ETA UK for Children: A Parent’s Practical Guide

One authorisation per passport, not per family

The logic is simple: an ETA is attached to one passport, and a passport belongs to one person. A parent cannot take the children along on their own approval. Whether your daughter is 16 or your son is three weeks old, each needs an authorisation in their own name, provided they come from a visa-free country.

Picture a family of five including an eight-month-old: that is five separate applications, five passports and five decisions. The ETA UK for babies counts as a full file of its own. If you are unsure about one child’s nationality, check the list of countries that need an ETA before you begin.

Which kids are exempt?

The exemptions mirror those for adults. You do not need to apply for:

• children who are British or Irish citizens, dual nationals included (a dual British child travels on a British passport or a certificate of entitlement);
• children living in Ireland who move within the Common Travel Area;
• children holding a valid UK visa or permit;
• children only transiting in the international zone at Heathrow or Manchester, without passing border control.

Everyone else follows the general rule. An ETA does not guarantee entry: the border officer decides on arrival, and children are no exception. The ETA UK for children has no age-based waiver.

The newborn’s passport is the real bottleneck

For an ETA UK for babies, the slow part is rarely the online form. It is getting the passport, because without it nothing can be submitted. If departure is close and the baby’s passport has not arrived, chase that first and come back to the authorisation afterwards.

One more thing to watch: the ETA follows the passport. It lasts 2 years, or until the passport expires if that comes sooner, and children’s passports often run out earlier than adult ones. Read the expiry date before you pay rather than after, since a submitted application cannot be edited.

Who completes the form, and with what?

A parent, a guardian or any adult can submit the ETA UK child application for the minor. The data entered is the child’s, copied from their passport. Use your own e-mail address to receive the decision, and the same one for all siblings so everything lands in one inbox.

For each child, have ready:

1. the passport, valid for the whole stay;
2. a recent front-facing photo on a plain background;
3. a phone number you can be reached on while travelling;
4. the address where you will stay in the UK.

Take your time with the security questions, which concern the child. The service’s support team reviews each file before submitting it, because nothing can be corrected afterwards.

What it costs a family, and when to start

There is no discount on an ETA UK child application: each authorisation is priced like an adult’s. Submit every file on the same day, at least three working days before you leave. To begin, head to the application page. The service’s assistance is optional: you can also apply yourself at gov.uk/eta/apply for £20 per person.

When one file runs into trouble

For the ETA UK for children, a negative decision on one file, even an ETA UK for babies, does not hold up the others, since they are independent. A rejected application can be redone; a refusal cannot be appealed and means applying for a visa instead. The details are on the site’s page about a rejected ETA UK. To follow an application, use gov.uk/check-eta, or write to support@e-visa.online.