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Lane A · Fully autonomousUK Home Office· United States passport → United Kingdom

UK Electronic Travel Authorisation from the United States

Not a visa, but a permission you must hold before you travel. Applied for online, linked to your passport, and needed by every traveller including babies and children.

What is required

  • The passport you will actually travel on

    Required

    The ETA is tied to one passport. If you renew that passport before you travel, the authorisation does not carry across and you must apply again.

  • A photograph of your face

    Required

    Taken during the application on the official app or site. No studio photograph is needed.

  • One application for every traveller

    Required

    Everyone travelling needs their own ETA, including babies and children. There is no family application.

  • A permitted reason for the trip

    Required

    Tourism, visiting family, and certain other permitted activities. An ETA does not cover work for a UK employer, and it does not guarantee entry.

What the authority charges

  • ETA£20

These go to UK Home Office, not to us. We never add anything to a government fee.

Decision time: Usually decided within three working days, often much sooner. Apply before you book travel rather than after.

What cannot be done for you

Nothing. There is no physical step on this route at all, and nobody needs to handle your passport.

What changed recently

Sources

Last checked against these pages on 18 September 2026.

Check what you are still missing

Have us do it

$29

Prepared, checked and submitted online. No physical step, and nobody handles your passport.

That is our fee only. Whatever UK Home Office charges is paid by you, directly to them, and we never touch it.

Get this prepared — $29

Checkout is not enabled on this deployment yet, so this goes to the contact form.

Find out what you are missing before it costs you

The check is free, runs in your browser, and will tell you when you need no visa at all — or when applying directly yourself is cheaper than paying us.

Check your route

It runs in your browser. VisaClerk never sees your inputs.