stressful way to start a holiday.

After You’re Approved

Save the confirmation email. Screenshot it if you like. You don’t need to print anything, and you don’t need to show it at the airport. The ETA is linked to your passport, so the passport is what you show.

You can check your status any time using the “check your ETA” service on GOV.UK. It’s worth doing once before you fly, just to see the approval is there and the passport details match.

Two years, unlimited trips, up to six months each. So if you’re already thinking about a second visit next summer, you’re covered as long as your passport is still valid.

There’s one catch. The ETA is tied to a specific passport. If you renew your passport, or it expires before the two years are up, the ETA ends with it. You’ll need to apply again with the new one.

Mistakes That Cause Real Trouble

Most problems with the ETA are small things that are easy to avoid.

Applying with the wrong passport. Maybe you have two. Maybe your old one is still in your drawer. Apply with the one you’ll travel on. The airline checks it against that exact document.

A typo in the passport number. If you type it by hand, double-check it. Scanning the chip in the app avoids this completely.

Using a lookalike website. Covered above, but it’s the single most common way people lose money over the ETA. Start from gov.uk/eta every time.

Leaving it to the last minute. Most approvals come quickly. The ones that don’t are the ones that ruin your week.

Forgetting the kids. Every child and baby needs their own ETA and their own £20. People remember to book the seats and forget this.

Skipping or fudging the questions. Some past convictions can lead to a refusal, and many won’t. Either way, giving false answers is the fastest way to make things worse. If you’re unsure how a question applies to you, read the guidance on GOV.UK before answering.

Treating approval as a guarantee. The ETA gets you on the plane. The border officer still decides at the other end. Carry the usual things: a return or onward ticket, and a rough idea of where you’re staying.

If Your ETA Is Refused

It’s uncommon, but it happens. You’ll get an email explaining the outcome.

Depending on the reason, you might be able to apply again. Or you might need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa instead. That’s a different process, with a higher fee (around £135 for a six-month visa at the time of writing) and an appointment at a visa application centre. It takes longer, so don’t book non-refundable flights until you know where you stand.

The £20 isn’t refunded either way.

Fitting The ETA Into The Rest Of Your Trip

Once the ETA is sorted, you can get back to the fun part. If you’re watching the budget in London, our guide to cheap hotels in London near the tourist attractions shows where to stay without paying central prices. Travelling with children? The best family attractions in London for kids is a good place to start planning the days.

One more thing for anyone adding other countries. The UK ETA only covers the UK. If London is the first stop before Paris or Amsterdam, those countries follow Schengen rules, which are a separate system. Americans can currently enter the Schengen Area without a visa. The EU is also working on its own travel authorisation, called ETIAS, but the launch date has moved more than once. Check the official EU ETIAS page shortly before you fly, and see our Schengen visa guide for how the rules work country by country.

FAQ

Final Thoughts

The UK ETA is one of the easiest bits of paperwork you’ll do all year. Ten minutes, £20, done. The trouble only starts when people use the wrong website, wait too long, or mix up passports. Apply the day you book, use the official app, save the email, and check your status once before you fly. After that, the only thing left to worry about is the weather.