Belgian passport holders have needed a UK ETA since April 2025 — including on the Eurostar from Brussels-Midi. Two years of validity, multiple entries, up to six months per visit.
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
Brussels is closer to London than it is to much of Belgium's own southern border, and the Eurostar covers the distance in under two hours. Add the concentration of EU and NATO institutions, the density of corporate headquarters, and the sheer volume of Belgians with professional or family ties across the Channel, and the traffic between the two countries is far heavier than the size of Belgium would suggest.
Since April 2025 that traffic has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Belgium remains firmly a non-visa country and nothing about what Belgians may do in Britain has changed — the ETA is a digital pre-travel permission applied for online and attached to the passport number. But it does have to be obtained before departure, and for a route as casual as Brussels to London, that is the adjustment.
The point most easily missed is that the ETA is not a flight requirement. The Eurostar from Brussels-Midi checks it before boarding, with UK Border Force officers stationed at the station under the juxtaposed controls arrangement. So does the ferry from Zeebrugge, and so does every airline out of Brussels and Charleroi. Whichever way you cross, the same authorisation is needed.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Belgium is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Belgian 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 Belgian visitors have always had remains 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. Belgian school trips to London, which are a fixture of the academic calendar, need an individual authorisation for every pupil — a piece of planning that has to start weeks rather than days before departure.
Exemptions apply to a significant number of Belgians. Those holding a UK visa, settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA. Dual nationals travelling on a British or Irish passport need nothing at all. Given the size of the Belgian professional community in London, checking status before applying is worthwhile.
The Belgian identity card no longer works for travel to Britain. It stopped being accepted in October 2021 for most travellers, so a passport is required and the ETA attaches to its number. Belgian citizens holding EU Settlement Scheme status are the exception and may still use an ID card.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA lasts two years from the date it is granted, or until your Belgian passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on crossings, and each visit can run to six months. For the many Belgians who travel to London several times a year on business, one application covering two years is a genuine simplification.
The passport-expiry rule is where people lose money. The ETA is bound to the passport number and ends when that document does. Belgian passports are issued for seven years for adults and five for children, which is shorter than many EU countries — so the chance of a renewal falling inside the ETA's two-year window is correspondingly higher. Renewal does not transfer the authorisation 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 rule the EU applies to third-country nationals entering Schengen, which occasionally confuses Belgian travellers expecting symmetry.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry. It matters most for Belgian students, whose courses must complete within six months or require a Student visa instead, and for professionals who work across both countries. Border Force considers entries cumulatively — repeated long stays that account for most of the year read as residence rather than a series of visits, and that eventually attracts questions on arrival.
Pricing
Live fees for Belgian passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Belgium
Requirements
Everything Belgian 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 Belgium are decided automatically in the great majority of cases, and most applicants have approval within minutes. The Home Office asks travellers to allow up to three working days, and a small share go to a caseworker — usually because a photograph fails the automated check rather than for anything substantive.
Apply at least a week before travelling. Given how short the journey is and how often Belgians go to London at little notice, this is a market where the temptation to leave it late is strong. Most applications are approved immediately, but a rejected photograph turns that into a wait of up to three working days, which a weekend trip cannot absorb.
The juxtaposed controls make timing more important than it looks. UK Border Force officers are stationed at Brussels-Midi, so you clear British immigration in Belgium before boarding. A missing ETA is therefore discovered on the Belgian side, where there is no way to resolve it in time for that train.
On arrival
An approved ETA gets you on the plane. This is what happens once you land — and your nationality is one of those that can use the automated gates.
Your nationality is eligible to use the automated gates at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and most other UK ports, alongside British and Irish citizens. The gate reads your biometric passport chip and checks your ETA against it electronically.
Children aged 10 or 11 can use the gates when accompanied by an adult using them at the same time. Younger children must be seen at a staffed desk, so families with under-tens should join the officer queue together.
The gates do not stamp passports. Your arrival is recorded digitally, and your six-month permission runs from that date. Keep your boarding pass and booking confirmations if you need to evidence your arrival date later.
The gates refer a proportion of passengers to Border Force at random or where the chip does not read cleanly. This is routine, is not a sign of a problem with your ETA, and usually adds only a few minutes.
Getting there
Belgium's main link to Britain is the Eurostar from Brussels-Midi, which reaches London St Pancras in under two hours city centre to city centre and is faster than flying once airport transfers are counted. Brussels Airport and Charleroi add air connections to London and the British regions, and there is an overnight ferry from Zeebrugge to Hull.
