Macau SAR 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
Macau is a Special Administrative Region of about seven hundred thousand people, best known internationally for its casinos but with a Portuguese colonial history stretching back to the sixteenth century. Travel from Macau to Britain is modest in absolute numbers, driven mainly by business connected to the hospitality and gaming industries, education, and family links.
Since January 2025 that journey has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation for those travelling on a Macau SAR passport. Macau remains a non-visa territory for UK purposes and nothing about what SAR passport holders may do in Britain has changed — the ETA is a digital pre-travel permission applied for online and attached to the passport number.
The practical shape of a Macau journey to Britain is defined by geography. Macau's own airport has no direct service to Europe, so almost every trip begins with a short ferry or bridge crossing to Hong Kong International, or a connection through mainland China, Taipei or a Gulf hub. None of that changes 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. Macau is a non-visa territory for UK purposes, so Macau SAR passport holders travel to Britain as visitors for tourism, family visits, business, conferences or short courses without a consular application. The ETA precedes that permission and does not reduce it — the six months Macau 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. Macau SAR passport holders who already hold a UK visa or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA. Dual nationals travelling on a British or Irish passport need nothing at all — and this is worth checking in Macau, where Portuguese nationality is held by a meaningful number of long-established families. A Portuguese passport holder needs an ETA too, but would gain access to the ePassport gates on arrival.
Eligibility follows the travel document. Residents of Macau travelling on a mainland Chinese passport are not covered by the Macau arrangement and need a Standard Visitor visa applied for weeks in advance. Given the movement of people between Macau and the mainland, this distinction is worth confirming before booking anything.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Macau SAR passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on entries, and each visit can last up to six months. Given the effort involved in reaching Britain from Macau, an authorisation covering two years of travel is a real convenience.
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. Macau SAR 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. Macau travellers are used to stricter requirements across Asia 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. In practice almost no Macau 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 university requires a Student visa applied for in advance.
Pricing
Live fees for Macau SAR passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Macau
Requirements
Everything Macau SAR 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 Macau are decided automatically in most cases, and the majority of applicants receive approval within minutes. The Home Office asks travellers to allow up to three working days, and a proportion 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.
Macau's geography makes the buffer more valuable than elsewhere. Almost every journey to Britain starts with a crossing to Hong Kong International, an hour or so away by ferry or across the bridge, and a problem discovered at check-in there cannot be resolved by returning home. Long-haul departures also leave at unsociable hours, when nothing can be escalated to the UK.
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
Macau has no direct service to Europe, and Hong Kong International is the effective gateway — reachable by high-speed ferry directly to the airport's SkyPier or by road across the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. Connections through Taipei, mainland Chinese hubs and the Gulf are the alternatives.
Best time to go
Macau visitors arrive from a subtropical climate into a temperate one, and the contrast is sharpest in summer. A British July is dramatically cooler and less humid than a Macau July, which is much of the appeal, and the long northern evening is a genuine novelty — daylight past ten at night in Scotland.
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 Macau calendar creates a useful pattern. Chinese New Year and the Golden Week periods are the busiest times in Macau itself and the most expensive for outbound travel, but they land in Britain's quietest and cheapest months. The two partly offset, and a February trip to London can still be good value. The typhoon season from June to September is a further argument for travelling then.
One practical note. Macau is eight hours ahead of Britain in winter and seven during British Summer Time, since Macau does not change its clocks. The difference therefore shifts twice a year. Build the crossing to Hong Kong International into your planning generously — the ferry and bridge are reliable but not fast, and long-haul check-in closes early.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Macau — we check for every one of them before submitting.
Eligibility follows the travel document, not residence. A resident of Macau travelling on a mainland Chinese passport is not covered by the Macau arrangement and needs a Standard Visitor visa applied for several weeks in advance with a biometric appointment. Confirm which passport you will present before booking.
Because Macau has no direct service to Europe, almost every journey starts at Hong Kong International. The ETA follows your nationality and your passport, not your departure airport — a Macau SAR passport holder needs a Macau-nationality ETA regardless of where the aircraft leaves from.
Macau SAR passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk on arrival. The ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
A meaningful number of long-established Macau families hold Portuguese nationality. A Portuguese passport holder still needs an ETA, but gains access to the ePassport gates on arrival. If you hold both, consider which document gives the better arrival experience and apply against the one you will actually travel on.
The ferry and bridge to Hong Kong International take about an hour in good conditions and longer at busy times. Long-haul check-in closes early, and a problem found there cannot be fixed by returning to Macau. Allow generously and settle the ETA days ahead.
The ETA permits study of up to six months. An academic year or a full degree at a British university requires a Student visa applied for in advance from Macau. 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's consular representation for Macau is provided by the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong. It plays no part in issuing an ETA — the application is completed online and decided digitally, with no interview, no appointment and no passport submission. The consulate-general handles consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Macau SAR passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Macau SAR passport holders 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, applied for entirely online.
No. Eligibility follows the travel document, not residence. A mainland Chinese passport is not covered by the Macau arrangement, and you would need a Standard Visitor visa applied for several weeks in advance with a biometric appointment. Confirm which passport you will present before booking any travel.
No. The ETA attaches to you and your passport, not your departure airport. Because Macau has no direct service to Europe, almost every journey starts at Hong Kong International, but that makes no difference to the requirement — a Macau SAR passport holder needs an ETA regardless.
No. Macau SAR passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk. The ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
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 Macau SAR passport does not. If you want the quicker arrival, travel on the Portuguese passport and apply for the ETA against that number.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Macau SAR 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.
Eight hours in winter and seven during British Summer Time, because Macau does not change its clocks. The difference therefore shifts twice a year. Check the actual local times on your itinerary rather than assuming a fixed offset.
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. Macau SAR passports for children run for five years rather than ten, so check each expiry date.
Only for courses lasting up to six months, such as a summer school or a short language programme. An academic year or a full degree requires a Student visa applied for from Macau 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 and Edinburgh needs only one authorisation.
Your nationality is already set to Macau. 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.
