Wait — don't I already have an eTA?
If the letters look familiar, that's the confusion in a nutshell. Canada's eTA is the authorisation visitors to Canada carry — Canadian citizens never hold one. The UK's ETA — Electronic Travel Authorisation — is a separate British system, and it's the one that concerns you: since 8 January 2025, Canadian passport holders need an approved UK ETA before boarding anything bound for Britain.
The requirement covers the classic visa-free visit — holidays, family, meetings, short courses — with stays of up to six months per entry. And it has teeth now: since 25 February 2026 the UK requires carriers to confirm every passenger's digital permission before departure, so the missing-ETA conversation happens at the Air Canada or WestJet counter, not at Heathrow.
What follows: exactly how the application works, what the £20 covers, how the two-year validity plays out, who's exempt — a big deal for the many Canadians who also hold a British passport — and when a UK plan needs a visa instead. For the trip beyond the border formalities, start at the United Kingdom overview.
The UK's version of an idea Canadians already know
Functionally, the UK ETA does for Britain what Canada's eTA does for Canada: it screens visa-free travellers before they fly, digitally and automatically, instead of leaving everything to the border queue. You apply online, the Home Office checks your passport details, and the approval attaches to the passport itself — nothing printed, nothing glued into a page. It's valid for the whole UK plus Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
The differences are in the terms. Canada's eTA can last up to five years; the UK's runs two years (or to your passport's expiry, if sooner) with unlimited entries. Britain allows visits of up to six months — one of the longest visitor windows anywhere. And where Canada's fee is small change, the UK charges £20 per person at the time of writing.
One principle carries over unchanged: an authorisation to travel is not a guarantee of entry. The ETA satisfies the airline; the decision at the UK border belongs to Border Force — though Canadians can normally use the eGates and are through in minutes.
- 1App first, web form second: The UK ETA app (iOS and Android) scans your passport chip, captures the face photo and walks the questions in about ten minutes; the same application exists as an online form. Prefer to have it prepared and checked? A visa service can handle the submission end to end.
- 2Apply with the passport you'll fly on: The ETA welds itself to one document. Use the exact Canadian passport you'll travel with — and if a renewal is coming up, do the renewal first, because a new passport means a new ETA regardless of time remaining.
- 3£20 each, no refunds, kids included: Every traveller on the itinerary needs an ETA — babies and children too, with a parent applying on their behalf. Each application costs £20 at the time of writing, payable by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the fee stays spent whatever the outcome.
- 4Give it three working days, expect one: Most approvals come back within a day, but official guidance says allow up to three working days — and you must hold the approval before travelling. The email carries a 16-digit reference; keep it findable for check-in.
- 5Then forget about it for two years: Once approved, the ETA rides invisibly on your passport for every UK trip in its validity window. There's nothing to print and nothing to renew per journey — the airline reads it when your passport is scanned.
What £20 actually buys
Two years, unlimited UK entries, six months per visit — for frequent flyers between Toronto or Vancouver and London, that's dozens of trips on a single application. The clock runs from approval, and ends early only if the linked passport expires first.
The six-month ceiling deserves respect in the other direction, too. It's a visitor allowance, not a residence plan: a pattern of long back-to-back stays reads to Border Force as living in the UK through the visitor route, and can end with a refused entry. If Britain is becoming more than a place you visit, the honest move is one of the visa routes below.
- Dual Canadian–British citizens fly British: Canada's British diaspora is enormous, and every dual citizen in it is exempt — British citizens can't hold an ETA at all. The proof requirement is the sharp edge: board with your British passport, or carry a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode inside the Canadian one. A Canadian passport alone, ETA-less, is exactly what carriers are instructed to stop.
- Existing UK status replaces the ETA: A UK visa, settled or pre-settled status, or any live permission to be in the UK is itself the digital record airlines verify — no ETA on top. Residents of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are covered the same way.
- Work and the long stay: IEC's British cousin: Canadians under 35 have a dedicated door into UK working life: the Youth Mobility Scheme, Britain's rough equivalent of IEC working-holiday visas. Commonwealth citizens with a UK-born grandparent have the Ancestry visa. Both are real visa applications with biometrics — arranged before travel, not at the border. The British High Commission in Ottawa heads the UK's network in Canada, with consulates in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal.
- Study, marriage, or a refused ETA: Courses beyond six months take a student visa; marrying in the UK takes a Marriage Visitor or family route; and if an ETA application is refused, the Standard Visitor visa puts your case in front of a human caseworker. Travellers with a criminal record often do better starting there.
Heathrow connections and other places the rule hides
Canadian itineraries to Europe, Africa and Asia route through London constantly, so the transit rule matters here more than most places. The test is border control: connect airside on one ticket and you currently need no ETA; land, clear UK immigration, collect a bag or overnight between flights, and the full requirement applies. The airside exemption is policy, not law — it can be withdrawn, and airlines already apply it unevenly, so confirm with your carrier rather than assume.
Enforcement itself is the other change worth internalizing. The UK ran a soft launch through 2025; since 25 February 2026, boarding without digital permission is simply not possible on compliant carriers. Combined with the no-refund rule and the three-working-day buffer, the strategy writes itself: apply the week you book, not the week you fly.
Finally, the French-school-trip exemption Canadians sometimes read about doesn't travel: it applies to school groups from France on a specific government form, nothing to do with Canadian minors — every Canadian child needs a regular ETA.
Not for visiting — Canadian citizens enter visa-free for tourism, family, business and short study, up to six months per stay. Since 8 January 2025, though, that entry requires an approved UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), obtained online before the flight.
No — same concept, different countries. Canada's eTA is for foreign visitors flying into Canada; the UK's ETA is Britain's own system, and Canadian passport holders need one for the UK. Holding one has no bearing on the other.
£20 per person at the time of writing, nonrefundable. Decisions usually arrive within a day; allow up to three working days to be safe, and don't fly before the approval email lands.
GOV.UK — Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)
The British government's official ETA guide and application entry point.
GOV.UK — Check if you need a UK visa or ETA
The official tool confirming what a Canadian passport needs for your specific travel purpose.
GOV.UK — Standard Visitor visa
The fallback route when an ETA is refused or a visit doesn't fit the visitor rules.
GOV.UK — 'No permission, no travel': ETA enforcement announcement
The official confirmation that carriers must check digital permission from 25 February 2026.
Want the UK application handled properly — details verified, photos compliant, questions answered right the first time? Guided support files it while you plan the trip.
Apply for your UK ETA