UK ETA for Israeli Citizens

Do Israeli Citizens Need a UK ETA?

“Mostly” is chosen with care. Not every Israeli citizen needs one: a holder of a UK visa, a person with qualifying settled status, or a British or Irish citizen sits outside the requirement. Nor should every Israeli-issued document be treated alike, a theme the next sections develop.

Think of the ETA as an electronic clearance to travel that is tied to a single passport. It is no visa, it adds nothing to the booklet, and it does not settle whether you are let in.

When Did the UK ETA Start for Israeli Citizens?

Israel is in the cohort whose ETA requirement reaches journeys from 8 January 2025. At position 21 on the list it came after the early Gulf cohort and before the European countries.

If you are planning a trip now, the date is only history: the requirement has been running for a while and attaches to the passport you will carry.

Before You Apply: Which Document Will You Travel On?

Answer these in order. They save more trouble than any other part of the process.

1. Am I travelling on an ordinary Israeli national passport?
2. Is it the very passport I will carry to the airport?
3. Is it new or a replacement, so that an old approval would not apply?
4. Do I instead hold a provisional passport or a travel document in lieu of a national passport?
5. Do I already hold UK immigration permission that covers the trip?
6. Could another exemption apply to me?

The Registered Traveller exclusion for a provisional passport is clear, as set out below. How the ETA treats an unusual travel document is less clear, so this page does not claim either that such a document automatically qualifies or that it automatically fails.

The Israeli National Passport: the Document That Carries the ETA

For an ordinary Israeli citizen the relevant document is the Israeli national passport. It is the one you enter in the application, and from that moment the approval and the booklet belong together.

Current Israeli passports are biometric. We could not confirm launch years, validity periods or technical details from Israeli primary sources, so we state none. In any case, technology in the booklet leaves the ETA requirement untouched and does not unlock the ordinary UK eGates.

Anyone with two passports should pick the one to present before applying and keep to that choice, because the approval follows the passport named in the application.

Provisional Passports and Travel Documents in Lieu of a National Passport

Israel can issue a travel document in place of a national passport, sometimes called a provisional passport. It is a different document from the national passport, and it should not be treated as interchangeable with it.

• UK guidance for Registered Traveller states that such a document is not eligible for that programme.
• We do not say that it qualifies for an ETA, and we do not say that it fails.
• If you hold one, check the UK requirement for that exact document before you apply or book.

This is a place where it is better to look up the answer than to guess. Applying on the strength of a general summary, including this one, is a risk when the document is not an ordinary passport.

If this describes your situation, a few questions will focus your research. What exactly is the document called on its first page? Who issued it, and why was it issued instead of a national passport? Does it carry a chip and a photograph in the usual way? How long is it valid for? And does it name your nationality? None of the answers decides the ETA question by itself, but they let you describe the document accurately when you look up the UK rule or contact us through our contact page about our own service.

Be equally careful with the opposite assumption. A person who has always travelled on a national passport should not conclude that a replacement issued after a loss will be the same kind of document. Check what you were actually given before you plan a trip around it.

Israeli ID Card (Teudat Zehut) vs Passport for a UK ETA

The Teudat Zehut is the Israeli identity card, a domestic document that matters in daily life, from banking to dealing with authorities. It is separate from the passport.

An ETA is linked to the passport used in the application, so the card does not replace it for ordinary UK ETA travel. Nothing here suggests the card is worthless or has no legal function. It is simply not the document the ETA system uses, and we make no claim that the UK accepts it at the border.

Israeli Citizen or Resident of Israel?

Living in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba or anywhere else in Israel does not by itself make someone an Israeli citizen. A good many people live in Israel on foreign passports.

UK entry requirements depend on the actual passport or travel document, any UK immigration permission and any exemption. Start with the passport you will carry, and treat residence as background.

