eTA, ESTA, ETIAS, eVisa, visa on arrival: what's the difference

A travel authorisation is not a visa. It is a pre-screening that a country runs on travellers who do not need a visa, before they board. An eVisa is a real visa that you apply for online. A visa on arrival is a real visa that you get at the border.

Those three sentences cover most of the confusion. The rest of this page explains each term, lists what nine schemes actually cost on their governments’ own pages, and shows you how to tell the official site from the copies.

The terms

Visa. Permission, issued in advance by the destination country, to travel there for a stated purpose. Canada describes its visitor visa as an official document placed in your passport. Applying usually means forms, supporting documents, sometimes biometrics, and a wait measured in days or weeks.

Travel authorisation (eTA, ESTA, ETIAS, NZeTA, K-ETA). A lighter check for people whose passport already lets them visit without a visa. You fill in an online form, pay a small fee, and the answer is often back in minutes. It is linked electronically to your passport; nothing is stuck in it. Get a new passport and you need a new authorisation. The EU describes ETIAS as an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals, which is a good general definition.

eVisa. A visa, applied for and issued online. The decision is the same kind of decision as a visa from an embassy. Only the paperwork is digital. Some countries blur the line: Australia’s ETA is listed as a visa (subclass 601), and Sri Lanka calls its scheme a “tourist visa (ETA)”. Read what the government calls it, not what an agent calls it.

Visa on arrival. A visa issued at the airport or land border when you arrive, usually for a fee paid there. Sri Lanka is one example that publishes both prices side by side: an ETA in advance and a visa on arrival that costs more.

Permission to enter. None of the above guarantees entry. Canada, the UK and the EU all say so on their own pages. The border officer makes the final decision when you arrive.

The major schemes, side by side

Every figure below was read on the government’s own page on 30 September 2026. Fees are per person unless stated.

Scheme	Official fee	Valid for	Stay per visit	Official portal
US ESTA	US$40.62 from 16 Oct 2026 (US$40.27 before)	Up to 2 years or passport expiry	Up to 90 days	esta.cbp.dhs.gov
Canada eTA	CA$7	Up to 5 years or passport expiry	Set at the border, usually up to 6 months	canada.ca
UK ETA	£20	2 years or passport expiry	Up to 6 months	gov.uk/eta, or the UK ETA app
EU ETIAS	€20 (not yet operating)	3 years or passport expiry	Up to 90 days in any 180	travel-europe.europa.eu
Australia ETA (601)	A$20 app service charge; no other charge	12 months	Up to 3 months each time	Australian ETA app
Australia eVisitor (651)	Free	12 months	Up to 3 months each time	immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
New Zealand NZeTA	From NZ$17, plus NZ$100 IVL for most visitors	2 years	3 months (6 for UK citizens)	nzeta.immigration.govt.nz, or the NZeTA app
Kenya eTA	US$30 standard, one entry	Not stated on the fees page	Not stated on the fees page	etakenya.go.ke
South Korea K-ETA	KRW 10,000, plus about 3% card fee	3 years or passport expiry	Depends on nationality	k-eta.go.kr, or the K-ETA app
Sri Lanka ETA	Free for 40 countries; otherwise US$20 or US$50	30 days, double entry (tourist)	30 days	eta.gov.lk

The notes that matter for each one follow.

United States: ESTA

ESTA is for nationals of Visa Waiver Program countries. The fee has changed twice in a year. It rose from $21 to $40 on 30 September 2025, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A Federal Register notice then set the inflation-adjusted amount at $40.27 from 1 January 2026. That is $17, plus $10.27, plus $13. If your application is denied, you pay $10.27.

The law requires this fee to be adjusted for inflation every US fiscal year. The next adjustment is already published: a Federal Register notice of 1 October 2026 sets the fee at $40.62 ($17, plus $10.62, plus $13), or $10.62 if denied, and CBP “will begin assessing the FY 2027 amounts … on October 16, 2026.” Check the amount on the ESTA site before you pay.

CBP says an approved ESTA is valid for up to two years, or until your passport expires.

Canada: eTA

CA$7, for visa-exempt travellers flying to or through a Canadian airport. Not needed by land or sea. Some visa-required nationals can get one instead of a visa. Our Canada visa or eTA guide covers who.

United Kingdom: ETA

The UK’s ETA costs £20, read on gov.uk. It lasts 2 years or until your passport expires, and lets you visit for up to 6 months at a time. Every traveller needs one, including babies and children. British and Irish citizens do not.

The decision usually arrives by email within a day, but can take up to 3 working days. There is no refund once you apply. The government’s page says it outright: you cannot get a faster decision by applying through another website or app.

European Union: ETIAS

ETIAS is not running yet. On 30 September 2026 the official site said it is not in operation and no applications are being collected. It said the EU will announce the start date several months before launch.

