https://www.gov.uk/government/news/u...-non-europeans

The UK Government is introducing Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for millions of visitors who pass through the UK border every year, including six million from the USA, Canada, and Australia. From today all eligible non-European visitors can apply for an ETA and will need one to travel to the UK from 8 January 2025.

Next year, we will open ETA to eligible Europeans, who will be able to apply from 5 March 2025 and will need an ETA to travel to the UK from 2 April 2025. From April 2025, all visitors to the UK who do not need a visa for short stays and who do not already have a UK immigration status will need an ETA.

Eligible visitors should apply for their ETA through the UK ETA app, which is quick and simple to use and enables most applicants to receive a decision in hours. Visitors can also apply on GOV.UK if they do not have access to a smartphone.

An ETA costs £10, permits multiple journeys, and lasts for two years or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. Once granted, ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and allow for stays of up to six months at a time – including both short trips and more extended stays. An ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel.

All travellers to the UK – except British and Irish citizens – will need permission to travel in advance through either an ETA or an eVisa. Replacing physical immigration documents with eVisas lets UK visa holders use online immigration services, take control of their data and prevent against documents being lost, stolen or tampered with.

To ensure the smooth implementation of a digitised border, the UK Government continues to work closely with the travel industry, including airline, maritime and rail carriers, and is delivering a communications campaign to reach visitors about the steps they need to take before they travel to the UK.

Link for applications -
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/u...-non-europeans

can British citizens get an e visa if their passport has expired or do they need a passport.

No, if you are a dual UK citizen and your UK passport has expired, you cannot apply for an ETA using your other passport; you need a valid British passport to travel to the UK without needing an ETA, so you should renew your UK passport before traveling.

Dual citizens

If you are a dual citizen with British or Irish citizenship, you do not need an ETA. Prove your permission to travel using your British passport, Irish passport or other passport containing a certificate of entitlement.

Thanks I couldn’t find that I had assumed that would be the case though. Back to nagging second son to renew his Uk passport!

Seems to be much like the Aussie system where you can't hold a visa/eta of any kind once you're a citizen. Same as the US and Canada too.

The visa is connected with a passport, so if your UK passport has expired, you could connect it to your Australian one. Or, as you say, renew your British one.

e-Visa system is postponed

Read here
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...eid=15a0ad91b3

Thats not how the system works. If you are a British citizen you can't hold a UK visa/eta, same as AUs citizens can't hold an Aus visa/eta.

A visa/eta allows a non-citizen access to a specific country.

I didn't think the advice was clear.

From SanDiegoGirl's post:

Dual citizens

If you are a dual citizen with British or Irish citizenship, you do not need an ETA. Prove your permission to travel using your British passport, Irish passport or other passport containing a certificate of entitlement.

Do not need does not equal cannot hold in another passport (to me any way). If it is not possible, surely it would say something along the lines of 'Dual Citizens must enter on valid British passport'

Its not clear, I agree, and not being on the inside of any of this I'm not going to take any further part in the debate after this post,

I only posted it as no-one else had done so. I believe the system is designed to work the same as the Australia, American and Canadian systems and is an attempt to help keep control over immigration/entry/exit. If its as simple as 'get dual citizenship, apply for a visa on your new passport, and then you can freely get entry unnoticed into your native country that has you on its watch list for whatever reason' then the system is pointless and a waste of time, but that's just a personal opinion. I suspect - and have done ever since the scheme was first mentioned - that the eventual aim is to make UK citizens enter/leave on UK passports, but changing the law to bring that in would be extremely complex, especially with the Irish passport situation.

For now I will just post the publicly available info:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-electronic-travel-authorisation-eta#:~:text=You%20do%20not%20need%20an,a%20British %20or%20Irish%20citizen

Who does not need an ETA

You do not need an ETA if any of these apply to you:

• you have a visa
• you have permission to live, work or study in the UK (including settled or pre-settled status or right of abode)
• you are a British or Irish citizen
• you are travelling with a British overseas territories citizen passport
• you live in Ireland and you are travelling from Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man

You definitely can hold a UK visa in your other passport, even when you don't need one. Despite being British, I had a UK residence permit in my Irish passport.

Did you declare your British citizenship on your application? I’m surprised that slipped through the net.

Yes. In fact, I had to include my British passport to prove that me and then girlfriend were in Australia two and a bit years earlier so that she could get an EU residence permit as my defacto. She could only get the EU permit because I was Irish (not possible to do it as British). Effect was that I as Irish got a British residence permit and she got the EU residence permit.

It was also possible for me as Irish to get UK Settled Status, although I didn't bother. This scenario is explicity stated on gov.uk.

Well this is getting more and more confusing - so you're Irish? Not British?