Andorran passport holders have needed a UK ETA since April 2025. Two years of validity, multiple entries, up to six months in Britain per visit — applied for online in minutes.
6 months
Maximum stay per visit
2 years
ETA validity
Multiple
Entries permitted
3 working days
Typical decision time
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
Andorra sits high in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, with a population of around eighty thousand and an economy built on tourism, skiing and retail. Its links to the United Kingdom run mostly in one direction — British skiers have been coming to Pas de la Casa and Soldeu for decades — but the flow of Andorrans to Britain is steady, driven by business, education and family connections in London and the Spanish-speaking communities there.
Since April 2025 Andorran citizens have needed an Electronic Travel Authorisation for travel to Britain. Andorra is a non-visa country and nothing about what its citizens may do in the UK has changed. The ETA is a digital pre-travel permission applied for online and linked to the passport number — no interview, no appointment, no consular process.
Two features shape the Andorran experience. Andorra is not in the European Union or the EEA, so its passport holders are not in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen at a staffed Border Force desk on arrival. And the country has no airport or railway station, so every journey to Britain begins with a drive of two to three hours to Barcelona, Toulouse or Girona. Neither affects the ETA requirement, which follows the passport rather than the departure point.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Andorra is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Andorran citizens travel to Britain as visitors for tourism, family visits, business, conferences or short courses without any consular application. The ETA precedes that permission and does not reduce it — the six months Andorran visitors have always been allowed is unchanged.
Every traveller needs their own, at any age. Children and infants need an ETA linked to their own passport and cannot be added to a parent's application. Families travelling together make separate applications for each member, though all can be completed in one session.
The exemptions are the standard ones. Andorran citizens holding a UK visa or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA, since their existing status already carries the permission to travel. Dual nationals travelling on a British or Irish passport need nothing at all — and given how many Andorran residents hold Spanish, French or Portuguese nationality, checking which passport gives the simpler route is worthwhile.
Eligibility follows citizenship rather than residence, which matters greatly in Andorra. Only a minority of the country's population holds Andorran nationality — the rest are largely Spanish, Portuguese and French nationals living and working there. A resident travelling on a Spanish or Portuguese passport follows that country's rules, and a resident on a non-European passport may need a Standard Visitor visa applied for weeks in advance rather than an ETA.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Andorran passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on entries, and each visit can last up to six months. For a country where every trip to Britain requires a long ground transfer to an airport, an authorisation that lasts two years and covers unlimited journeys is genuinely useful.
The passport-expiry rule is the one to check before applying. The ETA is bound to the passport number you enter and ends when that document does. Andorran passports are issued for ten years for adults and shorter periods for children, so families applying together may find the children's authorisations expiring well before the parents'. Renewal does not transfer the ETA and there is no refund.
Britain does not require six months of onward passport validity, only that the passport covers your stay. This is more relaxed than the Schengen rule for third-country nationals, which Andorrans encounter regularly at Barcelona and Toulouse.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry rather than an annual allowance. In practice almost no Andorran leisure trip approaches it. Where it becomes relevant is education: a short language course or summer programme finishing within six months is covered by an ETA, while an academic year at a British school or university requires a Student visa applied for in advance.
Pricing
Live fees for Andorran passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Andorra
Requirements
Everything Andorran passport holders need before starting an application. The first five items apply to every applicant; the rest are specific to your nationality.
Passport bio-data page — a clear colour scan or photo showing your photograph, full name, date of birth, passport number and expiry date
Recent digital photograph — full face visible against a plain background, taken within the last six months, with no headwear other than for religious or medical reasons
A valid email address, which is where the approval is sent and which you should keep accessible while travelling
A credit or debit card to pay the Home Office ETA fee and our service fee together
Your travel and accommodation details — Border Force can ask about the purpose of your visit and where you are staying
Simple process
Four steps, entirely online, with our team checking every field before anything reaches the Home Office.
Enter your passport details exactly as printed, answer the suitability questions and upload your photograph. Most applicants finish in under ten minutes.
Our team checks your photo, passport number, name spelling and declarations against Home Office requirements before anything is submitted.
Your application goes to UK Visas and Immigration with the government fee paid, and we track its status until a decision is issued.
