UK ETA for UAE Travellers in 2026: £20, Two Years, and Who Still Needs a Full Visa
The grace period is over and the fee has gone up. But the bigger question is whether the ETA applies to you at all - and for most UAE residents it does not.
Short answer
If you hold an Emirati passport you need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation before you fly. It costs £20, lasts two years or until your passport expires, and covers unlimited trips of up to six months each. If you live in the UAE on an Indian, Pakistani, Filipino or Egyptian passport, the ETA is not for you – you still need a full UK visitor visa, and your residence visa changes nothing.
The UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation is now fully enforced. The grace period that let people board without one ended on 25 February 2026, and the Home Office has said there are no plans for another. On 8 April 2026 the fee rose from £16 to £20.
That is the easy part. The part that catches people out at Dubai and Sharjah airports is who the scheme applies to.
The ETA is a nationality scheme, not a residency scheme
An ETA is the digital permission that replaced visa-free entry for nationalities the UK already trusted to arrive without a visa. It is not a lighter version of a visa, and it is not available to people who would otherwise need one.
The UAE was included in the first rollout, so Emirati passport holders moved from “no paperwork” to “£20 and a form”. For the large majority of UAE residents, who hold a passport from a country that has always required a UK visitor visa, nothing has changed – and applying for an ETA instead of a visa will simply waste your money and your trip.
| You hold | What you need for a UK holiday | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| UAE passport | Electronic Travel Authorisation | £20, valid 2 years |
| Indian passport, UAE resident | Standard Visitor visa | Full visa fee and biometrics |
| Pakistani passport, UAE resident | Standard Visitor visa | Full visa fee and biometrics |
| Filipino passport, UAE resident | Standard Visitor visa | Full visa fee and biometrics |
| Egyptian passport, UAE resident | Standard Visitor visa | Full visa fee and biometrics |
| British or Irish passport | Nothing | – |
The authoritative check is the UK government’s own tool at gov.uk/check-uk-visa. Run it per traveller, per passport. If a family is travelling on two different passports, they may need two different documents.
What the ETA actually gives you
ETA at a glance
- Fee: £20, since 8 April 2026
- Validity: two years, or until your passport expires – whichever comes first
- Entries: unlimited within that period
- Stay: up to six months per visit
- Tied to: the passport you applied with. New passport means new ETA
Because it is linked to the passport rather than to a trip, an ETA obtained for a December weekend in London still covers a business trip the following autumn. That makes it worth applying early rather than the night before you fly.
The mistakes that cost people their flights
Applying with the wrong passport. Dual nationals must travel on, and apply with, the same document. Arriving on a passport that does not carry the ETA is treated as arriving without one.
Renewing a passport and forgetting. The ETA dies with the passport it was issued against. Renew the passport, reapply.
Assuming UAE residency helps. It does not. This is the same principle covered in our guide to what a UAE residence visa does and does not get you: entry rules follow the passport.
Leaving it to the airport. Approval is usually quick but is not guaranteed to be instant, and airlines check before boarding. Apply at least a few days out.
Booking around it
Sort the ETA or the visa before you commit to a fare. UK routes out of Dubai price aggressively in the shoulder months, and the cheapest fares are almost always the least flexible ones – which is the worst combination if a document does not come through. Once the paperwork is settled, you can compare live fares from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah without that risk hanging over the booking.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the UK ETA cost in 2026?
£20. The fee rose from £16 on 8 April 2026.
Do UAE residents need a UK ETA?
Only if they hold a passport from an ETA-eligible country, such as the UAE itself. UAE residents holding Indian, Pakistani, Filipino or Egyptian passports are not eligible for an ETA and need a full UK Standard Visitor visa. Residency in the UAE does not change the requirement.
How long is a UK ETA valid?
Two years, or until the passport it is linked to expires, whichever is sooner. It allows unlimited journeys with stays of up to six months each.
Is there still a grace period for arriving without an ETA?
No. The grace period ended on 25 February 2026 and the UK government stated it has no plans for additional grace periods. Airlines check for a valid ETA before boarding.
Do I need a new ETA if I renew my passport?
Yes. The ETA is tied to the passport it was issued against, so a new passport requires a new application.
Sources
- UK Home Office – Electronic Travel Authorisation factsheet, April 2026, homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk
- UK Parliament – written statement HCWS1361, 25 February 2026, questions-statements.parliament.uk
- GOV.UK – check if you need a UK visa, gov.uk
Verified 24 August 2026. Fees and rules change. Confirm on gov.uk before applying.
The HudHudTrip Travel Desk is the editorial team behind HudHudTrip.com, the Dubai booking platform operated by High Cloud Technologies LLC. We write for travellers flying out of the UAE, Iraq, the Levant and the wider Gulf. Every visa rule, holiday date and entry requirement we publish is checked against a government or embassy source before it goes live, and the verification date appears at the top of each article. Where a fact cannot be verified against a primary source, we say so on the page rather than repeat it.
