UK expands its Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme

The government has published details of its expansion of the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme. The new rules confirm that the scheme will be fully rolled out to all applicable countries by April 2025 – later than the original end of 2024 deadline. So, by April 2025, all visitors who do not need a visa will need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to travel to the UK. We’ll speak to an immigration expert about this significant development.

This ETA scheme is part of the UK’s efforts to enhance security by conducting more thorough checks on incoming travellers. The ETA will be linked to the traveller’s passport, allowing the government to digitise and streamline border control and immigration procedures. It follows countries like the US,  which has its online ESTA system for travellers who wish to travel to the US under the visa waiver programme, and Europe’s announcement of ETIAS, where foreign nationals from visa-exempt countries will require a visa to visit 30 European countries. ETIAS is scheduled for mid-2025. 

The Immigration Rules on the ETA system make it clear that the key eligibility criteria for an ETA for those visiting the UK are their criminal history and whether they have previously breached UK immigration law or made false representations. The ETA will effectively level the playing field as between visa and non-visa nationals coming to the UK because all visitors will have their criminal background checked. It means many people who have been visiting the UK without any problems may now find themselves being refused an ETA and directed to apply for a visa instead, a significantly more complex, costly, and time-consuming process. 

On the timing, the rules provide that non-European travellers can first apply for the authorisation on 27 November 2024, whilst European travellers are eligible to apply on 5 March 2025.

So, let’s hear more about the scheme and how employers will be affected. Earlier I caught up with immigration specialist Shara Pledger:

Shara Pledger: “The new Electronic Travel Authorization scheme will fundamentally change the security of the UK borders, particularly for a group of travellers who currently fall through the cracks, if you like, in terms of their checks before they arrive in the UK. This isn't going to impact people who already apply for visas to come to the UK on a regular basis or, indeed, those that got status to live here in the UK on a long term basis, but that big group of travellers who currently do nothing but prove their nationality based on their passport when they arrive, all of a sudden they've got something extra to do and that's going to mean that they need to plan ahead of their trips. There'll be no sort of, you know, waking up in the morning in Paris and thinking, I might just pop on the Eurostar and come to London for the day because this will need to have been done in advance. So it will be a big development in that way.”

Joe Glavina: “Once the scheme is fully operational, Shara, it will mean a lot more people who have been visiting the UK without any issues may suddenly find themselves being refused an ETA and directed to apply for a visa instead. Is that right?”

Shara Pledger: “Yes, that's absolutely right. So there is obviously a risk when you go through what is quite a simple and straightforward electronic process that any nuances in relation to perhaps your previous interaction with UK Border authorities, or even historic issues in terms of your visits or residence in the UK, they can't be dealt with within that ETA system. So it may well be that individuals think, well, I've never had any problem just traveling on my passport, but it's because they've never really been dealt with or considered in detail based on that purpose or method of travel. So individuals who make an assumption that they will have a really easy ride through that ETA process, I would really encourage them to make sure that they do plan accordingly and leave sufficient time because, ultimately, if you do get refused your electronic travel authorisation you will need to go down that visa route and the visa route is longer. It takes a lot longer to prepare and submit the application, a lot longer to get a decision through and there is the opportunity to make these plans. For the cohort of people who will enter this ETA scheme as of January 2025 the application process for them actually begins in November of 2024, so there is plenty of time for people to check that they can indeed use this ETA scheme before travel.”

Joe Glavina: “As I understand it, there will be two new grounds for refusal for an ETA. One is that the applicant has previously had a visitor visa application refused and the other is where someone has had an ETA cancelled and they have not subsequently been granted a UK visa. So that’s seems pretty clear.”

Shara Pledger: “Yes, absolutely. Grounds of refusal, for certainly for visas and for ETAs that are now also going to sit alongside them, they are finite and they are clear. You should know in advance whether or not you are triggering one of those reasons for refusal and for people who are unaware, hopefully they will have left enough time that, if they do receive a refusal, they can go down that visa route. The other thing I think that's important to stress is just because you might have previously had a problem, this doesn't lock you out of this nice, new, straightforward ETA process forever. It might be that you need to make a new visa application for the first visit that you have to the UK after the ETA scheme takes effect, but once that is done and it's under your belt and you've completed your travel, future travel will probably be fine to do via ETA once you sort of started to build up that positive immigration record in the UK. So, hopefully an awful lot of people, even if they're sort of shut out of the new ETA scheme to begin with, will be able to be admitted to it later.”

Joe Glavina: “On the timing, the rules say non-European travellers can first apply for the authorisation on 27 November 2024. That’s not far away so is the message to employers you need to prepare for these changes now?” 

Shara Pledger: “Definitely. Employers will need to start making plans now for any travel that they know is happening in 2025 onwards and that travel tends to take one of two types. You have the individuals who are traveling regularly, who will just need to be very conscious of when this requirement is going to kick in for them and make sure that they have made plans accordingly. Then, of course, you have the other type of travel, the one off, or the less regular, travel that often involves quite big groups of people, perhaps traveling for conferences or for training courses, that kind of stuff and at the moment, a lot of that stuff, again, is relatively straightforward to do. You know, people are traveling as business visitors, and they don't need a visa, they'll just arrive at the border with their invitation letters and perhaps a bit more information about what it is they're doing but there will now be this additional step, and that step really does have to come first. It won't be any good to arrive at the border and try and explain why you're here if you haven't got your ETA sorted in advance.”

Joe Glavina: “If employers don’t take your advice, and don’t plan ahead, what problems could they run into? Could you give me an example?”

Shara Pledger: “A group of clients that we work with a lot are clients who work in the energy sector and it's quite common that there will be projects that move very quickly within that sector, and certainly elements of that project which will all of a sudden need to be performed and people will be traveling to the UK for things like site visits or to come and share some information with their UK counterparts, etcetera. It will be quite difficult, I think, for employers in that sector, and indeed any sector, where there is unexpected travel, or travel that doesn't have a very long lead in time, to make these kinds of plans. Now, how employers decide to manage that is really a matter for them. Obviously, you don't have to apply for an ETA immediately before you're going to travel so you can sort of get an application made and get one in place ready for future travel to the UK. It's hoped that processing times would be relatively short. The Home Office is saying anything up to three days but it's hoped that they, perhaps, will move a little bit more quickly than that. So short term travel, or short notice travel, I should say, is certainly still going to be possible but what will be very challenging is the idea of sort of waking up and being told we really need you in London tomorrow because that might be too much of a stretch.”

The details around the expansion of the ETA system are set out in the government’s policy paper ‘Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules’ which was published on 10 September 2024. We’ve put a link to that in the transcript of this programme.

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 217, 10 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)