UK ETA Rejection Reason Code List: What Each Code Means and How to Respond

Below is the full, detailed reference list, organised carefully by category, so you can quickly and confidently find your own specific code and the correct, appropriate response to it.

How to use this reference guide

Find the exact specific code or description shown in your own rejection notification within the categories listed below, read the explanation of exactly what it specifically means, and then follow the corresponding response closely. If your notification doesn't show an exact code, match the wording of your notification's explanation to the closest description here, since the underlying categories genuinely remain consistent even when the exact phrasing used on a given notification varies somewhat.

Passport data codes

• PASSPORT_NUMBER_MISMATCH — the passport number entered doesn't match official records for that document. Response: recheck the number character by character against your passport's machine-readable zone, watching for commonly confused characters like O versus 0, and reapply with the corrected number.
• PASSPORT_EXPIRED — the passport is expired or doesn't meet minimum remaining validity. Response: renew your passport, then reapply using the new document's details once it's fully issued.
• PASSPORT_NOT_BIOMETRIC — the passport doesn't meet the biometric chip requirement. Response: renew your passport to a current biometric version before reapplying.
• PASSPORT_DAMAGED_OR_ILLEGIBLE — the passport's data page appears damaged or wasn't captured clearly. Response: obtain a replacement passport if genuinely damaged, or retake your data entry more carefully from a clean, undamaged document.
• PASSPORT_TYPE_INELIGIBLE — the specific type of passport held isn't eligible for the ETA route. Response: check whether a different visa category applies to your specific passport type, since an ETA may not be the correct route at all.

Personal details codes

• NAME_MISMATCH — the name entered doesn't match passport records exactly, including middle names or initials. Response: enter your full name exactly as printed on your passport, including any parts you might otherwise omit in casual use.
• DOB_MISMATCH — the date of birth doesn't match, often due to a format error. Response: confirm the correct date format expected and re-enter it precisely against your passport.
• NATIONALITY_MISMATCH — the nationality entered doesn't align with the passport's issuing details. Response: confirm the nationality shown on your specific passport and ensure it matches what you've entered exactly.
• CONTACT_DETAILS_INVALID — the email address or contact information provided appears invalid or undeliverable. Response: double-check your email address for typos and ensure it's an address you can actually access for confirmation.
• DUPLICATE_APPLICATION_DETECTED — the system has flagged more than one active application with overlapping details. Response: confirm which application is genuinely current, avoid submitting additional duplicate applications, and contact support if you're unsure which one is active.

Payment and technical codes

• PAYMENT_DECLINED — the payment method was declined during submission. Response: confirm your card has sufficient funds and no restrictions on international online payments, then try again with a verified working card.
• PAYMENT_TIMEOUT — the payment session expired before completing. Response: check your bank statement to confirm whether the charge went through; if not, reapply using a stable connection.
• SESSION_TIMEOUT — the application session expired before submission completed. Response: reapply using a stable, private internet connection, completing the form without significant pauses between sections.
• SYSTEM_PROCESSING_ERROR — a general processing error occurred unrelated to a specific field. Response: try again on a different device or browser; if the issue persists, contact official support with your reference details.
• PHOTO_QUALITY_REJECTED — the submitted photo doesn't meet the technical or quality requirements. Response: retake the photo in good lighting against a plain background, following the official specification exactly, and resubmit.

Application completeness codes

• INCOMPLETE_MANDATORY_FIELD — a required field was left blank. Response: review the entire form carefully, ensuring every mandatory field has a specific, complete answer, using "none" or "not applicable" explicitly where genuinely appropriate.
• INCONSISTENT_TRAVEL_HISTORY — answers about travel history appear internally inconsistent. Response: review your travel history answers carefully, checking dates and destinations against your own records before resubmitting.
• PURPOSE_OF_VISIT_UNCLEAR — the stated purpose of visit doesn't clearly fit a standard category. Response: review how your specific travel purpose best fits the categories offered, and answer as specifically and accurately as the format allows.

Background and eligibility codes

• CRIMINAL_HISTORY_DECLARED — a declared criminal conviction has been flagged for review. Response: reapplying with the same facts is unlikely to change the outcome; consider whether a standard visa application, which allows individual review, is the more appropriate route.
• IMMIGRATION_HISTORY_FLAG — a previous immigration issue, such as an overstay, has been flagged. Response: as with criminal history, this generally requires a different application route rather than a simple reapplication with identical facts.
• WATCHLIST_NAME_SIMILARITY — the applicant's name closely matches an entry in a relevant background-check system, without necessarily indicating any issue specific to the applicant themselves. Response: this typically resolves through the standard manual review process running its course; applying well in advance of travel helps absorb this additional review time.
• ELIGIBILITY_CATEGORY_MISMATCH — the applicant's circumstances suggest a different visa category may be required instead of an ETA. Response: review whether your specific travel purpose or duration genuinely fits within ETA terms, or whether a standard visa is actually the correct route.

