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on December 2, 2023
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The electronic visa waiver may well be one of the UK Government’s lesser-known immigration programmes, but it could nonetheless be a greatly useful one for nationals of a number of Arab states – specifically Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The principle behind the electronic visa waiver, or EVW, is very simple; it gives nationals of the aforementioned countries a way of legally visiting the UK for as long as six months, without the need for them to apply for a UK Visitor visa.
At this point, you might be wondering exactly how an EVW differs from a visa, why it’s worth applying for an EVW rather than simply applying for a visa, and what the various aspects of the EVW application process are.
Below, our specialists in UK immigration law at Cranbrook Legal have taken a closer look at all those questions, which could assist your decision-making if you will be imminently seeking to visit the UK.
As aforementioned, the electronic visa waiver – or EVW – is a scheme of the UK Government, enabling nationals of a small number of countries to get permission to come to the UK for up to six months. Those countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
If you are, indeed, a national of one of those states, and you are seeking to visit the UK for the purposes of tourism, business, study, or medical treatment, securing an EVW would mean that you don’t need to apply for a UK visa.
It is important to emphasise, however, that an electronic visa waiver does not constitute a valid alternative to a visa in all cases, even as far as nationals of the aforementioned countries are concerned.
If, for instance, your intention is to visit the UK in order to work in the country, you will need to apply for a UK work visa, as an EVW will not suffice for this purpose. Similarly, if you intend to come to the UK so that you can get married in the UK, it is a Marriage Visitor visa that you will need to apply for, and not an electronic visa waiver.
Something else that our UK immigration experts at Cranbrook Legal would like to emphasise, is that the process of applying for an electronic visa waiver is not like the process of trying to get approved for a UK visa.
It is much simpler and faster; you can fill in and submit the online form – which you will find on the UK Government website – as late as 48 hours prior to your trip to the UK, and you won’t need to visit a visa application centre. You can also apply for your EVW much earlier than this – as early as three months before you travel to the UK.
Speaking of applying early, if you are a national of any of the aforementioned five countries and you will be travelling on 22nd February 2024 or later, it is an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), rather than an EVW, that you will need to apply for. Applications for ETAs can be submitted from 1st February 2024.
Indeed, until very recently, Qatari nationals were also included within the electronic visa waiver scheme; however, nationals of that country who intend to spend less than six months in the UK, and who have been arriving in the UK on or after 15th November 2023, have been required to apply for an ETA instead. This will continue to be the case for Qatari nationals from this point forward, with EVW applications no longer an option.
Presuming it is definitely an EVW that you need to apply for ahead of your intended trip to the UK, you will need to ensure you submit a separate online EVW application for every member of your travelling party, including children. In addition, the UK Government charges a non-refundable fee of £30, which you can pay using a debit or credit card.
Finally, you must also be mindful of the documentation and other requirements. Before you begin filling in the EVW online application form, you should make sure you have your current passport, an address in the UK where you will be staying, and details of your journey to and from the UK. The latter should include dates and times for departure and arrival.
When you fill in the EVW application form, you will need to take care to enter your personal details so that they exactly match what is stated on your passport. This includes any punctuation such as spaces, apostrophes, hyphens, or full stops. Along similar lines, the travel information that you enter into the application form must also be exactly right.
If either your personal information or your travel details are incorrect, you will not be permitted to travel to the UK. So, you are advised to take as much care and time as you require to get this process right. Please note, too, that anyone applying for an EVW on your behalf will be required to enter their own contact details, as well as yours.
The clue here is in the term “visa waiver”; the Collins definition of “waiver”, after all, is “when a person, government, or organisation agrees to give up a right or says that people do not have to obey a particular rule or law.”
This implies that the process of applying for a visa waiver is much less burdensome than the process of trying to secure a visa – and sure enough, that is the case with the UK electronic visa waiver.
As we explained above, it is a much quicker and easier process to apply for an EVW than a visa, not least because the applicant doesn’t require as many documents. Nor will they need to visit a visa application centre and provide biometrics.
A given foreign national who qualifies for an EVW will also be able to apply at much shorter notice than is possible with a visa – as late as 48 hours prior to travelling. This makes applying for an electronic visa waiver an automatic choice for nationals of the aforementioned states who find themselves needing to travel to the UK urgently or unexpectedly.
Cost, too, is another major point of distinction between an electronic visa waiver and a UK visa. Whereas applicants for an EVW, for instance, are required to pay £30, a Standard Visitor visa costs £115 for as long as six months.
Once you have applied for your EVW, and presuming you have entered all the required details correctly into the form, you can expect to receive an email within 24 hours, containing a link to download the EVW.
If you need to update your EVW after you have received it, you can do so by logging into the relevant part of the UK Government website with your EVW number and date of birth. Indeed, it will be necessary for you to change the travel information on your EVW if you:
You will then simply be able to show your EVW when you make your journey to the UK. You can print it off or show it on a phone, tablet, or other electronic device.
It is important to point out that an EVW will only permit you to enter the UK once. So, for every time you leave the UK and wish to re-enter the country at a later date, you will need to apply for and obtain a new EVW.
As we referenced earlier in this article, the electronic visa waiver scheme will only be in place for the aforementioned countries until February 2024; for nationals of those five states who will be travelling to the UK on or after 22nd February, it will be necessary to apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) instead.
Nonetheless, if you do have a trip planned to the UK for prior to that date, and you are therefore interested in applying for an EVW, our award-winning immigration solicitors at Cranbrook Legal can advise and guide you in relation to any part of this process.
You might, for example, have had your EVW application refused by the UK Home Office, and would therefore appreciate assistance from a suitably qualified expert in UK immigration law. Or maybe you are simply unsure as to whether your situation requires an electronic visa waiver or a full UK visa application? We can also help those who are seeking to apply for an ETA.
To learn more about any of our comprehensive personal and/or business-related immigration services, including in relation to EVWs, ETAs, Standard Visitor visas, Marriage Visitor visas, and many other popular routes, please feel free to call 0208 215 0053 today. Alternatively, you can arrange a free consultation with us by filling in and submitting our online contact form.
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