Which websites are the official ones?
Checked against each authority. This page last updated .
Get an email if this changes ↓
Only four addresses matter, and none of them is an advert.
Every one of these processes has exactly one official route, and in one case, EES, the official price is nothing at all. Anything charging you more than the official fee is a middleman, not a faster service — the decision is made by the same authority either way.
The official route for each one
| Process | The official route | Official price | What a third party adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK ETA | gov.uk/eta, or the official UK ETA app | £20 | Nothing. The Home Office decides either way, and most decisions arrive by email within a day. |
| ETIAS | travel-europe.europa.eu/etias | €20 when it starts. Free under 18, free over 70 | Nothing, and today it cannot even sell you the thing: ETIAS is not running and no applications are being taken. See our ETIAS status page. |
| EES | No website and no application: you are registered in person at the border | Free | Nothing whatsoever. There is no EES application to make. Pre-registering is also free, through the official EU app — see EES pre-registration. |
| Schengen visa | The consulate of your main destination, or the official visa centre it appoints | Set by the EU, published by the consulate | A visa agency can genuinely help you assemble a file, and some people want that. What it cannot do is influence the decision or move your appointment forward. |
How to recognise a middleman in five seconds
- The address is not an official one
- Official routes live on
gov.ukoreuropa.eu, or on the website of a consulate. A.comthat sounds official is not official. Read the address before you read the page. - The price is higher than the official fee
- If the official fee is £20 and the page wants £60, the extra £40 is the business model. If the official fee is zero and the page wants anything at all, there is nothing being sold.
- It promises speed or approval
- No intermediary can make a government decide faster, and none can promise an outcome. Anyone saying otherwise is describing something they cannot do.
- It appeared above the official result
- Paid placement is how these sites get found: they advertise on the exact searches people make when they are worried and in a hurry. Being first is not evidence of being official.
- It asks for payment before telling you the official fee
- An honest service tells you what the government charges and what it charges on top, separately, before you pay.
And about us
Why we are telling you this instead of selling you something. VIARYO does not sell any of these applications and there is nothing on this site to buy. We publish what the rules are, with the official source and the date we checked it, because a market this full of intermediaries is one where being straight is the useful thing to do. You can read how we check our information, including what we do when we cannot confirm something.
Questions people ask
What is the official UK ETA website?
GOV.UK. The application page is gov.uk/eta, and there is an official UK ETA app. Nothing that is not on a gov.uk address is the official route.
What is the official ETIAS website?
travel-europe.europa.eu. ETIAS is not in operation, so no website — official or otherwise — can give you one today.
Is there an official EES website where I register?
No. EES has no application and no form: you are registered in person at the border, and it is free. You can pre-register your details free through the official EU app.
Are the sites charging more than £20 for a UK ETA scams?
Not necessarily illegal, but they are intermediaries charging a margin on something you can do yourself in minutes. They do not get you a faster or better decision.
How do I know if a page is official?
Look at the address first. Official routes are on gov.uk, on europa.eu, or on a consulate's own site. Then compare the price against the official fee.
Is VIARYO official?
No. We are not a government body and this site is not an official source. We summarise what the authorities publish and link to them, and where we disagree with them, they are right.
Fees and rules change. We’ll tell you when they do.
The UK ETA fee changed this year and the ETIAS date moved twice. We’ll email you when something changes that you may need to act on — no newsletter, no marketing.
We’re building it with real travellers, and we don’t sell applications. Your experience could help us build something genuinely useful.
Change log
- Corrected the summary: only one of the four, EES, is free. We had said two.
- Corrected the UK ETA decision time to match GOV.UK: most decisions arrive within a day, not within minutes.
- Page published.
Sources
Checked on .