Panamanian 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
Panama's position as the crossroads of the Americas gives it an outsized role in regional travel, and Tocumen is one of Latin America's most important hubs. The country's financial and shipping sectors have long-standing links to the City of London, and a steady flow of Panamanian business travellers, students and tourists makes the journey to Britain each year.
Since January 2025 that journey has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation. Panama remains a non-visa country for UK purposes and nothing about what Panamanian citizens may do in Britain has changed — the ETA is a digital pre-travel permission applied for online and attached to the passport number. It simply has to be obtained before departure.
Panama's advantage over its neighbours is connectivity. Tocumen's hub role and Copa Airlines' network mean Panamanians have unusually wide choice of routings to Europe, and several avoid the United States entirely — which matters, because a US connection requires a separate ESTA or visa on top of the UK ETA.
At a glance
Eligibility
You do not need a visa, but you do need an ETA. Panama is a non-visa national country for UK purposes, so Panamanian 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 Panamanian 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 and business delegations travelling together need an individual authorisation for each person — there is no group submission.
The exemptions are the standard ones. Panamanian citizens holding a UK visa or indefinite leave to remain do not need an ETA, since their existing status already carries the permission. Some Panamanians hold Spanish or Italian citizenship through descent — an EU passport still requires an ETA, but gives access to the ePassport gates on arrival.
If your itinerary connects through the United States, you will need a US ESTA or visa in addition to the UK ETA. They are entirely separate systems and holding one confers nothing towards the other. Copa's European routings via Madrid and Amsterdam avoid the issue, which is worth factoring into the booking.
Stay & validity
An approved ETA is valid for two years from the date it is granted, or until your Panamanian passport expires, whichever comes first. Within that window there is no limit on entries, and each visit can last up to six months. For Panamanian business travellers making regular trips to London, two years of multiple-entry validity 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. Panamanian passports are issued for five years for adults and shorter periods for minors, so a renewal falling inside the ETA's two-year window is more likely than travellers expect. Renewal voids the authorisation with no transfer and no refund.
Britain does not require six months of onward passport validity, only that the passport covers your stay. Transit countries do impose their own rules, however, and several apply a six-month test. Check the whole itinerary rather than the British leg alone.
Six months per visit is the maximum for a single entry rather than an annual allowance. It matters most for Panamanian students, whose courses must finish within six months or require a Student visa instead. An academic year or a full degree at a British university needs that application made from Panama before travel.
Pricing
Live fees for Panamanian passport holders, shown all-in — the Home Office charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Panama
Requirements
Everything Panamanian 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 Panama 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, and preferably when you book. Because there is no direct service from Panama City to Britain, every journey involves a connection, and a problem discovered mid-route is harder to recover from than one found at a home airport.
Transit authorisations deserve separate attention. If your routing goes through the United States you need an ESTA or a US visa, which is a different process with its own timescale. Copa's Madrid and Amsterdam routings avoid it entirely, and choosing one of those simplifies the paperwork considerably.
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
Panama City's Tocumen is one of Latin America's principal hubs, and Copa Airlines' network gives Panamanians unusually wide choice for a country of its size. The European routings via Madrid and Amsterdam avoid US transit requirements entirely, which is a practical advantage over neighbouring countries.
Best time to go
Panamanian visitors arrive from a tropical climate into a temperate one, and the contrast is substantial. Britain has four distinct seasons where Panama has wet and dry, and a British winter will feel genuinely cold — worth planning clothing for properly. The long northern summer evening, with daylight past ten at night in Scotland, is a real novelty.
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 Panamanian calendar creates a useful alignment. The rainy season from May to November is quieter at home, and its early months coincide with some of the best weather and value in Britain. The dry season from December to April is Panama's own peak, and Carnaval in February is a natural time to stay.
One practical note. Panama does not observe daylight saving, so the difference with Britain shifts across the year — five hours behind London in the northern winter and six during British Summer Time. With at least one connection on every itinerary, check the actual local times on each leg.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Panama — we check for every one of them before submitting.
Routings through Miami or Houston require a US ESTA or visa in addition to the UK ETA. They are entirely separate systems, and a traveller correctly authorised for Britain can be refused boarding in Panama City for lacking the American one. Copa's Madrid and Amsterdam routings avoid the issue entirely.
Panamanian passports are issued for five years for adults rather than the ten common elsewhere. The ETA expires when the passport does, so a renewal falling inside the ETA's two-year window is more likely than travellers expect — and it voids the authorisation with no transfer and no refund.
Panamanian passports print both surnames, and the ETA must match the machine-readable zone exactly. Entering only the paternal surname creates a mismatch between the authorisation and the passport that an airline check can flag at the departure gate.
Panamanian passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen at a staffed Border Force desk. The ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
There is no group or delegation submission. Every traveller needs an individual ETA linked to their own passport, so business and government delegations need passport details from every participant gathered well in advance.
Panama does not observe daylight saving, so the offset with Britain shifts between five and six hours across the year. Travellers who assume a constant difference misread connection times, which matters more on a multi-leg routing.
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 Panama City, 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, visa routes where an ETA is not appropriate, and support for applicants whose circumstances require a human decision.
FAQs
The questions Panamanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United Kingdom.
No. Panamanian 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, applied for entirely online.
Yes. A US connection requires a separate ESTA or US visa in addition to the UK ETA — they are entirely different systems. A traveller correctly authorised for Britain can be refused boarding for lacking the American authorisation. Copa's Madrid and Amsterdam routings avoid the issue entirely.
The ETA expires when the passport it is linked to expires, and Panamanian passports run for five years rather than the ten common elsewhere. That makes a renewal falling inside the ETA's two-year window more likely, and it voids the ETA with no transfer and no refund.
Yes. Panamanian passports print both surnames, and the ETA must match the machine-readable zone at the bottom of your photo page exactly. Entering only the paternal surname creates a mismatch that the airline check can flag at the gate.
No. Panamanian passport holders are not currently in the ePassport gate cohort and will be seen by a Border Force officer at a staffed desk. Your ETA is exactly the same document and carries the same permission — only the arrival process differs.
Up to six months per visit. The ETA is valid for two years, or until your Panamanian 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. There is no group or delegation application. Every traveller needs an individual ETA linked to their own passport. Collect passport details from every participant well in advance, since the process cannot be handled as a single submission.
Five hours behind London in the northern winter and six during British Summer Time, because Panama does not observe daylight saving. Check the actual local times on your itinerary rather than assuming a fixed offset, particularly with connections involved.
Only for courses lasting up to six months, such as a short English programme or a summer school. An academic year or a full degree requires a Student visa applied for from Panama 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 Panama. 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.