There is no sticker, label or document to print. The authorisation is held digitally against your passport number, and we explain exactly what to show at check-in.
Applications from Andorra are decided automatically in almost all cases, and most applicants receive approval within minutes. The Home Office asks travellers to allow up to three working days, and a small number are referred for manual review, usually where a photograph fails the automated check.
Apply at least a week before travelling. The buffer exists so that a mistyped passport number or a rejected photograph can be corrected without a second payment, not because the decision itself is slow.
The geography makes early application more important here than in most countries. Every journey to Britain starts with a two- to three-hour drive to Barcelona, Toulouse or Girona, often over mountain roads that are slow in winter. A problem discovered at the airport cannot be resolved from there, and there is no possibility of going home to fix it and returning the same day.
On arrival
An approved ETA gets you on the plane. This is what happens once you land, and how to make the arrival as quick as possible.
Your nationality is not currently in the ePassport gate cohort, so you join the queue for a staffed desk on arrival. Your ETA is exactly the same document and carries exactly the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
The officer may ask where you are staying, how long you intend to remain and how the trip is funded. Having your hotel booking, return ticket and, if you are visiting family, their address to hand makes this a thirty-second conversation.
Desk queues at Heathrow can be long at peak arrival banks, particularly early morning. If you are connecting onward to a domestic or European flight, allow more than the airline's minimum connection time.
Unlike the automated gates, a staffed desk stamps your passport with the date of entry. That stamp is your evidence of when your six-month permission began, so do not let it be obscured or removed.
Getting there
Andorra has no airport or railway, so every journey begins with a road transfer. Barcelona is the principal gateway at around three hours by coach or car, with an exceptionally wide British network. Toulouse is closer at roughly two and a half hours and has good London coverage, while Girona and Lleida offer more limited options.
Best time to go
Andorrans arrive from a high-altitude Pyrenean climate into a maritime one, and the differences are more about character than temperature. British winters are much milder than Andorran ones and bring rain rather than snow at low altitude; British summers are cooler and wetter than a Pyrenean July but with far longer evenings — daylight in Scotland in June runs past ten at night.
May, June and September are the strongest months for a British trip, with the most reliable weather and prices below the July and August peak. September is particularly good value, with British school holidays over and the weather in the south often holding into October.
The Andorran calendar creates a natural window. The ski season runs from December to April and is when the country is busiest and its residents least free to travel; the quiet weeks in late spring and autumn are the obvious time for a trip to Britain, and they happen to coincide with the best British value. Late April through early June is close to ideal on both counts.
One practical point. Britain is one hour behind Andorra year-round, with both changing clocks on the same dates. Build the ground transfer into your planning generously — the road to Barcelona can be slow in winter and at weekends during the ski season, and missing a flight because of the drive is a far more common problem here than any paperwork issue.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Andorra — we check for every one of them before submitting.
Only a minority of Andorra's population holds Andorran nationality. Eligibility follows the passport, not the residence permit. Spanish, Portuguese and French passport holders living in Andorra follow their own country's rules, and residents on non-European passports may need a Standard Visitor visa applied for weeks in advance rather than an ETA.
Andorra is not in the EU or the EEA, so Andorran passport holders are not in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen at a staffed Border Force desk on arrival. The ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs, so allow extra time during busy arrival periods at Heathrow and Gatwick.
Because Andorra has no airport, every journey starts in Spain or France. Some travellers assume that makes it a Spanish or French departure governed by those countries' arrangements. It does not — the ETA follows your nationality and your passport, so an Andorran passport holder needs an Andorran-nationality ETA regardless of where the aircraft leaves from.
Barcelona is around three hours away and Toulouse two and a half, over roads that can be slow in winter and at ski-season weekends. Travellers who plan the flight carefully and the drive casually are the ones who miss departures. Allow generously, particularly between December and April.
The ETA permits study of up to six months. A short language course or summer programme is covered; an academic year at a British school or university is not, and requires a Student visa applied for in advance. It cannot be arranged from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
The ETA is bound to a passport number and dies with that document. Renewal voids it with no transfer and no refund. Check the expiry date before applying, and check children's passports separately since they are issued for shorter periods.
