Your UK ETA was refused — what now?
A refusal is not a ban. It usually means the ETA route is closed to you and the visa route is open.
The short answer
There is no appeal against a refused UK ETA and no administrative review. If your ETA is refused, the route open to you is a standard visitor visa, which is assessed by a caseworker who can consider your full circumstances. The £20 Home Office fee is not refunded.
Reapplying for another ETA with the same answers will almost certainly produce the same result, and each attempt costs another £20.
Checked against GOV.UK guidance on 2026-08-28.
Why ETAs get refused
The ETA decision is largely automated and looks at a narrow set of things: your identity and passport, and your answers to the suitability questions — criminal convictions, previous refusals, previous overstays. A refusal is usually triggered by one of those answers rather than by anything about your trip.
- A criminal record, depending on the sentence and how long ago it was.
- A previous UK refusal, removal or deportation.
- Having overstayed a previous UK permission.
- Passport details that do not match the document, or a passport too close to expiry.
Never answer the suitability questions falsely
A declared conviction is something a caseworker can weigh. An undeclared one that surfaces later is deception, and it carries consequences far heavier than a refused £20 application — including long re-entry bans. If an answer worries you, that is the moment to get advice, not to guess.
What we do with a difficult history
If you flag a conviction, a refusal or an overstay in our form, we do not file blindly and take your money. A caseworker calls you first, tells you honestly whether the ETA is realistic, and if it is not, says so before you pay the Home Office anything.