New immigration rules for those visiting the UK from overseas
This is an FYI for you to be prepared and should not be taken as absolute advice or assumed 100% accurate. Please check any requirements carefully and verify for yourself.
If you will be travelling to the conference from outside the UK, please be aware of new immigration rules that have come into effect starting January 2025 - but with different rules coming in at different dates.
Visitors to the UK who previously did not need a visa may be required to obtain an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) in advance of their travel. This is similar to other systems already in place in other parts of the world, such as the ESTA (USA) or eTA (Canada).
To quote from the Home Office's blog:
- Eligible non-Europeans need an ETA to travel to the UK.
- Eligible Europeans can apply from 5 March 2025 and will need an ETA to travel from 2 April 2025.
Note that the date for Europeans falls during ACCU week. For others, it is already in effect.
More information, and to apply, visit this page on gov.uk.