The ETA UK is valid for 2 years, starting from the day it is issued. Within the validity period, you are allowed to travel multiple times to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each stay in the United Kingdom may last up to 6 months.

The ETA UK is valid for 2 years

Since 2 of April 2025, most travellers must have an ETA to be able to travel to the United Kingdom. The UK ETA is similar to a visa, in the sense that it is a travel authorisation which must be applied for before departure in order to enter the country. Since 2 of April 2025, applying for an UK ETA or a visa is mandatory for all EU and Swiss travellers if they want to travel to the United Kingdom.

Apply for your UK ETA now

The standard validity period of the UK ETA is 2 years. This validity period begins on the day the UK ETA is granted. In certain cases, the validity period can also be shorter, e.g. if the passport used for the UK ETA application expires within 2 years after the travel authorisation is granted. In that case, the UK ETA expires on the same day as the passport expires. Please note: the validity period and the allowed duration of each stay are not the same thing. Each stay in the United Kingdom with an ETA UK may last up to a maximum of 6 months.

The ETA UK allows for multiple stays of up to 6 months

You are allowed to travel to England and the other countries of the UK as many times as you wish within the validity period of the ETA UK. Each stay may last up to 6 consecutive months. During these 6 months, you may stay in one of the four countries of the United Kingdom, but you may also visit multiple countries during the same trip. You may, for example, stay in England for 6 months, but you could also spend 2 months in England, followed by 2 months in Scotland and end your trip by staying 2 months in Wales. It is important that the entire duration of each trip to the United Kingdom does not exceed 6 months, regardless of which countries you choose to visit. Of course, you may also stay in the UK for less than 6 months.

In some cases, the allowed duration of stay may be shorter than 6 months. Most commonly, this is due to the validity of the UK ETA expiring earlier. You are not allowed to stay in the UK beyond the expiry date of your ETA, regardless of the length of your stay in the UK.

Will your UK ETA expire soon?
You may apply for a new ETA UK before your previous ETA expires. A new UK ETA application overwrites all previously granted ETAs. In certain situations, it may be useful to apply for a new ETA, even though the previous UK ETA has not expired yet. You should consider this if you intend to travel to the United Kingdom on the short term, but your current UK ETA will not be valid during your whole planned stay in the UK. Please keep in mind that you can only apply for a UK ETA from outside the United Kingdom. Therefore, it is not possible to extend the allowed six-month stay by submitting a new application while you are still in the United Kingdom.

The ETA UK validity is tied to these requirements

Holding an ETA UK does not guarantee that you will actually be allowed to enter England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Upon entry to the UK, the Immigration Services will check if all travellers meet the requirements to travel with an UK ETA. The following requirements need to be met for the ETA to be valid:

• The application form must be filled in truthfully
• all the information on the ETA UK must be correct
• the ETA UK must be used in combination with a valid passport, the same that was used to apply for the UK ETA
• the ETA UK must be used to travel to the United Kingdom for a holiday, business trip, a transfer or for short course
• the traveller does not intend to exceed the validity period or the duration of stay allowed by the UK ETA
• the traveller does not pose any risk to the United Kingdom and its inhabitants

Do you fulfil all of these requirements? In that case, your ETA UK is valid, and you should be allowed to enter the United Kingdom without any issues. However, it can never be guaranteed that you will be allowed to enter the United Kingdom. There can be inspections upon arrival and border control agents always have the right to forbid travellers to enter the country, even if they have a valid passport and a valid travel authorisation. However, this only happens in very exceptional cases. The vast majority of travellers do not experience any issues upon arrival in the United Kingdom.

Submit now your UK ETA application

If you don't fulfil the requirements or if you have doubts, you can read the page about the requirements of the ETA UK for a more extensive explanation of the rules. If you have made a mistake while filling in the important data in the application form, like your passport details, your UK ETA will not be valid. However, in that case you will need to apply for a new ETA UK using the correct details. If you do not fulfil all of the other requirements, you will not be allowed to use the UK ETA. In that case, you will need a visa to travel to the UK.