Latvian 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
Latvia has one of the largest diasporas in Britain relative to its population of any EU country. Following accession in 2004, substantial Latvian communities established themselves in London, Peterborough, Boston in Lincolnshire and across the east of England, and the traffic between Riga and Britain has been heavy ever since — family visits, work travel and the constant movement of people between two countries whose lives are genuinely intertwined.
Since April 2025 that journey has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Latvia remains firmly a non-visa country and nothing about what Latvian 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.
The critical issue for Latvia, more than for almost any other country, is who actually needs one. A great many Latvians in Britain hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and need no ETA at all. And a significant number of residents of Latvia hold the non-citizen's passport rather than a citizen's passport, which is not covered by the visa-free arrangement at all. Establishing which category you fall into comes before everything else.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Latvia is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Latvian 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 Latvian visitors have always been allowed is unchanged.
There is a distinction here that matters more than anywhere else in the EU. Latvia issues both a citizen's passport and a non-citizen's passport, the latter to long-term residents who did not acquire citizenship after independence. Non-citizen passport holders are not Latvian citizens for these purposes and are not covered by the visa-free arrangement — they need a Standard Visitor visa applied for weeks in advance, with a biometric appointment. Check which passport you hold before doing anything else.
The exemptions matter enormously given the size of the Latvian community in Britain. Latvian citizens holding settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, indefinite leave to remain, or a UK visa do not need an ETA — their existing status already carries permission to travel. Unnecessary applications are common in this market, so check your status before paying.
The Latvian 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. Latvian citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status are the exception and may still use an identity card. Every traveller needs their own ETA regardless of age, and children cannot be added to a parent's application.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Latvian 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 Latvia and Britain who travel several times a year, one application covering two years is a genuine simplification.
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. Latvian passports are issued for ten years for adults and five 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. Latvian travellers are used to the Schengen rule for third-country nationals and sometimes assume symmetry, but for a trip to Britain only the British requirement applies.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry rather than an annual allowance, and this is genuinely important for Latvia. An ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work whatsoever. Latvians who worked in Britain under free movement and did not acquire EU Settlement Scheme status cannot simply return and work — that now needs an appropriate work visa, and repeated six-month visits are not a substitute for one.
Pricing
Live fees for Latvian passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Latvia
Requirements
Everything Latvian 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 Latvia 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.
Apply at least a week before travelling. The Riga–UK routes are dense and inexpensive, so trips are frequently booked at short notice and last-minute applications are common. A photograph that fails the automated check turns an instant approval into a wait of up to three working days.
Two things deserve earlier attention. If there is any doubt about whether you hold a citizen's or a non-citizen's passport, resolve that before booking — the two lead to entirely different processes with very different timescales. And where an older relative is travelling from Latvia with arrangements made remotely by family in Britain, start weeks ahead rather than days.
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
Riga has an excellent British network for a city of its size, reflecting both airBaltic's hub operation and the scale of the Latvian community in the UK. Direct services reach London and a wide spread of British regional airports, several of which serve the areas where Latvians have settled in numbers.
Best time to go
Latvians find the British winter conspicuously mild. A December in London has around eight hours of daylight against Riga's six, and temperatures rarely drop below freezing where Riga is routinely well below. November through February in Britain is therefore an appealing and inexpensive season for Latvian visitors.
May, June and September are the strongest months for weather and value together. All three sit below the July and August peak in British prices, and September benefits from the end of the British school holidays while the weather in the south often holds into October.
The two peak periods for Latvian travel to Britain are Christmas and midsummer, when families reunite in both directions. Both are heavily booked and expensive on these routes, and both are when a missing ETA is hardest to recover from. Since the authorisation lasts two years, there is no reason to leave it until the month of travel.
One practical note. Latvia is two hours ahead of Britain year-round, with both changing clocks on the same dates. Many Riga–UK services fly at early or late hours to keep fares low, which leaves little margin if something needs resolving at check-in.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Latvia — we check for every one of them before submitting.
This is the most consequential error in the Latvian market. Latvia issues both citizen's and non-citizen's passports, and holders of the latter are not covered by the visa-free arrangement. They need a Standard Visitor visa applied for several weeks in advance with a biometric appointment, not an ETA. Establish which passport you hold before booking anything.
The Latvian community in Britain is very large relative to Latvia's population, and a great many hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. That status already carries permission to travel and an ETA is neither required nor useful. Check your status before anyone in the family pays.
Free movement ended with Brexit. Latvians who worked in Britain previously and do not hold EU Settlement Scheme status cannot return and work on an ETA — it is a visitor permission only. Arriving as a visitor intending to take a job is grounds for refusal at the border, and repeated visits are not a substitute for a work visa.
The Latvian identity card 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 exception is for Latvian citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may still use an identity card and need no ETA at all.
The ETA must match the machine-readable zone of the passport, where garumzīmes and mīkstinājuma zīmes are stripped to plain Latin letters. Entering the accented characters, or guessing at a substitution, creates a mismatch that the airline check can flag at the gate.
Where a parent or grandparent is travelling from Latvia with arrangements made remotely by family in Britain, the practical work takes longer than expected — finding the passport, checking validity, taking a compliant photograph. Start weeks ahead, particularly around Christmas and midsummer when flights are full.
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 Riga, but it plays no part 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, Standard Visitor visa matters for those who need that route including non-citizen passport holders, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Latvian passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Latvian 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.
No. Latvia issues both citizen's and non-citizen's passports, and holders of the non-citizen's passport are not covered by the visa-free arrangement. You need a Standard Visitor visa, which takes several weeks and requires a biometric appointment. Establish which passport you hold before booking any travel — this is the most important question on this page.
No. Latvian 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 — the existing status already carries permission to travel. Given how large the Latvian community in Britain is, this exemption applies very widely, so check before paying.
No. Free movement ended with Brexit, and the ETA is a visitor permission that confers no right to work in the UK labour market. Latvians who worked in Britain previously and do not hold EU Settlement Scheme status need an appropriate work visa. Arriving as a visitor intending to find a job is grounds for refusal at the border.
In most cases no. The Latvian identity card has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021, and you need a passport. The exception is for Latvian citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may continue to use an identity card — and who do not need an ETA at all.
Each needs their own ETA linked to their own passport — they cannot share one or be added to yours. Check first that they hold citizen's rather than non-citizen's passports, since the latter requires a Standard Visitor visa instead. Start the process weeks ahead if they are travelling at Christmas or midsummer.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Latvian 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.
Yes. Latvian 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 summer school or a short language programme. An academic year, a full degree or an exchange running beyond six months requires a Student visa applied for from Latvia before travel. You cannot switch 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, Peterborough and Edinburgh needs only one authorisation.
Your nationality is already set to Latvia. 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.
