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Travelers from non-EU countries who don't need a visa to enter the UK will now need to complete pre-travel authorization from January 8.

James Manning/PA Wire

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CNN — 

If 2024 was the year travelers were spared the introduction of bureaucracy for visa-free travel to Europe, 2025 is the year reality kicks in.

The European Union’s ETIAS visa waiver, much delayed, is currently on track to roll out in 2025.

Before that, the UK will introduce its ETA system on January 8.

ETA, which stands for Electronic Travel Authorisation, is a new digital registration scheme for travelers who don’t need a visa to enter the UK.

While before they could hop on a plane and present themselves at passport control on landing, now, travelers will need to get pre-travel authorization to fly to the UK.

Here’s what to know about the new rules.

Who needs an ETA?

Anyone who doesn’t need a visa to travel to the UK will soon need an ETA — an “electronic travel authorization” which pre-clears you for entry to the country before travel. This is the UK equivalent of the United States’ ESTA — a mandatory, paid-for authorization to travel, with security clearance done in advance.

The scheme debuted to Gulf Cooperation Council nationals in 2024, and the next stage is to roll it out to other non-European travelers — including the six million travelers from the US, Canada and Australia who enter the UK each year. The full list of 48 states requiring the ETA is here.

Travelers from these countries will need an ETA to enter the UK from January 8. The only exception is EU citizens, who will need an ETA to enter the UK from April 2, 2025.

Citizens of these countries who are already resident in the UK do not need an ETA.

The scheme is for “short” visits to the UK of less than six months for tourism and business. There are a few other categories of ETA, including for short-term study and permitted paid engagements. These are listed on the UK government website.

Is it a visa?

Although some people are referring to it as a visa, it’s actually a visa waiver. Travelers whose citizenship means they need a visa to enter the UK will still need to apply for a visa. (They won’t, however, need to get the ETA on top of that.)

Countries work on reciprocity when it comes to immigration. When the United States introduced its ESTA visa waiver in 2009, it was inevitable that countries now subject to it would introduce their own similar schemes.