The UK trip checklist: 10 checks before you travel

Do these checks for every person on the booking, including babies and children. A family may travel together while its members have different nationalities, passports or immigration status, so one adult’s result cannot be copied across the group.

• Check that the passport or other travel document is valid for the dates you plan to be in the UK, and note its expiry date.
• Use the traveller’s nationality and reason for travel to establish whether they need an ETA, a visa or another form of permission.
• Check exemptions before starting an ETA application. British and Irish citizens, for example, do not apply for an ETA and need to travel with the right evidence of citizenship.
• If an ETA is required, make sure it is approved and linked to the passport that traveller will present at the border.

A flight that stops in the UK is not automatically an ordinary visit. On a connection, whether you pass UK border control matters. If you change airports, collect checked bags, stay overnight outside the transit area or travel on separate tickets, ask the airline what the itinerary requires before you rely on an airside transit exemption.

• Confirm whether bags are checked through to your final destination.
• Ask the airline whether you remain airside for the whole connection and whether a terminal change affects that.
• Check any transit visa or entry permission for every country on the route, not only the UK.

Keep the basics easy to retrieve without turning your hand luggage into a folder of papers. Save your accommodation address, flight details and the contact information for anyone meeting or hosting you. If you are visiting family or attending an event, make sure the traveller can explain the plan in their own words.

• Save a copy of the itinerary and the first night’s address somewhere accessible offline.
• Keep the confirmation for any visa or ETA with the passport used to apply, while remembering that the permission is checked electronically.
• For a child travelling with one parent or another adult, check whether the airline or the child’s circumstances call for additional consent documents.

1. Identify the exact passport the traveller will use.
2. Check the permission required for that person and the activity they plan to do.
3. Resolve any passport renewal or name mismatch before applying for permission.
4. Confirm the route with the airline if it involves a UK airport connection.
5. Leave a buffer for an application decision or a correction, and check each traveller’s confirmation before departure.

Permission to travel is not a guarantee of admission. Border officials make the entry decision when a traveller arrives, under the rules and facts that apply at that time.

You can complete an ETA application yourself through the official service. If you prefer help preparing it, ETAs.one is a private paid service: our team checks the information and photos, prepares the application and submits it only after you authorise it. The total shown before payment includes the £20 government fee; our service price is additional to that fee.

Our Standard, Priority and Express times are targets for our review and submission after complete answers and suitable photos arrive. They do not make the government decide faster or increase the chance of approval. The government’s decision time starts after submission and is outside our control.