Maltese 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
Malta's connection to Britain is closer than that of almost any other EU country. English is an official language, the legal and administrative systems are British-derived, cars drive on the left, and the island was a British possession until 1964. The result is a relationship that feels less like foreign travel than a trip between two parts of the same world — and a very high volume of movement in both directions for a country of half a million people.
Since April 2025 that journey has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Malta remains firmly a non-visa country and nothing about what Maltese 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, which is a real adjustment given how routine the trip has always been.
The mechanics are quick and the application is in English, which removes the friction that exists in some other markets. It takes about ten minutes, is usually decided within them, and produces no document — the authorisation lives against your passport number. Air Malta's successor KM Malta Airlines, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet all check it before boarding.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Malta is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Maltese 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 Maltese 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. Maltese families visiting relatives in Britain — an extremely common pattern given the size of the Maltese-descended community there — need a separate authorisation for each traveller.
The exemptions apply widely. Maltese 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. More significantly for Malta than for most countries, a substantial number of Maltese citizens are also British citizens through descent or historic entitlement — anyone travelling on a British passport needs nothing at all. Check the drawer before you pay.
The Maltese 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. Maltese citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status are the exception and may still use an identity card.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Maltese passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on entries, and each visit can last up to six months. Given how frequently Maltese travellers go to Britain — family, business, university visits — one application covering two years is a genuine 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. Maltese 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. Maltese 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. It matters most for Maltese students — Britain is by far the most popular destination for Maltese university study, and an academic year requires a Student visa rather than an ETA. It also matters for the many Maltese who work in Britain: an ETA confers no right to work, and repeated visits are not a substitute for a proper immigration route.
Pricing
Live fees for Maltese passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Malta
Requirements
Everything Maltese 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 Malta are decided automatically in almost all 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 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.
Malta's island geography makes the buffer more valuable than in a comparable mainland country. There is no alternative to flying, schedules to Britain are less frequent than from a European capital, and a missed departure may mean waiting a day rather than a few hours. A problem discovered at check-in at Luqa has no quick remedy.
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
Malta has a strong British network for its size, reflecting both the historic relationship and the volume of British tourism to the islands. London is served several times daily in peak season, and there is direct service to a good spread of UK regional airports.
Best time to go
Maltese visitors arrive from a Mediterranean climate into a maritime one, and the contrast is greatest in summer — a British July is cooler than a Maltese May, and considerably wetter. The compensating attraction is the northern evening: daylight in Scotland in June runs past ten at night, hours longer than in Valletta.
May, June and September are the strongest months for a British trip, sitting below the July and August peak in price while offering the best weather. September is particularly good value, with the British school holidays over and the weather in the south often holding into October.
For Maltese travellers there is a strong case for the British winter. Malta's own peak tourist season runs from May to October, when many residents are least free to travel, and November through February in Britain is cheap, uncrowded and at its best for shopping, theatre and football. The short daylight matters little for a city trip, and the temperature difference from a Maltese winter is smaller than most expect.
One practical note. Britain is one hour behind Malta year-round, with both changing clocks on the same dates. Because there is no alternative to flying and schedules are not dense, build more slack into connections than you would from a mainland European city — particularly if you are travelling on to a British regional airport.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Malta — we check for every one of them before submitting.
A substantial number of Maltese citizens are also British citizens through descent or historic entitlement, and many hold a British passport they have not used in years. If you do, travel on it and you need no ETA at all. Even an expired British passport is evidence of a status worth confirming before paying for an authorisation you may not need.
The Maltese 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 Maltese citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may still use an identity card and need no ETA at all.
Britain is by far the most popular destination for Maltese university study, and the ETA permits study of up to six months only. An academic year or a full degree requires a Student visa applied for from Malta before travel. It cannot be arranged from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
Many Maltese work in Britain, and the shared language and legal system make it a natural destination. The ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work whatsoever. Arriving as a visitor intending to find a job is grounds for refusal at the border, and repeated visits do not substitute for a work route.
There is no alternative to flying from Malta, and services to Britain are less frequent than from a European capital. A photograph that fails the automated check means a wait of up to three working days, and a missed departure may cost a day rather than an hour. Apply earlier than you would from a mainland city.
Many Maltese living in Britain 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 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
As a fellow Commonwealth member, Malta hosts a British High Commission rather than an embassy. 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 High Commission handles consular assistance, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Maltese passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Maltese 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 — British citizens need nothing at all. A substantial number of Maltese are also British citizens through descent or historic entitlement, and many hold a British passport they have not used for years. If you do, travel on it. Even an expired British passport is evidence of a status worth confirming before you pay for an ETA you may not need.
In most cases no. The Maltese identity card has not been accepted for travel to Britain since October 2021, and you need a passport. The exception is for Maltese citizens with EU Settlement Scheme status, who may continue to use an identity card — and who do not need an ETA at all.
Only for courses lasting up to six months. Britain is by far the most popular destination for Maltese university study, but an academic year or a full degree requires a Student visa applied for from Malta before travel. You cannot switch to a Student visa from within the UK after arriving on an ETA.
No. The ETA is a visitor permission and confers no right to work in the UK labour market. 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.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Maltese 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.
No. Maltese 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. Maltese 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.
At least a week, and earlier than you would from a mainland European city. There is no alternative to flying, services to Britain are less frequent than from a European capital, and a rejected photograph can mean a wait of up to three working days. A missed departure from Malta may cost a day rather than an hour.
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 Malta. 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.
