{"id":1274,"date":"2026-08-24T10:15:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hudhudtrip.com\/mag\/travel-guides\/uk-eta-uae-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:23:51","slug":"uk-eta-uae-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hudhudtrip.com\/mag\/visas\/uk-eta-uae-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"UK ETA for UAE Travellers in 2026: \u00a320, Two Years, and Who Still Needs a Full Visa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Short answer<\/p>\n

If you hold an Emirati passport you need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation before you fly. It costs £20<\/strong>, lasts two years<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That is the easy part. The part that catches people out at Dubai and Sharjah airports is who the scheme applies to.<\/p>\n

The ETA is a nationality scheme, not a residency scheme<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
You hold<\/th>\nWhat you need for a UK holiday<\/th>\nCost<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
UAE passport<\/td>\nElectronic Travel Authorisation<\/td>\n£20, valid 2 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indian passport, UAE resident<\/td>\nStandard Visitor visa<\/td>\nFull visa fee and biometrics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pakistani passport, UAE resident<\/td>\nStandard Visitor visa<\/td>\nFull visa fee and biometrics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Filipino passport, UAE resident<\/td>\nStandard Visitor visa<\/td>\nFull visa fee and biometrics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egyptian passport, UAE resident<\/td>\nStandard Visitor visa<\/td>\nFull visa fee and biometrics<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
British or Irish passport<\/td>\nNothing<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The authoritative check is the UK government’s own tool at gov.uk\/check-uk-visa<\/a>. Run it per traveller, per passport. If a family is travelling on two different passports, they may need two different documents.<\/p>\n

What the ETA actually gives you<\/h2>\n
\n

ETA at a glance<\/h3>\n