If you’re planning to visit the United Kingdom from the United States, you need to apply for an ETA (“electronic travel authorisation”) before your visit. It’s like an e-visa, but somehow not a visa. It only costs 10 GBP (About $13 USD) and it lasts for 2 years. Note that while this is very similar to the European Union’s ETIAS, ETA is needed for the UK while ETIAS will soon be needed for the rest of Europe (thanks Brexit).
I have a trip to London coming up and so I applied. While it didn’t take long, I was surprised by how challenging it was to get through a couple of the steps in the process. I’ll walk you through it below so that you can breeze past those issues. If you decide not to read further, at least remember this one thing (which the UK doesn’t seem to know): in US passports, the scannable electronic chip is in the inside back cover.
The first step is to find the smartphone app called “UK ETA”. The image below shows what it should look like in the app store:
When you start the app, it suggests that the process can be done in three easy steps:
And the first steps were super easy:
But then I got to the “confirm your identity” step. This proved to be a little challenging (for me)…
You can’t see this in the static image above, but the app showed the cell phone moving up and down over the passport’s front cover in order to scan the passport’s electronic chip. It didn’t work the first time. It didn’t work the second time. It didn’t work the eighteenth time. The app suggested turning over the passport and scanning the back. That didn’t work either. Finally, I Googled the problem and learned that in US passports, the electronic chip is in the inside back cover. I opened my passport to the end and scanned the inside back cover. It worked on my first try. Done!
Next it was necessary to take a selfie. That should have been easy, right? The problem was that the app said to take the selfie with nothing behind me and no shadows on my face. I did my best to find such a spot for the selfie, but finding the right combination of a blank wall and even lighting was challenging. I tried with uneven lighting, but the app kept rejecting my photos. Finally I turned on the selfie-camera flash on my phone. That was the ticket. It got rid of the shadows that the UK ETA app was so resistant to.
Finally I got to the payment screen. I used Apple Pay and the payment went through without any issue.
Seconds after finalizing payment, I received an email saying that my ETA application was approved! Since authorization is tied to the passport, It’s not necessary to show the ETA approval when entering the UK.
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Joining the chorus of thank yous for this post. I’ll add that both myself and P2 had to take our phone cases off to get the chip reader to work. And P2’s ETA is only valid until his passport expires later this year. It’s attached to the passport, not the person.
Please note that, although no document (other than passport) is required for UK entry. an airline may require proof that you have an approved ETA. AA didn’t require anything when I left for trip to UK and Malta. but KM Malta did for my return to the UK . Fortunately I had a hard copy of the approval.
Thank you Greg. Make sure to search for UK ETA in Apple Store to get correct app for your iPhone. A search for ‘British ETA’ did not yield the correct site.
Thank you for this info! Learning that the chip was on the inside back cover, and being able to make sure we were using the correct app made this process so easy!
100% about scanning US passport RFID chip but after about 6 fails, you can “skip” and enter/verify manually. Selfie is a problem. No matter how I framed the photo, the result was incorrect. Took six attempts to accept photo. Pro tip.
Be sure to use Gov.uk app. Many third party processors are charging $50-100.
This was amazing. It made the application SUPER easy. Thank you!
Thank you so very much!!! I had no idea the chip was inside the back cover. We did have an issue with getting my husband’s photo accepted but finally we met with success!
Thanks this was incredibly helpful!
Lucky you. I’ve been trying for **DAYS** with no success. The app simply times out over and over (and over and over) again.
Thanks for the heads up on using the back cover to scan for the chip. I had already had 15 or 20 failures due to having the NFC setting turned off at first, it only warned me about it after I had been trying for a couple days.
Then it would not scan my passport photo properly.
Finally I could not get it to recognize the chip as I held the phone against the chip symbol on the front of the passport. Frustrating. But I kept after it later with the phone against the rear cover and after another couple days and 25 or 30 tries (total) it finally worked.
Very thankful for this post since it prevented me from getting freaked out that my phone couldn’t find the chip the first 20 times I tried. 🙂
It was a VERY frustrating experience for me 10 days ago (didn’t have the luxury of Greg’s post)…was doing it the night before travel. It seems like it should be easy and they even suggested going thru their App, will only take a few minutes(HA!), but it was a disaster – so many failed attempts – I got stuck w/ App telling me I need WiFi connection. But I was at home w/ VERY STRONG/RELIABLE WiFi that had no issues otherwise, Tried a different WiFi and it STILL kept going in a loop. I was able to go partway and then it got “stuck” and comes back w/the bogus WiFi connection error. (In hindsight, I’m wondering if my VPN was an issue. I’ve experienced problems w/Norton VPN that blocks me from certain transactions/website processes. Have to turn VPN OFF to proceed, like when using certain public WiFi)
Finally did it manually which also had issues but eventually resolved.
TIP: Take your Selfie Photo ahead of time and have that “ready” to upload in the manual process, since it’s tricky to get the Photo “just right” and there is a Time-Out feature applying manually online – so you don’t want to go thru whole process again trying to get Acceptable Photo. I got mine standing in front of closed bathroom door, where lighting was strong, and cropped photo.
Pack your patience when doing this and allow plenty of time in case your situation requires multiple attempts too. Good luck!
Do you have similar instructions for ETIAS? Or haven’t they finalized that one yet?
Thanks! Super helpful to know about the UK.
Not yet. ETIAS should be coming later this year
I am not good with selfie. Can I have someone takes the picture?
Yes
Thanks.
Do you think or know the transition passengers move faster thanks to ETA. They canceled the requirements for transition passengers but we are not sure in the future they change their mind. We have a flight to layover at LHR for 2 hrs 10 min. Not sure should we wait or just go ahead apply for UK ETA.
Do you heard about a trial program for US citizens at DFW and ATL do not have to go through security again?
I have no idea if it would move you faster but it’s not very expensive so you might as well get the ETA just in case it helps.
No, I don’t know about the DFW and ATL trial program
Important caveat: make sure to use the app! I was reluctant to download yet another app, and clicked on a link to apply online. It took me to a third-party that submitted my app. They charged me ÂŁ70+! I only realized after-the-fact that this was a third party. I had navigated from the official UK gov site and there was no warning that I was going to a third party.
The app and the online mechanism are very very similar. If the app does not work, then the online version probably will not work either. (That has been the case for me at least.)
Agreed! I was almost bamboozled into a giant “processing time” fee on the official online scenario. Yes, use the app. I had to do a few things before I could get the app to work.
1. After four failed attempts, I deleted the app and then reinstalled it.
2. From Phone Settings / Connections, I turned on NFC and enable contactless payment.
3. In Phone Settings I went to my app menu, found UK ETA, and enabled the camera permissions.
4. Open the app and tried again ~ voila!
Oh… one more hint. My US passport’s chip was in the back cover. I had to remove my phone’s cover and then I could slide it along the outside of the passport’s back cover. This method worked for my husband’s attempt, too!