A quick test is to ask whose passport you will hand over at the airport. If it is an Israeli national passport, this page is written for you. If it belongs to another country, the sections on identity cards and provisional documents are mainly useful for seeing what they are not, and the UK rule for your own passport is the one to find.

I Live in Israel but Hold Another Passport: Which UK Rule Applies?

The rule for the passport you will use. Residents travel on United States, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Indian, Philippine and many other passports, and each follows the UK position for that passport and status, not the Israeli one.

We do not set out the UK position for each nationality, and nothing on this page is a visa determination for any of them. Look up the requirement for your own passport before you book, and see whether UK permission you hold alters it.

What If I Already Hold UK Immigration Permission?

Some travellers need no ETA because their existing UK permission already reaches the journey. That can mean a UK visa, an eVisa or other digital permission, or settled or pre-settled status. When your passport is replaced, update your UKVI account, and let your own paperwork have the last word, since this is only a pointer. The UK visa guide sets out the broader picture.

What If I Am Israeli and British, or Israeli and Irish?

No ETA is needed by a British citizen, nor by an Irish one. A person who is Israeli as well as British or Irish can therefore arrive in the UK as a British or Irish citizen, showing the passport that proves it. The page stays on the UK side of the question and says nothing about Israeli nationality law or about which passport an Israeli dual national has to use under Israeli rules.

Hebrew Names and the Latin-Script Passport Form

A Hebrew name is rendered in Latin script in the passport too, and the passport has the final say. When the form asks for your name, enter the spelling and sequence printed there, and follow the form’s own guidance on where each part belongs.

• Do not transliterate your Hebrew name on your own.
• Do not invent a new English spelling.
• Do not add or remove a name element unless the passport or the form tells you to.
• If machine-readable details are asked for, transcribe what the passport displays.

There are no naming rules or conversion methods on this page, because the real danger is a mismatch with your passport.

Do Israeli Children and Babies Need Their Own UK ETA?

An ETA, where required, is required per traveller, infants included. What a parent holds does nothing for a child, who needs a qualifying passport or travel document of their own. Israeli parental-consent and exit rules lie outside this page. Our guide to children, babies and families has more.

Do School Groups from Israel Have an Exemption?

Israeli schools have no exemption of their own. Two provisions deal with school parties, ETA 1.9 (France) and ETA 1.10 (Germany), and each is framed around qualifying schools in the country it names. A party organised by an Israeli school cannot borrow either. The point can cut the other way, as an Israeli national who really is enrolled at a qualifying French or German school may be covered if every condition is met.

Travelling from Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Area

Most trips begin around Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport, including for people who live in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. This page carries no schedules, promises no direct routes and says nothing about airport arrangements.

• Apply with the passport you will really take.
• Check that the booking matches it exactly.
• Airlines can check for digital permission at check-in.
• There is no certificate to print.
• Holding an ETA does not assure you of admission.

Our processing time guide discusses how long to allow.

Connections and UK Airport Transit

Changing planes in a third country leaves the UK’s ETA rule as it was, and what that country requires is a separate subject we do not address. In the UK itself the test is whether your connection takes you through border control. A qualifying airside connection may need nothing; a landside one, say to reclaim luggage or move between terminals, may need an ETA where it applies to your passport. Claiming that all transit needs an ETA, or that none does, would be mistaken. See our transit and layovers guide.

Israeli Citizens, Ireland and the UK

Ireland, the Republic, is distinct from the UK, whereas Northern Ireland belongs to it. Routing a trip through Ireland does not make the ETA requirement vanish. One narrow exemption exists for people lawfully resident in the Republic who come from another part of the Common Travel Area, and it applies only if all its conditions are satisfied.

eGates, Registered Traveller and Contactless Gates

These are three separate things, and Israel’s position differs for each.

Ordinary eGates

Not by nationality. Israel is absent from the ordinary eGate nationality list, so a biometric Israeli passport together with an ETA does not produce eligibility. Do as Border Force staff direct, and bear in mind that access to a gate is never assured.

