England’s Home Office has announced an exemption to the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme for transiting passengers who do not pass through English border control, primarily impacting Heathrow and Manchester airports.
This brings Heathrow in line with Dublin and Shannon airprots as well as major transit airports in Europe.
Transit passengers through US airport need an ESTA. Transit passenger through major international airports such as Dubai, Istanbul and Singapore do not need a local visa.
The ETA scheme, which is set to be extended globally this year to visitors from 48 non-European countries starting 8 January and 34 European countries from 2 April, previously applied to all air travelers.
Heathrow Airport reported a drop of 19,000 transit passengers from Qatar in the initial months of the ETA scheme, prompting the government to consider this exemption after industry feedback.
Alongside this exemption, the Home Office proposed an increase in the ETA fee from £10 to £16, which will require parliamentary debate and approval, as part of broader fee hikes expected to generate an extra £269m in revenue for immigration and nationality services.
