UK to raise travel permit price for EU visitors by 60%

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The cost of travel permits required by EU and US citizens to enter the UK is to rise from £10 to £16, the government has said, prompting warnings that the cost will hurt tourism.

From the electronic travel authorization (ETA) scheme. started this monthmost visitors to the UK who do not need a visa must apply for a digital permit to visit the country.

Travelers currently pay £10 for a permit that is valid for two years and allows them to make multiple trips.

But the Home Office said the permit fee would rise from £10 to £16 to help “reduce the reliance of the immigration and border system on tax revenue”. The government department has not set a date for the changes, which it said would raise an extra £269mn a year.

Tour groups and airplanes he criticized the changes, saying they made the cost of visiting the UK less competitive due to the EU’s plans to charge all visitors who do not need a visa €7 for its travel authorization scheme.

Richard Toomer, chief executive of trade group the Tourism Alliance, said the decision to raise the fee was “surprising”.

“This is very attractive to our European visitors as it is necessary for the first time to apply for permission to travel to the UK,” he said.

Tourism is worth £74bn a year to the UK, and ministers in November announced a target to increase visitor numbers by almost a third to 50 million people a year by 2030.

But Toomer said the goal would be missed “if the government keeps looking at tourists as a cash cow”.

Tim Alderslade, group chief executive of Airlines UK, said the changes were “very disappointing” but welcomed the Home Office’s decision to exempt passengers traveling to UK airports but not through in the country.

Heathrow Airport has warned that its status as Europe’s leading airport is under threat from a decision to charge transfer passengers.

Visitors from more than 50 countries including the US, Australia and Canada need to apply for one of the UK entry permits since the scheme began, which is loosely modeled on the US Esta programme.

The list will be extended to include EU citizens on April 2, although Irish citizens will be exempt.

Citizens of the EU and the UK have been caught up in increasing border customs since conflict-free travel disappeared with the implementation of the Brexit agreement at the end of 2020, four years after the referendum.

Travelers now face tougher passport checks at the UK and EU borders, which has caused chaos for Eurostar and Channel ports.

UK citizens will also be caught up in the EU’s new biometric checks, which are due to be announced later this year but have been repeatedly delayed. A separate EU visa waiver programme, similar to the UK ETA, is also due to be announced in 2025.

As the cost of UK immigration rises, the cost of other services including British citizenship will also rise.