Address and residency codes

• ADDRESS_INFORMATION_INCONSISTENT — the residential or contact address provided appears inconsistent with other details on file. Response: confirm your current, genuine residential address and ensure it's entered consistently across every relevant field in the application.
• UK_CONTACT_ADDRESS_MISSING_OR_INVALID — the intended UK address or accommodation details weren't provided clearly. Response: provide your specific UK accommodation details, such as a hotel name and address or a host's address, rather than leaving this vague or incomplete.
• MULTIPLE_RESIDENCY_CONFLICT — the applicant appears to have residency or address information spanning multiple countries in a way that created ambiguity. Response: clarify your primary current residence clearly, and be prepared to explain any genuine dual-residence situation if contacted by support.

Age and dependant-related codes

• MINOR_APPLICATION_GUARDIAN_MISMATCH — details of the parent or guardian submitting on behalf of a minor don't align correctly with the child's own application. Response: ensure the child's own passport and details are entered accurately, separate from the parent's own information, which should not be mixed into the child's specific application.
• DEPENDANT_LINK_UNCLEAR — the relationship between a dependant's application and a primary applicant wasn't clearly established. Response: ensure each family member's application is entered as its own fully independent submission, rather than assuming a shared or linked family record.

Employment and study-related codes

• EMPLOYMENT_PURPOSE_MISMATCH — the application suggests an employment purpose inconsistent with standard ETA terms. Response: review whether your specific trip involves any activity resembling actual paid work in the UK, which an ETA doesn't cover, and consider whether a work visa is genuinely the correct route instead.
• STUDY_DURATION_EXCEEDS_LIMIT — the stated study purpose suggests a duration or structure beyond standard short-course terms. Response: confirm your course's actual duration and enrolment status with your provider, and consider whether a Student visa is the more appropriate route for your specific course.

How these codes typically appear in your actual notification

In practice, your rejection notification may not display the exact code names used in this reference guide, since the underlying system's internal labelling doesn't always surface directly to applicants in this precise format. Instead, you're more likely to see a plain-language explanation that corresponds to one of these categories. Reading the plain-language explanation carefully and matching it to the closest category and code above, based on its actual meaning rather than searching for an identical phrase, is the practical way to use this reference guide effectively.

Why some rejection notifications include more detail than others

The level of detail included in a rejection notification can vary depending on the specific category involved — data and technical issues often come with a reasonably clear, specific explanation, since these are more straightforwardly identifiable by the automated system. Background and eligibility-related rejections sometimes include a deliberately more general explanation, since the underlying system isn't designed to provide a detailed breakdown of sensitive background-check reasoning directly to applicants. This difference in detail level is itself a useful clue about which broad category your specific rejection likely falls into.

What to do if your specific code isn't listed here

Rejection notifications occasionally use wording that doesn't exactly match a code listed in any published reference, including this one. If this happens, read the explanation given as carefully as possible, match it to the closest category above based on its actual meaning rather than its exact wording, and if it still remains genuinely unclear after that, contact official GOV.UK support directly with your application reference number and the exact wording you received, asking clearly for clarification on what specifically it means and precisely how to respond.

How to respond correctly once you've identified your code

1. Locate your specific code, or its closest match, in the categories above.
2. Read the corresponding response carefully before taking any action.
3. Make only the specific correction or change indicated — avoid changing unrelated fields that weren't flagged as an issue.
4. Resubmit through the official GOV.UK website or app, reviewing the entire application once more before final submission.

Why matching the correct response to your specific code matters

Applying a generic fix — simply resubmitting without addressing the specific issue indicated by your code — is one of the most common reasons travellers experience a second rejection for what is, underneath, the same underlying problem. Matching your specific code to its precise, correct response, rather than simply guessing generally at what might have gone wrong, considerably and genuinely increases the likelihood of a clean, entirely successful resubmission on your very next attempt.

Codes that indicate a data issue versus codes that indicate an eligibility issue

Broadly, passport data, personal details, payment, and completeness codes all point toward something correctable through careful reapplication. Background and eligibility codes, by contrast, point toward your actual underlying circumstances rather than anything you entered incorrectly, and these generally require a different application route rather than a corrected resubmission of the same ETA application.

Key takeaways

• Rejection codes fall into distinct categories — passport data, personal details, payment, completeness, and background eligibility.
• Each specific code calls for a different, precise response — matching your code to the correct fix matters more than a general resubmission.
• Background and eligibility codes generally require exploring a standard visa route rather than simply reapplying with the same facts.
• If your specific code isn't covered here, match it to the closest category by meaning, or contact official support for clarification.

This article provides general guidance, not official advice — always verify current requirements and fees directly on the official GOV.UK website before applying, since specific processes and terminology can be refined over time as the system continues to develop.