Registered Traveller

A separate programme that Israel is eligible for, under conditions set out in the next section. An approved member with a suitable chipped passport may use the ePassport gates through the programme, which is different from Israel being an ordinary eGate nationality.

Contactless eGates

Contactless gates started a phased rollout in October 2026 and for now admit British citizens only. Being eligible for Registered Traveller does not carry contactless eligibility with it, so Israeli travellers should plan without passport-free processing. You still need a valid passport in hand.

The Registered Traveller Exclusion for Provisional Passports

Israel appears on the list of eligible passports, with an important note: a travel document in lieu of a national passport, also called a provisional passport, is not eligible. Only a national passport can be the basis of membership.

Further conditions apply. Applicants have to be 18 or older with an eligible passport, and they need either an eligible UK visa or, where no visa is needed to visit, at least four visits to the UK within the previous 24 months. A stopover on the way to another country is not a visit.

We publish no price, and the programme is not an ETA: membership neither replaces an ETA nor removes the need for one. For our own service, see fees and processing options.

Tourism, Family, Business, Work and Study

A holiday or time with relatives and friends is the usual reason Israelis visit, and it is ordinary Visitor activity. For the limits, read about tourism and visiting family and friends.

For business, the ETA supports what the Visitor business rules permit, including meetings, conferences, negotiating and qualifying site visits. See business visits for more.

Taking a job is different, because the ETA does not confer it. Tell these routes apart:

• Permitted Paid Engagements
• the Creative Worker concession
• an ordinary job, which normally needs a work visa (see the UK visa guide)

A short course may fall within the Visitor rules; the short-term study guide marks the edge. If a Student visa is required, the ETA cannot substitute.

How Long Is the ETA Valid, and How Long Can I Stay?

An approval may run for two years from the day it is granted, but it finishes early if the linked passport expires first. Within the period you can travel repeatedly, each arrival being judged against the Visitor rules, and a run of repeat stays must not become living in the UK. No 90 or 180 day formula is used.

Eligible Visitor travel lets you ask to enter for up to six months. Treat that as a ceiling rather than a right, and never read a two-year approval as a two-year stay. See our guide to ETA validity, multiple trips and new passports.

What If I Renew or Replace My Israeli Passport?

Your approval is attached to the passport named in the application. When that booklet is renewed, expires, goes missing, is stolen or damaged, or is swapped for one with changed details, the old approval stays behind. Where an ETA is required, plan on a new one, because an identity card cannot move it across.

Registered Traveller membership and an ETA are separate too, and a change of passport may affect each in a different way, so check both rather than assuming one follows the other.

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man each operate an ETA scheme of their own, with the requirement relevant to travel from 23 April 2026. Where the rules allow, the two kinds of approval are accepted by each other. Because the Common Travel Area has separate arrangements, check your chosen island close to departure.

Dual Nationals: Which Passport Do You Show the UK?

Many Israelis hold a second nationality, often a European or North American one, and some of those second nationalities change the UK picture entirely. A person with British or Irish citizenship does not need an ETA. A person with another passport follows the UK position for that passport, which may or may not involve an ETA.

The practical rule is to decide in advance which passport you will present at the UK border and to make every other choice follow from that one. If you apply for an ETA on an Israeli passport and then travel on a different one, the approval will not match the document in your hand. We do not advise on which passport Israeli law expects you to use, and we do not discuss how any country treats dual nationality.

A Simple Document Timeline Before You Fly

• Weeks ahead: identify the document you will travel on and, if it is not a national passport, check the UK requirement for it.
• Before booking: confirm that the passport’s expiry date comfortably outlasts the trip, because the approval cannot outlast it.
• At application: copy the Latin-script details from the passport and nothing else.
• Before departure: wait for the outcome, and check that the booking name and the passport agree.
• On the day: carry the same passport, and leave the identity card for use at home.

