UK Makes Electronic Travel Authorisation Mandatory—Belgian Travellers Now Need Digital Permission Before Boarding

At 04:00 GMT on 25 February the UK switched on full enforcement of its Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) programme. From this moment, non-visa nationals—including Belgians—must hold an approved £16 ETA or an existing UK visa before airlines, ferry companies or Eurostar will issue a boarding pass. British and Irish citizens are exempt, but dual British nationals must now show a valid UK/Irish passport (or a £589 “certificate of entitlement”) instead of relying on their other nationality. Home Office minister Mike Tapp called the roll-out “vital to modern border security”, stressing that carriers face penalties for transporting passengers without clearance. Carriers have integrated a new ‘Permission to Travel’ API that automatically rejects bookings lacking a valid ETA reference, similar to the U.S. ESTA model. For Belgian corporates the change is significant. Eurostar confirms that checks will occur at Brussels-Midi juxtaposed controls; travellers turned away could miss critical meetings and incur hotel re-booking fees. HR teams should therefore incorporate ETA lead-times—officially three days but averaging 12 hours—into travel-approval workflows.



For travellers and mobility managers who prefer a turnkey solution, VisaHQ can file UK ETA applications on behalf of Belgian passport holders, monitor progress and deliver the approval code directly to both the traveller and the airline. Its multilingual platform (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) lets companies manage UK, Schengen and other visa requests from a single dashboard, easing compliance as digital travel authorisations proliferate.

The scheme is also exposing policy gaps for Belgian residents who hold UK citizenship but never renewed a British passport; they now risk denial of boarding. Companies with UK-based staff on Belgian payrolls should audit passport validity and budget for fast-track renewals. Looking ahead, the Home Office plans to raise the ETA fee to £20 and to replace BRP residence cards with eVisas by late-2026. The experience offers a preview of the EU’s own ETIAS system, expected in 2027, reinforcing the move toward fully digital travel authorisations on both sides of the Channel.