Keeping this reference handy for future applications

Since an ETA rejection can happen to any traveller regardless of how experienced they are, bookmarking or saving this reference guide means it's readily available if you or someone you're helping ever receives a rejection notification with an unfamiliar code. Having a clear, categorised reference genuinely on hand turns a potentially confusing, stressful moment into a straightforward, calm lookup-and-respond process, rather than a frustrating guessing game about what a specific code actually means and what to do about it. Given how quickly travel plans can be affected by a rejection close to a departure date, having this kind of reference ready in advance, rather than searching for one for the first time under pressure, makes a genuinely meaningful difference to how smoothly the whole situation gets resolved.

Transit and short-visit specific codes

• TRANSIT_PURPOSE_INCONSISTENT — details suggest the applicant's transit plans don't align clearly with a straightforward connection. Response: clarify your specific connecting flight details and confirm whether your itinerary genuinely stays airside or requires clearing UK border control, adjusting your application accordingly.
• STAY_DURATION_EXCEEDS_VISA_EXEMPT_LIMIT — the stated length of stay exceeds the standard visa-exempt limit. Response: review your actual planned stay duration carefully; if it genuinely exceeds the standard limit, a different visa category rather than an ETA is likely required.

Financial and funding-related codes

• FUNDS_EVIDENCE_INSUFFICIENT — the application suggests insufficient clarity around how the applicant will fund their stay. Response: while an ETA doesn't require formal proof of funds submission in the same way a visa does, be prepared to have accessible evidence of your ability to fund your trip if asked, and ensure any relevant financial questions in the application are answered accurately.
• SPONSOR_DETAILS_UNCLEAR — where a sponsor or host is mentioned, their details weren't provided clearly or consistently. Response: provide clear, consistent details of any UK-based sponsor or host mentioned in your application, ensuring this information is accurate and verifiable.

Device and submission-method codes

• APP_VERSION_OUTDATED — the official application was submitted through an outdated version of the mobile app. Response: update the official GOV.UK ETA app to its current version before reapplying, since outdated versions can occasionally cause submission issues.
• BROWSER_COMPATIBILITY_ISSUE — the browser used doesn't fully support the application system's current requirements. Response: use a current, widely supported browser, and consider switching to the official app if browser-based issues persist across multiple attempts.

A worked example using this reference guide

Suppose your rejection notification states, in plain language, that your application couldn't be processed due to an issue with your submitted photograph. Looking through the categories above, this matches PHOTO_QUALITY_REJECTED under payment and technical codes. The corresponding response is clear: retake your photo carefully in good lighting against a plain background, following the official specification precisely, and resubmit.

This worked example illustrates how to move from a plain-language notification to the correct category and response, even when the exact code name isn't shown to you directly.

Why treating every code with equal seriousness matters

It's tempting to treat data-related codes as "minor" and eligibility-related codes as "serious," but every code deserves a genuinely careful, specific response regardless of category. A data code, treated carelessly with another rushed, unchecked resubmission, can easily produce a second rejection just as an eligibility code can. Give each individual category the specific, genuinely careful attention its own particular response calls for, rather than simply assuming some categories are worth noticeably less care and effort than others purely because they happen to sound less serious on the surface.

How this reference relates to the broader diagnostic process

Identifying your specific code is one part of a broader process of understanding and responding to a rejection correctly — pairing this specific code reference with a careful review of your own passport details, payment status, and actual circumstances gives you the complete picture needed to respond effectively. A code tells you what the system flagged; your own review of your actual situation confirms why, and together these give you genuine confidence in your next specific action rather than a guess based on the code alone.

Recording your specific code for future reference

Whichever specific code or category applies to your situation, note it down clearly alongside the date of your rejection and the action you took in response. This record becomes genuinely useful if you experience a further issue on a subsequent attempt, since you can quickly confirm whether a new rejection matches your original code, a different one, or a different category entirely, which meaningfully affects your next specific approach.

A quick-reference summary table in plain language

If you only remember one thing from this entire guide, remember this simplified grouping: codes about your passport or personal details mean check your data carefully against your actual passport and resubmit. Codes about payment or technical issues mean try again on a stable connection with a working payment method. Codes about completeness mean review every field for a blank or vague answer.

Codes about background, eligibility, employment, or study duration mean pause before simply resubmitting, and seriously consider whether a standard visa is genuinely the more appropriate route for your specific circumstances instead.

Why this level of detail is worth the extra reading time

A brief, generic explanation of "rejection reasons" can leave you no better equipped to actually respond correctly than before you read it. This more detailed, categorised reference is deliberately more thorough precisely because a genuinely useful response depends on identifying your specific situation accurately, not on a vague general sense of what might be wrong. The extra few minutes spent finding your specific code or closest match here is a worthwhile investment against the cost, in time and potentially money, of a further rejection caused by an incorrectly targeted response.

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers on understanding specific UK ETA rejection reason codes and how to respond correctly to each one.

For official guidance, visit the UK Government ETA.

Related: Brauche ich ein Visum für die USA? Ein umfassender Leitfaden

See also: UK ETA application requirements