EU Citizens Will Have to Pay To Enter Britain Under Home Office Plans

Home Secretary Priti Patel has confirmed plans to introduce a new Electronic Travel Authorisation for foreign visitors, which means EU citizens will have to pay to enter the UK.

THE Home Office said a new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would help the government track the number of people entering and leaving the country, but British and Irish citizens will be exempt.

“We will have greater accuracy on numbers, we will be able to count in and count out who is in our country. We will not have to work around the hypotheticals around net migration targets or numbers or things of that nature, and even speculate whether numbers will go up or down,” Priti Patel said.

The scheme will resemble the American Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), which has a cost of $14 per traveller. The EU also has plans for a similar programme, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which is due to launch from 2022 and will apply to British citizens. It is expected to cost €7.

The ETA is expected to be in use by 2025.

The Euro Weekly News is running a campaign to help reunite Brits in Spain with their family and friends by capping the costs of PCR tests for travel. Please help us urge the government to cap costs at https://euroweeklynews.com/2021/04/16/ewn-champions-the-rights-of-brits-in-spain-to-see-loved-ones-again/

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.