Working through these in order, from Tel Aviv or anywhere else, turns a worrying list of document types into five small checks, and it leaves time to fix a problem such as a passport that is close to expiry.

UK ETA Requirements for Israeli Travellers

You will generally need:

• a qualifying passport, the one you will actually use
• a working email address
• a face photo that meets the application’s standard
• passport and identity data exactly as printed
• replies to the questions on the form
• a way to pay at the final stage

A Teudat Zehut, a provisional document that you have not checked, or any other domestic ID cannot be offered in place of a qualifying passport. The requirements page lists everything, and our fees and processing options page covers pricing.

How to Apply for a UK ETA from Israel

1. 1

   Name the document

   Work out whether you travel on a national passport or on something else.

2. 2

   Pause for non-standard documents

   If it is a provisional passport or travel document, check the UK rule for it first.

3. 3

   Look for exemptions

   See whether UK permission already makes an ETA unnecessary.

4. 4

   Confirm the dates

   Make sure the passport is still valid and note its expiry date.

5. 5

   Copy the Latin-script details

   Take name, number and expiry from the passport without transliterating anything.

6. 6

   Upload the photo and passport details

   Supply what the form requests, including a sharp, suitable face image.

7. 7

   Pick a UKETA.sg service option

   Choose the speed and handling that fit your timeline.

8. 8

   Submit and pay

   Hold on to the confirmation and the reference.

9. 9

   Await the decision, then use the same passport

   Present the booklet named in the approval at departure and at UK border control.

Common UK ETA Mistakes for Israeli Travellers

1. Treating every Israeli-issued document as identical. A national passport and a travel document differ.
2. Confusing a national passport with a provisional passport. Check which one you hold.
3. Assuming Registered Traveller accepts a provisional passport. It does not.
4. Using the identity card in place of the passport. It is not the ETA-linked document.
5. Assuming Israeli residence means Israeli citizenship. Many residents hold other passports.
6. Checking the rules by place of residence. The passport decides.
7. Relying on a replaced passport’s details. The approval stays with the passport you applied with.
8. Expecting the ETA to transfer to a new passport. It does not.
9. Transliterating a Hebrew name yourself. Copy the passport’s Latin-script form.
10. Mixing up Registered Traveller and the ETA. They are separate.
11. Treating Registered Traveller gate access as ordinary nationality-based eligibility. Israel is not on that list.
12. Assuming a biometric passport opens the ordinary eGates. Nationality eligibility is separate.
13. Assuming one parent’s ETA protects the children. Every traveller needs a separate approval.
14. Supposing a school party from Israel borrows the French or German exemption. Those rules are narrow.
15. Applying one rule to every UK transit. Airside and landside are treated differently.
16. Treating the ETA as permission to take a job. It does not cover ordinary employment.
17. Taking approval as a guarantee of entry. The officer at the border decides.

Document-Selection Checklist for Israeli Travellers

• ✓You have identified whether you hold a national passport or another travel document.
• ✓The booklet in your bag is the one named in the ETA.
• ✓If you hold a provisional document, you have checked the UK rule for it.
• ✓Your Teudat Zehut stays a domestic document and is not packed as a substitute.
• ✓Residence in Israel is not being treated as citizenship.
• ✓The Latin-script name you entered agrees with the passport.
• ✓Each child holds a qualifying document and, where needed, an ETA of their own.
• ✓On a school trip, nobody assumes the French or German rules reach Israel.
• ✓Any renewed or replaced passport has been matched with a fresh ETA.
• ✓You are not depending on eGate access.
• ✓If Registered Traveller matters to you, you have confirmed it separately.
• ✓You have looked at each connection or transit stop.
• ✓What you plan to do in the UK sits within the Visitor rules.

UK ETA FAQs for Israeli Citizens

Want more answers? Browse our UK ETA FAQs or contact us. You can also go back to the eligibility checker.