German 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
Germany is one of the United Kingdom's largest European visitor markets and, in business terms, one of its most important relationships anywhere. The London–Frankfurt and London–Munich corridors carry an enormous volume of corporate traffic, German students and researchers are a fixture at British universities, and the cultural traffic in both directions — football, music, museums — is heavy and long established.
For thirty years that movement required nothing at all. Free movement ended with Brexit, identity cards stopped being accepted in October 2021, and from April 2025 the Electronic Travel Authorisation was extended to European nationalities including Germany. The ETA is not a visa and does not introduce a visa regime, but it is a step that has to be completed before departure, and it is genuinely new for a generation of German travellers who have never needed anything beyond a document in their pocket.
The mechanics are straightforward and will feel familiar to anyone who has applied for a US ESTA. The application is online, takes about ten minutes, and is usually decided within them. It is linked to your passport number rather than issued as a document, and it is checked by the airline before boarding. Lufthansa, British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair and Eurowings all verify it at the gate, and a passenger without one does not fly.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Germany is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so German citizens travel to Britain as visitors for tourism, family visits, business meetings, conferences or short courses without any consular application. The ETA is a digital pre-travel permission that precedes that visitor status rather than replacing it, and it does not shorten the six months German visitors have always been allowed.
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. This affects German school trips and family holidays in particular — a class travelling to London needs an individual authorisation for every pupil, which is a piece of planning that has to happen weeks rather than days before departure.
Several exemptions matter in the German case. German citizens holding a UK visa, settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA, because their existing status already carries the permission to travel. Dual nationals travelling on a British or Irish passport need nothing at all. Germany's rules on dual nationality have loosened considerably, so this is worth checking rather than assuming.
The identity card no longer works for travel to Britain. The Personalausweis stopped being accepted in October 2021 for most travellers, and you need a passport instead. German citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status are the exception and may still use an ID card. For everyone else, the passport is the document, and the ETA is attached to its number.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA lasts two years from the date it is granted, or until your German passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that period you may enter the UK as often as you like, with each visit lasting up to six months. For German business travellers on regular London or Edinburgh rotations, two years of multiple-entry validity removes a recurring administrative step entirely.
The passport-expiry rule is the one that costs money. The ETA attaches to the passport number you enter and ends when that document does. German passports are issued for ten years for adults over 24, six years for younger adults, and shorter periods for children. Applying near the end of a passport's life produces a correspondingly short ETA, and renewal does not carry it across — there is no transfer and no refund.
Britain does not require six months of onward passport validity, only that the passport covers your stay. German travellers sometimes assume symmetry with the rule the EU applies to third-country nationals entering Schengen, but the British requirement is simply that the document is valid while you are there.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry and is generous by any standard. It becomes relevant for two German groups. Students on courses longer than six months — an academic year, an exchange semester that runs long, a full degree — need a Student visa rather than an ETA. And German citizens who split their working life between the two countries should watch the pattern: repeated long stays adding up to most of the year read as residence rather than visiting, and Border Force considers entries cumulatively.
Pricing
Live fees for German passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Germany
Requirements
Everything German 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 Germany are decided automatically in the great majority of cases, and most applicants have their approval within minutes. The Home Office asks travellers to allow up to three working days, and a small proportion are referred to a caseworker — usually because a photograph fails the automated check rather than for any substantive reason.
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. German travellers tend to book early and plan carefully, which works in their favour — the sensible moment to deal with the ETA is when the flights are confirmed.
Two situations deserve extra lead time. School and university group trips need every participant authorised individually, and chasing thirty families for passport details in the final week is a familiar disaster. And business travellers who fly at short notice should get an ETA in place proactively rather than reactively — it lasts two years, so there is no downside to having one before you need it.
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
Germany has one of the densest air links to Britain in Europe, with services from every major city to London and extensive coverage of the British regions. Lufthansa and British Airways carry the business traffic into Heathrow, while easyJet, Ryanair and Eurowings connect a much wider spread of German and British airports at lower fares.
Best time to go
German and British weather patterns are broadly similar, which makes the seasonal planning intuitive — but Britain is milder and wetter, and the maritime climate means far less extreme winters than Bavaria or Brandenburg. A German visitor in January will find London considerably less cold than home, and considerably greyer.
May, June and September are the best months. Long daylight, settled weather and prices below the July and August peak. September deserves particular mention: the British school holidays have ended, the weather in the south often holds into October, and the cities are noticeably calmer than in high summer.
The German holiday calendar creates real opportunities because the Länder stagger their summer breaks across July, August and into September. If your state's holidays fall early or late in that window, you may find yourself travelling outside the British peak entirely, which makes a meaningful difference to hotel prices in London and Edinburgh. Whitsun and the autumn half-term breaks are similarly good for a short city trip.
One practical point on timing. Britain is one hour behind Germany all year, and both change their clocks on the same dates, so the difference never varies. Flights from Frankfurt and Munich arrive at Heathrow in a heavy morning bank, which means immigration queues are longest between seven and ten in the morning — worth knowing if you have a connecting domestic flight or an early meeting.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Germany — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The German identity card has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021, and a great many travellers still arrive at the airport with one. You need a passport, and the ETA is linked to that passport number. The only exception is for German citizens holding EU Settlement Scheme status, who may still use an ID card and need no ETA at all.
The ETA must match the machine-readable zone of the passport exactly, where umlauts are transliterated — Müller appears as MUELLER, Björn as BJOERN, Weiß as WEISS. Entering the name with the umlaut characters, or dropping the transliteration to Muller, creates a mismatch between the authorisation and the passport that the airline check can flag.
Germans living in Britain with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme already have permission to travel. An ETA is neither required nor useful. Checking your status before applying is the difference between a valid trip and money spent for nothing.
A German EC-Karte or Girocard will generally not process an online international payment in pounds sterling. This is a routine cause of failed applications. 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 no way to add children to a teacher's authorisation. Collecting thirty sets of passport details in the final week before departure is the single most common failure in German school travel to Britain.
The ETA permits study of up to six months. A German student on an academic year, a full degree, or an exchange running beyond six months needs a Student visa applied for before travel. It cannot be obtained from within the UK after arriving on an ETA, so the application has to happen in Germany.
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 Berlin and consulates-general in Düsseldorf and Munich, but none is involved in issuing an ETA. The application is completed online and decided digitally — there is no interview, no appointment and no passport submission. These missions handle consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not the right option, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions German passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. German 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.
In most cases no. The Personalausweis has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021, and you need a passport. The exception is for German citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may continue to use an identity card — and who do not need an ETA at all, since their status already carries permission to travel.
Exactly as it appears in the machine-readable zone at the bottom of your passport photo page, where umlauts are transliterated: ä becomes AE, ö becomes OE, ü becomes UE and ß becomes SS. So Müller is entered as MUELLER. Do not use the umlaut characters themselves and do not simply drop the dots, as either creates a mismatch with the passport.
No. German 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 the permission to travel, and applying for an ETA would be money spent unnecessarily.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your German passport expires if that is sooner, and allows unlimited entries during that period. Six months is a per-visit maximum rather than an annual allowance — repeatedly using most of it will prompt Border Force to ask whether you are living in Britain.
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 or parent's authorisation. Because collecting passport details for a whole class takes time, group trips should start the process several weeks before departure.
Yes. German 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 of 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 from Germany. You cannot switch to a Student visa from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
No. The ETA is linked 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 whole 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 taking in London, Manchester and Edinburgh needs only one authorisation.
Your nationality is already set to Germany. 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.
