ETA Experience May 21

You ETA is valid for two years OR until your passport expires depending on which comes first.

Correct. My passport expires in less than two years.

Thanks for sharing, Emily. I think people that struggle with the ETA app are those who may not use technology as frequently as others. Your post is an encouragement to all that the process can be quick and easy.

I thought it was easy as well although ours took about 32 hours to be approved-not a big deal for me, but to be safe, don't leave it until the last minute. One tip about the part where it asks to scan for the chip in your passport, if you're having difficulties it may help if you take your phone case off.

Also, don't worry if the chip doesn't scan. Hit the "skip" button and input manually.

Carol,
How do you input? Can I scan my passport on my printer or do I have to do it with my phone. I have an old iPhone.

You would scan with iPhone. If your phone doesn’t pick up the chip, you will see a skip button. Use it.

Once I got it all figured out, I was approved in less than 2 minutes!
Use the official website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-electronic-travel-authorisation-eta or app, not any other links to apply, including those sent by the airline! I used my laptop and went to the website.
Make sure there aren't any shadows behind you in your photo.
I typed in my passport number.
I didn't understand what people meant by "scan." I've never done anything like that before - it is a biometric scan done with the camera on your device. Very sci-fi looking but here we are in the 21st century. Well, at least some of us! ;-)

...not any other links to apply, including those sent by the airline!

I just happened to be on the Delta website yesterday and saw that they now have an interactive gobal map showing visa requirements - or not - for each country. For the UK, they provide a link to a third party "facilitator" that will make sure your application is successful. I believe the outfit was Sherpa, and it brings the total cost to around $30.

No need to ignore the post about Delta/Sherpa. I used them and received confirmation of my ETA quickly from the UK government. Is it worth the extra cost? Probably not. But it is still legitimate and official.

Does Delta get a piece of the "facilitator's" fee? Why not have a direct link to the governments' official websites? But, your money to do as you wish.

Why an airline would push you towards an unofficial facilitator who charge a premium for basically nothing (they offer no added value at all), I have no idea. But it's a good example of why it pays to be informed and stick to official government web sites.

I'll echo others in saying that I found the official ETA app was very easy to use and we were approved within minutes. I even used it for my two young children without issue (other than getting them to stand still for the picture). Interestingly, for the kids it does not make you do the face scan, just take the photo.

I also found it nice that you can pay with Google pay (this was on the Android app).

I am by no means a tech savvy person, but do use phone apps all day long for pleasure and business and the computer all day for my business so know that much and I have to say that the app last week when I used it was not working and it told me as such. ha! It would get all the way to the point of paying (scanned my passport/ and it was accepted, took my photo/upload/it approved photo) and it would never make it to the point of payment and would tell me to click the link and do it all online. I finally took its advice and just went online via my phone.

Any phone that has photo taking ability and can access the internet (which would be any model of iPhone) should be able to do all of this without the need to scan a copy of your photo or passport. I don't think you can use your computer though to do it(again, not super tech savvy so may be wrong in my assumptions) because somehow when it reads your passport, I think it is scanning the chip in the passport.

It is a very simple process, step by step telling you what it needs and why you didn't succeed on the last attempt, but some days the app doesn't work well, I guess. After attempting to upload /enter everything 3xs, I used the online version from my phone so I could still "scan" my passport /upload the photo it had accepted via the app.

Hi All

I traveled from Rome to London last week on Lufthansa. When I checked in at the Lufthansa counter, the person at the desk had some trouble figuring out if I had obtained the ETA or now after she scanned my passport. I do not know if she did not know how to check the ETA using my passport because it is a fairly new requirement, but I had printed out a copy of the ETA and showed it to her. She was happy and checked me in. I thought that I should share this experience with the folks on this forum.

Penn

I was able to easily obtain the ETA thru the official app. As I read the post about the Delta link, I thought how wonderful that they facilitate this for every country. Until, I got to the part stating the link goes to a facilitator and costs more. Is there no limit to what Delta (and likely the other airlines) will do to make a buck? I wouldn't use that link out of principle.