Walter Finch
SPANISH citizens heading to the UK will soon need to pay to obtain permission to enter the country.
The new digital Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) will require visitors from the Europe Union, Australia, the US and Canada to pay £10 (€12) to enter the country, the British Home Office announced today.
The ETA will come into effect from April 2, 2025.
It has been billed as a direct counterpart to the European Union’s upcoming European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which will require Brits to pay €7 to enter.
Both systems are nominally designed to strengthen border security by gathering advance information on travellers and identifying potential security risks.
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However, they will be seen as another barrier to travel for citizens who previously did not require a visa to enter either the UK or the EU.
Republic of Ireland citizens and EU citizens resident in the UK will be exempt from the ETA, while Brits who are resident in Spain and the EU will be exempt from the ETIAS.
To apply for an ETA, EU citizens will need a valid biometric passport and will be required to provide personal details, travel itinerary and details of accommodation, and payment information.
The application process can be completed online and is expected to take only a few minutes. The fee will be non-refundable.
UK authorities have promised a mobile app to speed up the application which should only take a few minutes – although the official response time is four days.
British authorities insist that the ETA is not a tourist visa, although it will function similarly, allowing the UK Home Office to decide whether to grant or deny entry.
While all the acronyms can be confusing, it is important differentiate the European Union’s ETIAS from another EU border control system set to come into effect on 10 November.
The EU’s Entry/Exit Scheme (EES) will apply to all non-EU citizens, including UK nationals, entering the Schengen Area for short stays of up to 90 days. British citizens residing in an EU country are exempt.
The EES will be more straightforward; it requires biometric data such as fingerprints or facial recognition to be collected from travellers without biometric passports upon entry.
This data will remain in the digital archives of EU border police for three years, with checks on each entry and exit.
