Originally Posted by
Im a new user
How fast will the ETA be issued? Will passengers who are subject to irrops have to spend the night at LHR, or will the ETA be issued in time to get a hotel room if you apply for one when you are at LHR after learning of the irrops?
Currently the requirement is to apply for an ETA, not to have received one. Most reports in the UK and Ireland forum show that ETAs can be completed in a few minutes and the confirmation comes back within a few minutes too. I wouldn't overplay this too much, it's a very light touch implementation at the moment and it's just the airlines doing the enforcement at check-in - the UK Border officers can do their work without the ETA but clearly it's faster if the robots can do some of the heavy lifting. Irrops won't have anything much to do with this. ETAs have been around since November 2023, it's just the coverage is now extended to those who have visa free entrance to the UK.