How to Handle Uk Eta Application Cost

If you're heading to the UK and you don't need a visa, the number you're hunting for is £16. That's the full, official cost of a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation as of 9 April 2025 — and it's the same whether you're flying from New York, Sydney, Berlin or Dubai.

But £16 per person isn't always what actually leaves your bank account. Currency conversion, foreign transaction fees and — most painfully — third-party websites that resell the same application for several times the price all push the real figure higher.

This article breaks down exactly what a UK ETA costs, what the fee does and doesn't include, and how to spot the scams dressed up as "visa help". It's general information, not immigration advice. Fees change, so confirm the current amount on official sources before you pay.

How much does a UK ETA cost right now?

£16. One flat fee. One per traveller.

That's the bottom line. There's no premium service, no fast-track option, no family discount and no group rate. You pay the same £16 if you're a two-year-old on your first flight or a 90-year-old visiting a grandchild.

The fee is set by the Home Office and charged by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). It's payable in pounds sterling at the point of application, and you can't pay it at the border or on arrival.

Why did the UK ETA cost go from £10 to £16?

The ETA scheme started in November 2023 for Qatari nationals at £10 per application. Over the following 18 months it rolled out to the rest of the world, and the fee stayed at £10 throughout that expansion.

On 9 April 2025, the Home Office raised the fee to £16 — a 60% increase. That came days after the scheme became mandatory for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals, which is when the total volume of applications jumped dramatically.

Anyone who applied before 9 April 2025 paid £10. Anyone applying now pays £16. Old blog posts quoting £10 are simply out of date.

Does the UK ETA fee vary by nationality?

No. The fee is the same for every nationality that's eligible for an ETA. If you're a US, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Brazilian or EU citizen, you pay £16.

If you're a visa national, you can't get an ETA at all — you'll need a visa, which costs considerably more.

Does the fee vary by age?

No. Children and infants pay the full £16. There is no under-16 rate, no student rate and no senior rate.

This catches families out more than anything else. A family of four needs four separate ETAs at £16 each — £64 total.

Is it cheaper to apply by app or online?

Identical. The official UK ETA app (free to download) and the online form on GOV.UK both charge £16. Pick whichever suits you — the app is quicker because it scans your passport chip, but it needs a phone with NFC.

For the full checklist of what you'll need before you start, see our guide to uk eta application requirements.

UK ETA application cost by scenario

Here's what you'll actually pay in the common situations travellers ask about. Figures are illustrative examples based on the £16 fee current since April 2025.

Two rows there cause most of the confusion. The family row, because parents assume children are free. And the third-party row, because plenty of official-looking websites charge three to eight times the real fee for a service you could do yourself in ten minutes.

The passport row matters too. Your ETA is electronically linked to one specific passport. Renew that passport before the ETA expires and the old ETA becomes useless — you'll pay another £16 for a new one.

What the £16 actually covers — and what it doesn't

Think of the ETA fee as the cost of being screened before you travel. You're paying UKVI to check your details against immigration and security databases, and to confirm you're someone who can travel to the UK without a visa.

That's it. It is not a visa, and it doesn't grant you leave to enter the UK.

What it does give you:

• Permission to travel to the UK for tourism, business visits, study of up to 6 months, or certain permitted activities.
• Multiple entries over 2 years (or until your passport expires, if sooner).
• Coverage for short stays of up to 6 months per visit.
• Coverage for transit through the UK — including airside transit where you never pass through border control.

What it doesn't give you:

• The right to work in the UK or take up employment.
• Access to public funds, NHS treatment as a resident, or any form of settlement.
• A guarantee of entry. A Border Force officer can still refuse you at the border.
• Any kind of extension. You can't extend an ETA from inside the UK.

If your trip needs more than a visit — working, living, studying a full degree — the ETA isn't your route. You need a visa, and the cost jumps accordingly.

How to pay for your UK ETA: the actual process, step by step

Knowing the interface helps, because one field in particular trips people up. Here's the honest walkthrough.

1. Download the UK ETA app. Search "UK ETA" in the App Store or Google Play. The publisher is the Home Office. It's free. Watch for copycat apps with similar names that charge a download fee — no official app does that.
2. Scan your passport. The app asks you to hold your phone against the photo page so it can read the chip. This only works with a biometric passport and an NFC-capable phone. Older passports and older budget phones can't do this — you'll be sent to the online form instead.
3. Take a photo of your face. A live selfie, not an upload. Good light, no hat, no sunglasses.
4. Answer the questions. Purpose of visit, contact details in the UK, employment, criminal convictions, previous immigration issues. Answer honestly — inconsistencies are what cause refusals.
5. Check your name. Enter it exactly as printed on the passport photo page, including any middle names. This is the single most common cause of delays.
6. Pay £16. Credit or debit card, or Apple Pay / Google Pay in the app. Payment is in GBP.
7. Submit and wait for the email. The confirmation screen gives you a reference number. The decision usually arrives by email within minutes, though the official guidance says allow up to 3 working days.

