The U.K.’s Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system is back online after an outage earlier this week blocked some travelers from applying for permission to enter the country, a spokesperson for the British Home Office confirmed to Afar.
While the Home Office acknowledged its ETA service recently suffered technical issues, its spokesperson said that the service had still met its published standard for processing applications within three working days. The department did not provide details on when the issue began, how long it lasted, or how many applicants were affected.
Since early 2026, the United Kingdom has required citizens of 84 countries, including the United States and Canada, to obtain an ETA prior to entering the country. At the same time, it moved to a strict “no permission, no travel” stance, requiring airlines, trains, and ferry lines to refuse boarding to any passenger without a valid ETA.
This week’s disruption only affected travelers who were actively trying to apply for an ETA. Those who had an approved authorization were still able to be verified.
The outage is the first in the 30 months the service has been live, but it comes at a time when more countries are rolling out required digital authorization border systems that present yet another hurdle for travelers. The U.S., Australia, and Canada all have their own versions of the ETA. Later this year, the EU plans to launch ETIAS, its travel authorization system, following the implementation of the European digital border entry system, while Japan will roll out its JESTA program in 2028.
For those who couldn’t secure an ETA during the outage, the consequences have been costly: missed flights and connections, nonrefundable hotel reservations, and new flights that needed to be booked.
An expensive mistake
Rosey (she preferred not to provide her last name), an Australian teacher, booked a last-minute flight for June 3 from Barcelona to London to attend a concert she’d waited 17 years to see. Before paying, she had made sure to check ETA wait times online. Official guidance said applications could take up to three working days, but she had read on TripAdvisor and Reddit that many travelers had been approved within minutes. Applying a day ahead, on June 2, she thought, should be enough.
She received only a processing confirmation but figured the approval would arrive shortly. The next morning, with her flight approaching, the ETA had still not arrived. At the check-in desk, Rosey showed her processing confirmation email and launched the ETA app to show the error message, but the agent refused to let her board.
“I then spent two hours at the airport refreshing my emails and looking at Reddit posts for any kind of hope that confirmations were being sent. I eventually just gave up and went back to my accommodation and cried,” Rosey said. The ETA arrived later that evening, but by then it was too late. She had lost the cost of her round-trip flight, her accommodation, and the concert ticket.
Lessons for travelers following the U.K.’s ETA outage
The incident is a reminder that it literally pays to plan ahead. Most travel insurance policies typically will not pay out for flights that have been missed because of visa or travel authorization problems.
While the Home Office officially recommends applying three working days ahead of travel, travelers realistically should apply one to two weeks ahead to allow for potential processing delays. Once approved, the ETA is then linked to the traveler’s passport and is valid for two years, or until the passport expires.
Another note of caution: When applying, travelers should make sure they use only the official GOV.UK website or app. The ETA currently costs £20 ($27.88). One traveler told Afar that in her panic over missing her flight, she had accidentally applied through a lookalike website with the UK’s government crown logo that surfaced in a Google search. While the site advertised the ETA for £20 ($28) pounds, she had been charged a $135 processing fee, paying a total of $163 for the ETA, not to mention handing over her sensitive data.
According to Connaught Law, a British law firm specializing in immigration, the UK’s ETA mobile app is the “recommended route.” The app can scan the passport’s biometric chip directly and is better able to capture photos to the necessary standards. All passengers need their own ETA, including children and infants. To see how to apply to the UK’s ETA, watch the official video.
