Stansted passport control: eGates, the UK ETA and arriving

The eGates are the quick way through passport control at Stansted, reading the chip in a biometric passport and matching it to a live photo, with no Border Force officer to speak to. You can use them if three things are true: your passport carries the biometric chip symbol on the cover, you are aged 10 or over, and your nationality is on the eligible list. That list covers the United Kingdom, all 27 European Union countries, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. Children aged 10 to 17 must go through with an adult who is also using the eGate.

One change is coming. From 8 July 2026 the minimum age drops to 8, so children aged 8 or 9 can use the eGates if they are at least 120cm tall and accompanied by an adult, the height rule being there so the camera can take an accurate photo. The Home Office announced this on 14 May 2026, and it applies at eGates across the UK. At the gate you open your passport at the photo page, place it on the reader, look at the camera, and walk through when the barrier opens. If the chip will not read or the photo does not match, the gate sends you to a staffed desk. There is no charge and no landing card to fill in.

If your passport has no chip, your nationality is not on the list, or the gate refuses you, you use the staffed desks instead. At busy times the eGates themselves can back up or a few can be out of service, so the queue is not always shorter than the desks; the live picture changes through the day.

If your nationality is visa-exempt, you now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, an ETA, before you travel to the UK. It applies to around 84 countries whose citizens did not previously need anything to visit, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, all European Union countries, the wider European Economic Area, Switzerland and the Gulf states. The ETA is checked at boarding, and enforcement has been strict since 25 February 2026, so a carrier can refuse to board you without one. The definitive eligibility list is at gov.uk/eta.

The fee is £20, paid once, up from £16 on 8 April 2026. An approved ETA is valid for two years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first, and allows multiple visits of up to six months each. Apply through the official UK ETA app or the gov.uk web form, with the passport you will actually travel on; decisions usually come back within minutes, though the Home Office advises allowing up to three working days. Use the official route, not a third-party site that adds a markup on the same self-service form.

Several groups do not need an ETA. British and Irish citizens never do, including dual nationals, who should travel on their British or Irish passport. Anyone who already holds UK immigration permission, such as a visa or settled status, does not need one either. If your nationality is not on the visa-exempt list at all, your trip needs a visa rather than an ETA.

The UK has moved from physical immigration documents to digital eVisas. The Biometric Residence Permits, the visa stickers placed in passports, and the old endorsements have been phased out. If you hold UK immigration permission, such as a work or study visa, settled or pre-settled status, or indefinite leave to remain, you now access it through an online UK Visas and Immigration account at gov.uk/eVisa, linked to the passport you travel on.

This matters before you fly, not just at the border. Airlines and Border Force check your status digitally, so without a UKVI account linked to your current passport you can be denied boarding even when you legally hold UK permission. Set the account up in advance. This does not affect ordinary visa-exempt visitors arriving on an ETA, who have nothing extra to register beyond the ETA itself.

If you cannot use the eGates, you go to the staffed Border Force desks, where there are separate lanes for European and non-European passport holders. The officer scans your passport and may ask a few questions about why you are visiting, where you are staying and when you plan to leave. Have the address of your hotel or accommodation and a rough idea of your plans ready, and the desk is usually quick. Border Force is part of the Home Office, not the airport, so the officer, not Stansted, makes the decision to admit you.

Children under the eGate age use the staffed desks. The officer may ask to see documents showing a child's relationship to the adult travelling with them, particularly when a child travels with one parent rather than both, or has a different surname. A birth or adoption certificate, or a letter of consent from the absent parent, makes this faster. Unaccompanied minors are handled by the airline and go through the staffed desks whatever their age.

Stansted sells a Passport Control FastTrack pass for arrivals, a dedicated lane that takes you to the desks ahead of the main queue. It is open 24 hours, bookable on the day or up to 12 months ahead, and non-refundable. It is not suitable for infants under 3, who are directed to the assistance lane, and it is not available to passengers arriving from Ireland, the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, because those arrivals do not go through full passport control. It is a separate product from the Security FastTrack you buy for departures.

Whether it is worth buying depends on timing. The airport does not publish live arrivals wait times, and for an eGate-eligible passenger the standard lane is often only a few minutes off-peak. The queues build in the morning and late-afternoon arrival waves and in the peak holiday months of July, August and December, when the eGates can back up; the middle of the day is usually quieter. If you are arriving with hand luggage only in a peak window, the pass can save a real wait; off-peak it often saves little. The arrivals page covers what comes after the border.

If this is your first arrival in the UK, the order of events after you clear passport control is simple: collect any checked bags, then walk through customs. Customs has two channels, green if you are within your duty-free allowances and have nothing to declare, and red if you do; the alcohol, tobacco and goods limits are on the UK customs and allowances page, and they are easy to exceed on a duty-free run.

Once you are out in the arrivals hall, two practical things make the next hour easier. You do not need to buy a local travel card or queue at a machine: London's trains, buses and the Stansted Express all take contactless cards and mobile wallets, with one exception worth knowing, that an Oyster card is not valid to or from the airport. And you rarely need to change much cash, because card payment is near-universal in the UK; the airport exchange desks give poor rates, so change only what you need and see the currency exchange page first. For the trip into London, the ways to and from Stansted page compares the train, the coaches and taxis on time and price.