That's the whole thing. Start to finish, most people are done in under 15 minutes. There is genuinely no reason to pay a company to do it for you.

You don't get a physical document, and you don't need to print anything. The ETA sits against your passport number in UKVI's systems, so it appears automatically when your passport is scanned at the airport.

Will you pay more than £16? Watch the currency conversion

The £16 is charged in pounds sterling. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts it at its own rate.

As an illustration only — exchange rates move daily — £16 has recently worked out at roughly:

• US$20–22
• €19–20
• CA$28–31
• A$32–35
• NZ$36–39

Then add your card's foreign transaction fee, if it has one. Many UK and US cards charge nothing; plenty of others add 1–3%. On £16 that's pennies, but it's worth knowing if you're applying for a family of five.

One small tip: avoid paying with a card that has a poor exchange rate or a high foreign transaction fee if you have a fee-free alternative. It's a tiny saving per person, but on a group of ten it adds up.

Why third-party ETA websites cost so much more

Search "UK ETA" and you'll see sponsored results from companies offering to "handle" your application. Some charge £30. Others charge £90 or more.

A few add subscription fees that recur monthly unless you cancel.

They are not faster. They are not more likely to be approved. And they cannot access any system you can't access yourself.

What they actually do is take your details, enter them into the same GOV.UK form you could have filled in, and keep the difference. The ETA that lands in your inbox is identical.

There are two more problems with resellers:

• Data risk. You're handing your passport number, date of birth and facial image to an unregulated private company.
• Refusal risk. If a reseller mistypes your passport number, your ETA won't match your passport and you'll be turned away at check-in.

If you want a proper breakdown of what the fee includes and what you're really buying, our article on how much does a uk eta cost covers the breakdown in more detail.

Is the UK ETA fee refundable?

In normal circumstances, no. Treat the £16 as spent the moment you submit.

That applies even if:

• Your application is refused.
• You cancel your trip.
• Your passport is lost or stolen.
• You realise you made a mistake on the form.
• You discover you never needed an ETA in the first place.

The one exception is a duplicate payment — if the system charges you twice for the same application, UKVI will normally refund the extra. Contact them with your reference numbers if that happens.

Because the refund position has been adjusted since launch, check the current wording on the official apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation guidance on GOV.UK before you rely on it.

What most guides get wrong about the UK ETA cost

A handful of myths keep circulating. Here's what people assume — and what's actually true.

Myth 1: "Children are free"

They're not. Every traveller, whatever their age, needs their own ETA and pays the full £16. A newborn baby on a parent's lap still needs one.

Myth 2: "I already paid for a visa, so I don't need to pay again"

If you hold a valid UK visa, you don't need an ETA at all — and you don't pay the £16. The ETA is for people travelling visa-free. The two systems are separate.

Myth 3: "The £10 price still applies"

Lots of content written during the 2024 rollout still says £10. The fee went to £16 on 9 April 2025. Any page quoting £10 hasn't been updated.

Myth 4: "I can buy it at the airport if I forget"

You can't. There's no counter, no kiosk and no on-arrival payment. Airlines check for a valid ETA before boarding, and without one you'll be refused at the gate — an expensive mistake if you've already checked bags.

Myth 5: "One ETA covers my whole family"

It doesn't. There's no group or family application. Each traveller applies separately, even if you're all on the same booking.

Myth 6: "British and Irish dual nationals need one too"

This is the one that causes real problems. If you're a British citizen — including by descent or through naturalisation — you have the right of abode and you don't need an ETA. Same for Irish citizens.

But you can't just travel on your other passport and hope for the best. British citizens should travel on a valid British passport, or hold a certificate of entitlement in their other passport. Turning up at the border as a British citizen on a US or Australian passport without that documentation can lead to a long conversation with Border Force.

UK ETA cost vs visa cost: how the numbers compare

The ETA looks cheap next to a visa, because it is. Here's the side-by-side.

Visa fees are revised periodically, so treat the £127 figure as illustrative and check the current fee on GOV.UK before you budget. The point stands either way: an ETA costs about an eighth of a visitor visa and takes about a twentieth of the time.

If you're unsure which category you fall into, our guide to who needs a uk eta walks through nationality, residency and dual-nationality cases.

Two realistic cost scenarios

Numbers land better with a story attached. Here are two situations we see regularly.

Scenario 1: The family who paid four times over

Priya lives in Toronto and booked a half-term trip to London for herself, her husband and their two children, aged 6 and 9. Searching "UK ETA" on her phone, she clicked the first sponsored result and paid CA$89 per person.

Total: CA$356 (roughly £195).