In July 2025 the European Commission said it expected ETIAS to start in the last quarter of 2026. As of today, no date has been announced on the official site. Anyone taking an ETIAS application from you now is not the EU.

When it starts, it will cost €20, with exemptions for some travellers. The Commission names people under 18 and over 70. It will be valid for three years or until your passport expires, for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, across 30 European countries.

Australia: ETA and eVisitor

Australia runs two, and both are visas in Australian law, with subclass numbers.

• ETA (subclass 601). Applied for only through the Australian ETA app. There is an A$20 service charge for using the app and no other charge.
• eVisitor (subclass 651). Free. Applied for online, for holders of passports from a set list of countries.

Both let you visit as often as you like in a 12-month period, for up to 3 months each time.

New Zealand: NZeTA

The NZeTA costs from NZ$17, according to Immigration New Zealand. Most visitors also pay the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) of NZ$100, at the same time. Citizens of Pacific countries are exempt from the IVL.

An NZeTA is valid for 2 years. Allow 72 hours for a decision. Each visit can last 3 months, or 6 months for UK citizens, with no more than 6 months in any 12.

Kenya: eTA

Kenya replaced its eVisa with an eTA. The official fees are $30 for a standard single-entry eTA, $20 for transit, $300 for a one-year multiple-entry eTA and $185 for a five-year multiple-entry eTA. Some nationalities need no eTA at all. Nigerian passport holders, for example, can visit for up to 60 days without one. Our Kenya page has the detail, and we have written about the agents who charge $90 for the $30 form.

South Korea: K-ETA

K-ETA costs KRW 10,000 (the site says about US$7 to 8), plus an online card fee of around 3%. The fee is not refunded if you are refused. It is valid for 3 years, or until your passport expires if sooner. Decisions usually take up to 72 hours.

A temporary exemption applies to some nationalities. A notice on the official site, dated 23 December 2025, extended it to 31 December 2026, for the countries already covered. The notice does not list them. The K-ETA form tells you when you scan your passport. Exempt travellers can still choose to apply, and pay the fee.

Sri Lanka: ETA, and a visa on arrival

Since 25 May 2026, citizens of 40 countries get a 30-day tourist ETA free of charge. The list on eta.gov.lk includes the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, India, China and much of Europe.

For everyone else, a 30-day double-entry tourist ETA costs US$20 for South Asian countries and US$50 for all other countries. The same tourist visa on arrival costs US$25 and US$60. That is the whole case for applying in advance, printed on the government’s own page. Children under 12 get a free 30-day tourist ETA.

How to recognise the official site

Every scheme above has one official home. Everything else is a third party.

Scheme	Official domain
US ESTA	esta.cbp.dhs.gov
Canada eTA	canada.ca
UK ETA	gov.uk, or the UK ETA app
EU ETIAS	travel-europe.europa.eu
Australia ETA	the Australian ETA app
Australia eVisitor	immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
New Zealand NZeTA	nzeta.immigration.govt.nz, or the NZeTA app
Kenya eTA	etakenya.go.ke
South Korea K-ETA	k-eta.go.kr, or the K-ETA app
Sri Lanka ETA	eta.gov.lk

Several governments warn about copies in their own words. The UK tells you to avoid websites that imitate government services, because other sites may charge more. South Korea says K-ETA can only be applied for at www.k-eta.go.kr or its app, and warns about phishing sites that charge more. Canada says to apply for an eTA only on the official Government of Canada website.

Four quick checks:

• Read the domain, right to left. esta.cbp.dhs.gov ends in .gov. esta-us-apply.com does not, however official the logo looks. Government sites in most countries use a government suffix: .gov, .gov.uk, canada.ca, .govt.nz, .gov.au, .go.ke, .go.kr, .gov.lk, europa.eu.
• Compare the price. If the total is several times the fee in the table above, the rest is a service charge.
• Watch for “processing” or “expedite” options. The UK says outright that another site cannot get you a faster decision.
• Do not trust the top search result. Paid adverts sit above government pages. Type the address yourself.

A third-party site is not always a scam. Many do submit your form. But they cannot make a decision faster or more likely, and the officer cannot see who filled it in.

Checklist

• Find out whether your passport needs a visa or only a travel authorisation, on the destination government’s own page.
• If it is a travel authorisation, apply on the official domain in the table above, and nowhere else.
• Check the fee against the table. For ESTA, recheck after 1 October 2026.
• Do not apply for ETIAS yet. It is not open.
• Apply before you book flights. Most answers come in minutes, but some take days.
• Travel on the same passport you applied with. A new passport means a new application.
• Carry proof of your plans. The authorisation gets you on the plane; the border officer decides whether you come in.