Does my child need a UK ETA?
Checked against GOV.UK. This page last updated .
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Yes. Every child needs their own — babies, infants and under-2s included.
GOV.UK is explicit: each person travelling needs an ETA, including babies and children. There is no family application and no exemption by age. A parent applies on the child’s behalf, but the authorisation belongs to the child and is tied to the child’s passport.
Do babies and children under 2 need a UK ETA?
Yes — from birth, with no minimum age. GOV.UK states that each person travelling needs an ETA, including babies and children. A newborn needs one. An infant in arms needs one. A one-year-old and a two-year-old need one. There is no age below which it stops applying.
Why so many people assume otherwise. A child under 2 normally flies as a lap infant: no seat of their own, no separate ticket, and either free or a small percentage of the adult fare. It is a reasonable assumption that the paperwork works the same way. It does not. An ETA is attached to a passport, not to a ticket or a seat. Your baby has their own passport — children have not been added to a parent’s passport for years — and that passport needs its own authorisation, at the same £20 an adult pays.
If the baby does not have a passport yet, that comes first: you cannot apply for an ETA without a passport number to attach it to. Allow time for both, in that order, and remember that a baby’s first passport is usually valid for five years — so it will be the first one in the family to expire, and its ETA ends with it.
The rules, in full
- Who needs one
- Every traveller who is not British or Irish and does not already have UK immigration permission — at every age, including babies. British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens, do not need one.
- What it costs
- £20 per person. A family of four is four applications and four fees. GOV.UK warns that other websites may charge more; there is no faster decision through a third party.
- How long it lasts
- Two years, or until the passport it is linked to expires — whichever comes first.
- What it allows
- Multiple journeys, for stays of up to six months at a time.
- How to apply for a child
- Through the UK ETA app or online. You can apply for someone else on the app if they are with you; if they are not, apply online instead using their passport and photo.
- How long a decision takes
- Usually within a day by email, but it can take up to three working days. Wait for the confirmation email before you travel.
The one that catches families out
The trap: a new passport ends the ETA. An ETA lasts two years or until the passport it is linked to expires, whichever is sooner, and it is tied to that specific passport. Children’s passports are issued for fewer years than adults’, so a child’s passport is usually the first in a family to be renewed — and the day it is renewed, that child’s ETA stops being usable even if it is only a few months old. If you renew a child’s passport between trips, the ETA has to be done again.
Before you apply
- Check every passport in the house on the same day
- The one that expires first is almost always a child’s. It is the cheapest fifteen minutes you will spend before a trip.
- Apply for each traveller separately
- There is no family ETA. Four travellers means four applications, four photos and four fees.
- Apply for the children with their own passports in front of you
- The application is tied to the passport number, so the passport you apply with has to be the passport you travel with.
- Wait for the confirmation email
- Usually same day, but allow the full three working days before you need it.
- Only use the official route
- The UK ETA app or GOV.UK. Nothing else is faster, and anything charging more than £20 is adding a margin, not a service.
- Europe is a separate question
- An ETA covers the UK. If the same trip also takes you into the Schengen area, that is EES now and ETIAS later — see which one applies to you.
Questions parents ask
Does my baby need a UK ETA?
Yes. GOV.UK states that each person travelling needs an ETA, including babies and children. There is no minimum age.
Do children under the age of 2 need a UK ETA?
Yes. There is no exemption for under-2s. The authorisation is attached to the child's passport, not to their ticket or seat, so a lap infant with no seat of their own still needs their own ETA and pays the same £20.
Do infants need an ETA for the UK?
Yes, infants need their own ETA. So do newborns. The rule is one authorisation per passport, and every traveller has their own passport.
My baby travels on my lap without a seat. Does that change anything?
No. Travelling as a lap infant changes what you pay the airline; it does not change what the UK border requires. The ETA follows the passport.
Can I apply for my children myself?
Yes. You can apply for someone else's ETA on the UK ETA app if they are with you, or online if they are not. The authorisation still belongs to the child.
Is there a family application or a family price?
No. Every traveller needs their own application and pays their own £20.
How much does a UK ETA cost for a child?
The same as for an adult: £20. There is no reduced rate for children.
How long does a child's ETA last?
Two years, or until their passport expires, whichever comes first. Because children's passports are issued for fewer years, the passport is usually what ends it.
My child got a new passport. Do we need a new ETA?
Yes. The ETA is tied to the passport it was issued against, so a renewed passport means a new ETA, even if the old one had time left.
Do British or Irish children need one?
No. British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens travelling on that passport, do not need an ETA.
How long before travelling should we apply?
You will usually get a decision by email within a day, but it can take up to three working days, so do not leave it to the airport.
We’ll tell you when the rules for families change
Fees, validity and who needs what have all moved in the last two years. We’ll email you when something changes that a family actually needs to act on — no newsletter, no marketing.
We’re building it with real travellers. Your experience could help us create something genuinely useful.
Change log
- Checked against the official sources. Nothing on this page needed to change.
- Added a dedicated section on babies and children under 2, after search data showed that is how the question is actually asked. No change to the underlying rules.
- Page published.
Sources
Checked on .
- GOV.UK — Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA)
- GOV.UK — Apply for an ETA: how to apply, decision times and validity
- Home Office — Electronic Travel Authorisation factsheet, April 2026
About this page
VIARYO is not a government body and this page is not an official source. We read what GOV.UK publishes, summarise it, and record the date we last checked — you can read how we check our information. Where GOV.UK and this page disagree, GOV.UK is right: apply and confirm at the official ETA page.
Travelling on to Europe as well? That is a different system — see which European requirement applies to you.