Best time to go
Belgium and Britain share a maritime climate, so there is no season a Belgian visitor will find unfamiliar — grey, mild and changeable in both countries for much of the year. The differences that matter are daylight and landscape: a June evening in Scotland runs far longer than one in Brussels, and the uplands of Wales and the Highlands offer terrain that has no Belgian equivalent.
May, June and September are the best combination of weather and price. Prices sit below the July and August peak, the countryside is at its best, and September benefits from the end of the British school holidays while the weather in the south often holds into October.
Belgian school holidays are usefully out of step with the British ones for part of the year. The Carnival and Easter breaks, and the Toussaint week in autumn, all fall outside the British peak, which makes them noticeably better value for a London or Edinburgh trip. The July and August summer break overlaps with the British peak in both price and crowds.
One practical note. Britain is one hour behind Belgium year-round and both change clocks on the same dates, so the difference never varies. If you are taking the Eurostar, allow more time at Brussels-Midi than a domestic train would need — the UK border check happens before boarding and the check-in window closes well ahead of departure.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Belgium — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The ETA applies to rail and sea exactly as it does to air. The Eurostar from Brussels-Midi checks it before boarding, with UK Border Force officers physically present at the station. Belgians who obtain an ETA for a flight and later take the train without checking are stopped in Brussels, where nothing can be done in time for that departure.
The Belgian eID has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021. You need a passport, and the ETA is linked to that passport number. The only exception is for Belgian citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may still use an identity card and need no ETA at all.
Belgian adult passports run for seven years rather than the ten common elsewhere in the EU, and children's for five. That makes a renewal falling inside the ETA's two-year window more likely than travellers expect. A renewal voids the ETA with no transfer and no refund, so check the expiry date before applying.
A card that works only on the Bancontact network will not process an online international payment in pounds sterling. Use a Visa or Mastercard credit card, or a debit card you have already used successfully for overseas online purchases.
Every pupil on a class trip to London needs an individual ETA linked to their own passport. There is no group application and children cannot be added to a teacher's authorisation. Gathering passport details for a whole class in the final week before departure is the most common failure in Belgian school travel to Britain.
The Belgian community in London is substantial, and many hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. That status already carries permission to travel and an ETA is neither needed nor useful. Check before applying.
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 maintains an embassy in Brussels, alongside separate missions to the European Union and NATO, but none has any role in issuing an ETA. The application is completed online and decided digitally — there is no interview, no appointment and no passport submission. The embassy handles consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Belgian passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Belgian 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.
Yes. The ETA applies to every mode of travel to the United Kingdom, not only flights. Eurostar checks it at Brussels-Midi before boarding, and UK Border Force officers are stationed there under the juxtaposed controls arrangement. A missing ETA is discovered in Brussels, where it cannot be resolved in time for that train.
In most cases no. The Belgian eID has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021, and you need a passport. The exception is for Belgian citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may continue to use an identity card — and who do not need an ETA at all.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Belgian passport expires if that is sooner, and permits unlimited crossings during that period. Six months is a per-visit maximum rather than an annual allowance, and repeated long stays will lead Border Force to ask whether you are living in Britain.
Yes, potentially. The ETA expires when the passport it is linked to expires, and Belgian adult passports run for seven years rather than the ten common elsewhere. That makes it more likely a renewal will fall inside the ETA's two-year window. Check your expiry date before applying, because a renewal voids the ETA with no transfer and no refund.
No. Belgian citizens with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, indefinite leave to remain, or a valid UK visa do not need an ETA. Your existing status already carries permission to travel, so applying would be money spent unnecessarily.
Yes. There is no group application. Every pupil and every accompanying adult needs their own ETA linked to their own passport, and children cannot be added to a teacher's authorisation. Because gathering passport details for a class takes time, school trips should begin the process several weeks before departure.
Yes. Belgian citizens, like all EU nationals, are eligible for the automated ePassport gates at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and most other UK ports, provided the passport is biometric and the traveller is aged 10 or over. Children aged 10 and 11 must be accompanied by an adult using the gates at the same time.
Only for courses lasting up to six months, such as a language programme or a summer school. An academic year, a full degree or an exchange running beyond six months requires a Student visa applied for before travel. You cannot switch to a Student visa from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
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 Belgium. 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.