Had she used the official app, she'd have paid £16 × 4 = £64, which converted to about CA$115 at the time. She overpaid by roughly CA$240 — for the same four ETAs, processed on the same government system, with no speed advantage whatsoever.

The lesson: check the publisher before you type your card details. If it isn't the Home Office, you're paying a middleman.

Scenario 2: The passport renewal that cost an extra £16

Daniel, a German citizen in Berlin, applied for his ETA in April 2025 and paid £10 at the old rate. It was approved the same day and valid for two years.

In November 2025 his passport was due to expire, so he renewed it. His ETA was still technically valid — but it was linked to the old passport number, which had been cancelled. He needed a fresh ETA on the new passport.

That cost him another £16. Nothing went wrong; that's just how the system works. An ETA lives and dies with the passport it's attached to.

Who doesn't pay the £16 at all

Plenty of people assume they need an ETA and don't. You're exempt if any of the following applies.

• You're a British citizen. Including dual nationals. You have right of abode.
• You're an Irish citizen. Irish nationals are exempt under the Common Travel Area arrangements.
• You hold a valid UK visa. A Standard Visitor Visa, Student Visa, Skilled Worker Visa and so on. Your visa already covers entry.
• You have permission to live, work or study in the UK. That includes EU settled and pre-settled status, Indefinite Leave to Remain, and a Biometric Residence Permit.
• You're a British Overseas Territories citizen with a connection to the UK. Specific conditions apply.
• You're transiting without passing through the UK border in certain limited circumstances. Check the official rules carefully — the ETA covers most airside transit, so don't assume you're exempt.

The transit point deserves emphasis. If you're flying New York → London → Rome and staying airside at Heathrow, you still need an ETA. It's one of the most commonly misunderstood parts of the scheme, and it's why checking before you book a cheap connecting itinerary matters.

How long does the ETA last — and when will you pay again?

Your £16 buys you 2 years of travel to the UK, or until your passport expires if that comes first. Whichever is sooner.

In practice:

• Passport valid 5 more years? Your ETA runs the full 2 years.
• Passport expires in 8 months? Your ETA dies with it. Budget another £16 when you renew.
• You renew your passport early? New passport, new ETA, another £16.
• You visit four times in two years? Still just £16. Multiple entries are included.

Because the ETA duration tracks your passport, it's worth checking your passport's expiry date before you apply. If it has less than two years left, you might prefer to renew the passport first and then buy a full two years of ETA validity.

There's no auto-renewal and no reminder email. When your ETA expires, you apply again at whatever the fee is at that time.

When should you apply, and how long does a decision take?

The official guidance says to apply at least 3 working days before you travel. Most decisions come back within minutes, but "most" isn't "all" — and if yours is flagged for manual review, it takes longer.

A practical rule that works well:

1. Apply as soon as your trip is booked and your passport is in hand.
2. Don't leave it until the week of departure — weekends and public holidays slow things down.
3. If you haven't heard back within 3 working days, check your spam folder before assuming the worst.
4. Don't book non-refundable extras until the approval email lands, if you're travelling on a tight schedule.

There's no benefit to applying months in advance either — the 2-year clock starts on the approval date, not the application date. Applying 6 months before your first trip just eats into your validity.

Frequently asked cost questions

Can I pay for someone else's UK ETA?

Yes. You can apply on behalf of another adult or a child and pay with your own card. Parents routinely apply for their children this way.

Just make sure the details match that person's passport exactly.

What happens if my ETA is refused — do I get the money back?

No. The fee isn't refunded if your application is refused. You'd then need to apply for a visa, which costs considerably more and takes weeks rather than days.

Do I need to pay again if I leave the UK and come back?

No. Within the 2-year validity, you can enter and leave the UK as many times as you like. There's no per-entry charge.

Is there a cheaper way to apply for a group?

There isn't. No group discount exists, and no agent can get you one. Each traveller pays £16, whether you're a party of two or a party of fifty.

Can I get my ETA fee back if I don't travel?

No. The fee pays for the assessment, which happens whether or not you board the plane. If you never use the ETA, you've simply lost £16.

Key takeaways

• The UK ETA costs £16 per person — up from £10 on 9 April 2025. It's a flat fee for every nationality and every age.
• Every traveller needs their own, including babies and children. A family of four pays £64.
• Apply only via the official UK ETA app or GOV.UK. Reseller sites charge £30–£120+ for the same application and add data risk.
• The fee is generally non-refundable — including if you're refused, cancel, or renew your passport early.
• It's valid 2 years or until your passport expires, with unlimited entries in that period.
• British and Irish citizens don't need one, and neither do visa holders or UK residents. Dual nationals should carry their British or Irish passport.
• Apply at least 3 working days before you travel. You can't buy an ETA at the airport.

Fees and rules do change — the £10 to £16 jump proved that. Before you pay, check the current position on GOV.UK rather than relying on any third-party summary, including this one.