Passport number mistyped
By far the most common problem. The authorisation attaches to the number you enter, so a single wrong character produces an ETA that does not exist as far as the airline's check is concerned.
An undeclared conviction or refusal
The Home Office asks about criminal convictions and previous immigration refusals or removals. History found later is treated far more seriously than the original matter would have been if declared.
A photograph that fails the check
Shadows across the face, glasses, a patterned background or a cropped chin all cause the automated check to reject an image, which turns a routine approval into a manual review.
Conditions
These conditions are set by the UK Home Office and do not vary by nationality. The passport-linking rule in particular catches out a great many otherwise well-planned trips.
Your authorisation is held digitally against the passport number you enter. There is nothing placed in your passport and nothing to print for the border. If you renew or replace that passport, the ETA does not transfer — you must apply for a new one on the new document.
Every person travelling needs their own ETA, including babies and children. A child cannot be added to a parent's application, and each traveller needs their own valid passport to apply against.
An approved ETA lasts two years from the date it is granted, or until the expiry date of the passport it is linked to, whichever comes first. This is the single most misunderstood rule in the scheme — a passport with eight months left produces an ETA with eight months left.
Within its validity you can travel to the UK as many times as you like. Each individual visit can be up to six months. There is no formal annual cap, but repeated long stays that add up to the majority of the year will attract questions at the border.
One ETA covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and it is also accepted for travel to Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. You do not need a separate authorisation for the Crown Dependencies.
An ETA lets you board your flight, train or ship. The decision to admit you is made by Border Force on arrival, who can ask about your funds, your accommodation, your onward plans and the purpose of your visit.
Consular services
The United Kingdom does not maintain a mission in Andorra la Vella; relations are conducted through the British Embassy in Madrid, with practical consular support from the consulate-general in Barcelona. Neither plays any part in issuing an ETA — the application is completed online and decided digitally, with no interview, no appointment and no passport submission. These offices handle consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances need a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Andorran passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Andorran citizens do not need a visa for tourism, business visits, short study or transit in the United Kingdom. Since April 2025 they do need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), a digital permission linked to the passport rather than a visa. It is applied for online in about ten minutes and usually approved the same day.
Only if they hold a nationality that is itself eligible. Eligibility follows the passport you travel on, not your Andorran residence permit. Since most people living in Andorra hold Spanish, Portuguese or French nationality rather than Andorran, this matters — each traveller follows their own nationality's rules.
No. Andorra is not in the EU or the EEA, so Andorran passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk. Your ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
No. The ETA attaches to you and your passport, not to your departure airport. Because Andorra has no airport, every journey begins in Spain or France, but that makes no difference to the requirement — an Andorran passport holder needs an ETA regardless of where the flight departs from.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Andorran passport expires if that is sooner, and permits unlimited entries within that period. Six months is a per-visit maximum rather than an annual allowance.
Only for courses lasting up to six months, such as a summer school or a short language programme. An academic year at a British school or university requires a Student visa applied for in advance. You cannot switch to a Student visa from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
Yes. Every traveller needs an ETA regardless of age, including babies, and each is linked to that person's own passport. Children cannot be added to a parent's application. Children's passports are issued for shorter periods than adults', so check each expiry date — the ETA ends when the passport does.
At least a week. Most applications are decided within minutes, but the buffer allows a rejected photograph or a mistyped passport number to be fixed without paying twice. Early application matters more from Andorra than most places, because every journey starts with a two- to three-hour drive to the airport and a problem found there cannot be resolved on the day.
No. The ETA is tied to the specific passport number you applied with and becomes invalid when that passport is replaced. There is no transfer and no refund. If your passport is nearing expiry, renew it first and then apply for the ETA against the new number.
Yes. A single ETA covers the entire United Kingdom and is also accepted for Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. There are no internal immigration checks between the four nations, so a trip combining London and Edinburgh needs only one authorisation.
Your nationality is already set to Andorra. Complete the form in under ten minutes, and our team will check every detail before it reaches the Home Office.
Other nationalities
Requirements, routes and border formalities differ by passport. Here are the guides for other eligible nationalities.
