Arts Infopoint UK's next coffee morning is:
2:00pm BST | Monday 07 October 2024
Topic:
UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) process
Guest contributors are:
External Engagement, Future Borders & Immigration System (FBIS) team, UK Government Home Office
Do you understand how the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) works and how it will impact your plans to visit to the UK?
As part of the government’s plans to strengthen and digitise the UK border, the UK government launched an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme which is now being rolled out in the final 2 phases.
By April 2025 all nationalities that are required to apply for the UK ETA must have one in place to travel to the UK. A list of nationalities affected by ETA can be found here and includes European visitors. This is a significant change for many travellers that previously were able to enter the UK border without interacting with the Home Office before travelling.
In this session UK Government Home Office officials will tell us about the scheme, who it impacts, how it will work, followed by an opportunity to ask questions.
The ETA scheme will apply to visitors to the UK who do not need a visa for stays of less than six months, or who do not have a valid UK immigration status prior to travelling. ETAs will also be required by those seeking entry under the Tier 5 creative worker concession in advance of their travel to the UK.
Phase one of the roll out opened to nationals from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The second phase will be in place from the 27th of November 2024 for people to apply and to use from the 8th of January 2025. You can find the full list of countries introduced into the scheme as part of phase 2 here. The third and final phase will be open to applications from the 5th of March 2025 to be used from the 2nd of April 2025, and the full list of those nationals can be found here.
This session is useful to those who have no, or limited awareness of the ETA scheme or want to know about the final phase of the roll out. It will also be useful for artists and organisation that have plans in the UK coming up and want to know when they will require an ETA and how to apply for one.
If you cannot attend our coffee morning with the ETA team don’t worry as we will be recording the session and sharing resources on our website. The ETA team also run regular online information sessions that are free to join and ask questions. You can find links to these events on the Arts Infopoint UK website.