Brazilian passport holders have needed a UK ETA since January 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
Brazil sends more visitors to Britain than any other South American country by a wide margin, and the Brazilian community in the UK is one of the largest Latin American populations in Europe. London in particular has a substantial and long-established Brazilian presence, and the traffic between the two countries — students, workers, tourists and family visitors — is heavy and year-round.
Since January 2025 that journey has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Brazil remains firmly a non-visa country for UK purposes and nothing about what Brazilian citizens may do in Britain has changed — the ETA is a digital pre-travel permission applied for online and attached to the passport number. What is new is completing it before departure.
One point deserves emphasis for the Brazilian market specifically. The ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work in Britain. A great many Brazilians have historically gone to the UK to work, particularly in hospitality, and the ETA does not change that position — it never permitted it, and it still does not. Arriving as a visitor intending to find a job is grounds for refusal at the border.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Brazil is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Brazilian 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 Brazilian 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. Brazilian families visiting relatives already living in Britain need a separate authorisation for each person travelling.
The exemptions matter given the size of the Brazilian community in Britain. Brazilian citizens holding a UK visa or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA, since their existing status carries the permission. Many Brazilians in Britain also hold a Portuguese or Italian passport through descent — travelling on that removes nothing (an ETA is still needed) but does give access to the ePassport gates on arrival, which a Brazilian passport does not.
Brazilian passport holders are seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk on arrival. That is worth knowing because Brazilian arrivals into Heathrow land in the early morning bank, when desk queues are at their longest. Allow properly for it if you have a connecting flight or an appointment the same day.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Brazilian passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on entries, and each visit can last up to six months. For families split between Brazil and Britain, one application covering two years of visits removes a recurring step.
The passport-expiry rule is the one to check first. The ETA is bound to the passport number you enter and ends when that document does. Brazilian passports are issued for ten years for adults over eighteen and five years for minors, 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. Brazilian travellers are used to stricter requirements elsewhere and sometimes over-prepare, which is harmless — but the British rule is simply that the document remains valid while you are there.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry rather than an annual allowance, and it is a rule with real consequences here. An ETA confers no right to work. Nor can repeated six-month visits substitute for residence — Border Force considers entries cumulatively, and a pattern of long stays reads as living in Britain rather than visiting. Brazilians who genuinely intend to work or settle need an appropriate visa route.
Pricing
Live fees for Brazilian passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Brazil
Requirements
Everything Brazilian 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 Brazil are decided automatically in the great majority of cases, and most applicants receive approval within minutes. The Home Office asks travellers to allow up to three working days, and a small proportion are referred for manual review, usually where a photograph fails the automated check or a name has not been entered exactly as printed.
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.
Two things deserve extra attention. Payment must be by card in pounds sterling — Pix and Boleto, the default payment methods for much of Brazilian online commerce, are not available. And the overnight departures from São Paulo and Rio arrive at Heathrow in the early morning, so a problem discovered at check-in falls in the British small hours when it cannot be escalated.
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
Brazil has the strongest air link to Britain in South America, with British Airways, LATAM and Virgin Atlantic all operating the London route from São Paulo and Rio. Most other Brazilian cities connect through São Paulo Guarulhos or a European gateway such as Lisbon, Madrid or Paris.
Best time to go
The seasons are inverted, and Brazilians should plan around that. The British summer — June to August — coincides with the Brazilian winter, which makes it the traditional window and also the most expensive and crowded time to be in Britain. A British summer will feel mild rather than hot to most Brazilians, and the long northern evening, with daylight past ten at night in Scotland, is a genuine novelty.
May and September are the better bets. Both give good weather and long daylight in Britain, both sit below the July and August fare peak, and September in particular avoids the August crush at every major attraction. For Brazilians with flexibility, the saving on a twelve-hour flight is substantial.
The Brazilian summer holidays in January and February, together with Carnaval, are the peak outbound period and the most expensive time to fly. They land in Britain's cheapest, quietest and darkest months — the two partly offset, and a February city break in London can be very good value if short daylight is not a problem for your itinerary.
One practical note. Brazil no longer observes daylight saving, so the difference with Britain shifts across the year — São Paulo is three hours behind London in the northern winter and four during British Summer Time. Check the actual local times on your itinerary rather than assuming a fixed offset, particularly on connections beyond London.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Brazil — we check for every one of them before submitting.
A great many Brazilians have historically gone to Britain to work, particularly in hospitality. The ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work whatsoever — it never did and still does not. Arriving as a visitor intending to find a job is grounds for refusal at the border, and repeated six-month visits are not a substitute for a work visa.
The fee is charged in pounds sterling and requires a credit or debit card able to process an international transaction. Pix and Boleto, which handle much of Brazilian online commerce, are not available for this payment. Use a Visa or Mastercard enabled for international purchases.
Brazilian passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen at a staffed Border Force desk. Brazilian flights land at Heathrow in the early morning bank when desk queues are longest, so allow properly for it. If you also hold a Portuguese or Italian passport, travelling on that gives automated gate access.
Brazilian passports for minors run for five years rather than the ten adults receive. The ETA expires when the passport does, so a family applying together may find the children's authorisations lasting considerably less than the parents'. Check each expiry date individually.
Brazil no longer observes daylight saving, so the offset with Britain shifts across the year — three hours in the northern winter and four during British Summer Time. Travellers who assume a constant difference misread connection times, particularly beyond London.
The ETA permits study of up to six months. An academic year, a full degree or a long English course requires a Student visa applied for from Brazil before travel. It cannot be arranged from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
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 Brasília and consulates in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Recife. None 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 missions handle consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Brazilian passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Brazilian citizens do not need a visa for tourism, business visits, short study or transit in the United Kingdom. Since January 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.
No. The ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work in the UK labour market, including in hospitality. Working requires an appropriate work visa. Arriving as a visitor with the intention of finding a job is grounds for refusal at the border, and repeated six-month visits do not substitute for a work route.
No. The fee is charged in pounds sterling and requires a credit or debit card able to process an international transaction. Pix and Boleto are not available for this payment. Use a Visa or Mastercard enabled for international online purchases.
No. Brazilian passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk. Brazilian flights arrive in the early morning bank when queues are longest, so allow extra time. If you also hold a Portuguese or Italian passport, travelling on that gives automated gate access.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Brazilian 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 — repeated long stays will lead Border Force to ask whether you are living in Britain.
It varies. Brazil no longer observes daylight saving, so São Paulo is three hours behind London in the northern winter and four during British Summer Time. Check the actual local times on your itinerary rather than assuming a fixed offset, particularly if you have a connection beyond London.
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. Brazilian passports for minors run for five years rather than ten, so check each expiry date.
Only for courses lasting up to six months, such as a short English programme or a summer school. An academic year, a full degree or a long language course requires a Student visa applied for from Brazil before travel. You cannot switch from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
Either, since Portuguese citizens also need an ETA. The practical difference is at the border: a Portuguese passport gives access to the ePassport gates while a Brazilian passport does not. If you want the quicker arrival, travel on the Portuguese passport and apply for the ETA against that 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 Brazil. 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.
