ETA for travel to London - needed or a scam

[Anonymous]

And the EU will put a similar scheme in place next year

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile the US is proposing that visitors from the UK will now have to provide “a long list of personal data including social media, email addresses from the last decade, and the names, birth dates, places of residence and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings and children.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/travel/social-media-tourists-visa-border-patrol.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile the US is proposing that visitors from the UK will now have to provide “a long list of personal data including social media, email addresses from the last decade, and the names, birth dates, places of residence and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings and children.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/travel/social-media-tourists-visa-border-patrol.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

That’s nuts. If that happens other countries will retaliate and make americans do the same. Not sure I can take 3 more years of this craziness. P

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We haven't been abroad in over a decade - since before kids, so forgive this question if everyone else already knows. We, family of 5, are traveling to London over Christmas break, and a coworker asked if we'd gotten our ETA yet. I had no idea what she was talking about. Google found this: https://share.google/2CKQym77Y6XDmNGX4

Is this for real and needed and just another way to collect money from tourists? Or a scam?

why would a family travel to London over Christmas break?

you could stay home and burn your money in the fire over the holidays. At least you would stay warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I applied for and received the ETA for each of us and received the clearance within minutes of applying. An additional $110 for the trip ($22.01 each, for 5 of us).

Thank you to those who were helpful, and for those who think I'm a yokel, whatever.

Glad you got it sorted OP. As a general rule when things are on government websites they are normally not a scam.

Well, except in the USA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, Brazil now requires that Americans have visas to enter the country.

We no longer have easy traveling privileges all around the world.

This is required for all UK visitors from visa exempt countries, including the EU and Canada. The US has not been singled out in any way, and your privileges are the same. You just have to do a short online form and pay a small fee now.

How did the UK and Canada get roped into this? It made perfect sense when the US did not reciprocate visa-free status with Brazil, did the UK and Canada not reciprocate as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, Brazil now requires that Americans have visas to enter the country.

We no longer have easy traveling privileges all around the world.

This is required for all UK visitors from visa exempt countries, including the EU and Canada. The US has not been singled out in any way, and your privileges are the same. You just have to do a short online form and pay a small fee now.

How did the UK and Canada get roped into this? It made perfect sense when the US did not reciprocate visa-free status with Brazil, did the UK and Canada not reciprocate as well?

Roped into what? Requiring visitors to have either a visa or travel authorisation (with a couple of exceptions)? Many countries do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile the US is proposing that visitors from the UK will now have to provide “a long list of personal data including social media, email addresses from the last decade, and the names, birth dates, places of residence and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings and children.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/travel/social-media-tourists-visa-border-patrol.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

That’s nuts. If that happens other countries will retaliate and make americans do the same. Not sure I can take 3 more years of this craziness. P

Few countries will retaliate. They would see it as absolutely pointless and couldn’t care less about the social media history of visitors.