Millions of US citizens and other non-Europeans visiting or transiting through the UK without a visa will need a £10 digital permit from Wednesday.
The Home Office is extending the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system, which was first introduced in November 2023.
An ETA , which is a digital permission to travel, is currently only required for nationals of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
They will become a requirement for non-Europeans entering the UK without legal residence rights or a visa from Wednesday, and for all travellers from April 2.
British and Irish citizens are exempt.
Around five million Americans visit the UK a year.
US government travel advice states: “Effective January 8, 2025, all U.S. citizens transiting through or traveling to the United Kingdom for tourism, family visits, business meetings, conferences, or short-term study for 6 months or less will require an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) prior to travel.”
Applications for an ETA can be made through the UK ETA app or the gov.uk website.
ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport.
The Home Office says they ensure “more robust security checks are carried out before people begin their journey to the UK”, which helps prevent “abuse of our immigration system”.
Each ETA permits multiple journeys to the UK for stays of up to six months at a time over two years, or until the holder’s passport expires if that is sooner.
There were 601,858 ETAs granted in the year ending September 2024.
In the year ending September 2024 there were 130.9 million arrivals to the UK, 55% of who were British nationals.
Heathrow airport blamed the ETA scheme for a 90,000 drop in transfer passenger numbers on routes included in the system since it was launched.
It described the programme as “devastating for our hub competitiveness” and urged the Government to “review” the inclusion of airside transit passengers.
UK governments have tightened visa restrictions as they seek to control legal migration into the country.
Net migration to the UK hit 906,000 in the year up to June 2023.
More than 36,000 people also crossed the Channel in “small boats” in 2024, with nearly 80 individuals, including some children, drowning after vessels took on water, capsized or sunk, making it the deadliest year so far for such crossings.
Around two thirds of people who make it across the Channel in “small boats” are granted asylum in the UK.
The Labour government is seeking to cut the number of crossings by targeting the human trafficking gangs behind them, having ditched the Tory controversial Rwanda deportation scheme, but so far its plan has shown little sign of success.
