From April 2, the French will have to pay an electronic travel authorization (ETA) to be able to go to this European country. The crooks are already taking advantage of it to set up scams …
If you plan a short weekend or, better, a trip to Great Britain, be careful at the time of preparations. Because it is further and further the time when we could go to our neighbors on a whim, simply taking a train or a ferry. Since then, there has been Brexit, which has resulted in the need for the French to present a valid passport to go to British territory.
But beware, there will soon be a small administrative complication, since it will absolutely be necessary to have an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization, for electronic travel authorization). Operating on the same principle as the ESTA in the United States, it will be systematically claimed from non-British and Irish travelers who do not have a visa. This therefore includes tourists. This new obligation comes into force on April 2, including for children and babies.
The ETA will be issued by the immigration services with a validity period of two years-note that it will nevertheless be possible to stay more than six months across the Channel. It will cost 10 pounds, just over 12 euros, if the request is made on the official website. Suffice to say that it will represent a significant source of income for the British government, with potentially 36 million euros every two years just for the three million French visitors who visit Great Britain each year.
If you plan to go to the country, do not make the mistake of waiting for the last minute to do the procedures! The deadlines for obtaining ETA are, according to the authorities, of about three working days, but sometimes they are longer. To obtain it, you will have to answer different questions about your personal career, such as a possible criminal past for example. If your ETA request is “rejected”, you can renew it. On the other hand, if it is “refused”, you will have to fall back on a visa request, which is much longer. So do not hesitate to anticipate this approach!
To obtain an ETA, you must download the application provided for this purpose, which is called UK ETA, on The App Store Or The Play Store. You can also apply Online on a computerby clicking on “Continue” after reading the instructions. Obviously, everything is in English. Please note, you absolutely have to go through these platforms, and only these, to get your ETA.
Unfortunately, it was not long long ago for unofficial and doubtful sales sites of ETA to emerge. Several of them, entirely written in French, have already been spotted on the Internet. These commercial websites can offer to help you make your request for ETA … By invoicing you in passing the more expensive administrative approach, just to make a margin, and without being faster than the normal route.
Caution is in order, especially since some of these sites are real scams aimed at stealing personal data or copies of your identity documents, while making you pay in passing. Suffice to say that this opens the way to identity theft, fraud and unwanted bank samples. Beware of what you type in the search engine therefore!