Do you need an ETA or visa for a Heathrow layover?

If you stay airside

Most international connections at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) don’t involve UK passport control. You follow the purple Flight Connections signs, take a free bus if you’re changing terminals, and go through security again.

• ETA nationalities (US, Canada, Australia, EU and others): the Home Office says you currently don’t need an ETA to transit Heathrow airside. It describes this as temporary, and the February 2026 enforcement announcement said ETAs are also needed for “connecting flights” without spelling out airside. Check with your airline before you fly, or get an ETA anyway: it costs £20 and lasts 2 years.
• Visa nationals on the transit visa list, including India, need a Direct Airside Transit visa (£41.50), unless they hold a qualifying document such as a valid US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand visa, certain permanent residence cards, an EEA or Swiss residence permit or a valid Irish visa.
• Connecting to a UK domestic flight means going through passport control, so the rules for leaving the airport apply.

If you want to leave the airport

You’re entering the UK, even for a few hours, so you need permission to do so.

Passport	What you need to leave Heathrow
British or Irish	Nothing extra
US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand	Approved UK ETA (£20)
EU, EEA and Swiss	Approved UK ETA (£20)
India and other visa nationals	Visitor in Transit visa (£74.50, up to 48 hours) or Standard Visitor visa, unless a concession applies

The UK ETA

• Cost: £20 on the official UK ETA app or GOV.UK. Unofficial sites charge more.
• Timing: usually decided within a day, but allow 3 working days. You must have the approval email before you board.
• Validity: 2 years or until your passport expires, for any number of visits of up to 6 months.
• Everyone needs their own, including babies and children.
• Airlines check for it at check-in and can refuse boarding without one.

Visitor in Transit visa

For visa nationals passing through border control, for example to leave the airport or recheck bags. It costs £74.50 and you must leave the UK within 48 hours. Longer stays need a Standard Visitor visa.

Transit without a visa

Some visa nationals can pass through border control without a visa if they hold one of the qualifying documents above, have a confirmed onward flight leaving before 23:59 on the day after they arrive, and genuinely leave by then. The concession is set out in Home Office guidance rather than on the main GOV.UK pages, so use the official visa checker to confirm.

If you’re on separate tickets

Heathrow doesn’t treat you as a connecting passenger if you booked two separate flights. You go through UK border control, collect your bags, then check in and clear security again. So you need permission to enter the UK even if you never planned to leave the airport.

At the border

You can use the eGates if you’re 8 or older (8 to 17-year-olds with an adult) and are British or Irish, or hold a valid ETA, eVisa or digital record and come from the EU, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the US. Everyone else goes to a staffed desk, which can take longer. See getting into London for timing.

Before you go landside

• Check whether your bags are checked through to your final destination.
• Plan to be back at the airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass, or earlier if you still need to check in or drop a bag. See getting into London.