Before you travel — and after you arrive

This page is for people still in the EU, EEA or Switzerland who are planning to visit the UK or move here. The rules changed substantially after Brexit — and again in 2025, when the ETA arrived. Here is what actually matters, in order.

1. The ETA — almost every EU visitor now needs one

Since 2 April 2025, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens visiting the UK need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before travelling — a digital permission linked to your passport, not a visa.

2. Your passport — ID cards mostly no longer work

Travel on a passport valid for the whole of your stay. Most EU national ID cards stopped being accepted at the UK border in October 2021 (limited exceptions exist, including for some EUSS holders). Check the current position on GOV.UK: entering the UK.

3. What visitors can and cannot do

As a visitor you can stay up to 6 months per visit: tourism, visiting family, business meetings, short courses. You cannot work (paid or unpaid, for a UK employer), claim benefits, or live in the UK through repeated back-to-back visits — Border Force can and does refuse entry to people they believe are living here as "visitors". If you intend to work or study long-term, you need a visa first: check what you need.

4. Healthcare cover while visiting

Bring your EHIC (European Health Insurance Card). Under the UK–EU agreements it covers medically necessary state healthcare during your visit — but it is not travel insurance: it won't cover repatriation, and not everything is free. Take travel insurance too.

• Healthcare for visitors to England (NHS)

5. Bringing goods, pets and medicines

• Goods: personal allowances now apply between the EU and Great Britain (alcohol, tobacco, and a cash declaration at £10,000+). Some foods — notably meat and dairy — cannot be brought in. Allowances (GOV.UK) · Food rules.
• Pets: dogs, cats and ferrets need a microchip, rabies vaccination and an EU pet passport or health certificate; dogs also need tapeworm treatment before entry. Bringing your pet (GOV.UK).
• Medicines: carry prescription medicines in original packaging with your prescription; some (e.g. strong painkillers) are "controlled" and need proof or a licence. Travelling with controlled medicines (GOV.UK).

6. Moving here to live: your first weeks' checklist

Arrivals since 2021 come on a visa route (work, student, family). Once here, the order that saves the most friction is:

• Register with a GP — free, no immigration status needed;
• Apply for a National Insurance number (you can start work while you wait);
• Open a bank account;
• Check your driving licence position;
• Get your children into school — every child is entitled to a place.

All the detail lives in Living in the UK.

7. Already have settled or pre-settled status? Travelling back in

You do not need an ETA — your EUSS status is your permission. But border problems still happen, and they follow a pattern: airlines wrongly demanding an ETA or a "physical document" from EUSS holders, or systems failing to confirm digital status at check-in. To protect yourself:

• Travel on the passport (or ID card) linked to your UKVI account. If you renewed a document, update the account before you fly: update your details.
• Mind the absence limits: long absences can end pre-settled status (and since April 2026 the Home Office actively removes status after very long absences). the3million publishes a careful explainer on absences at the3million.org.uk.
• If you are wrongly denied boarding or held at the border, note names and times, and see status problems: who can help — the IMA wants to know about exactly this.

Last reviewed: July 2026. Entry rules change; always confirm on GOV.UK before you travel.