What you need to enter United Kingdom with a Costa Rican passport

Authorization system

ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation)

It is not a visa or a tax: it authorizes travel, it doesn't guarantee entry. Phased rollout completed; mandatory for every visa-exempt national since 25 February 2026 (British and Irish citizens exempt). Apply via the official "UK ETA" app or GOV.UK, usually resolved within minutes.

Visa, e-Visa, or electronic authorization? What's the difference →

Fee

GBP 20.00

Valid for up to 2 years (or until passport expiry), stays of up to 6 months per trip, multiple entries.

Processing time

Usually minutes; an automated decision in most cases.

Required documents

• A passport or travel document valid for the whole of your intended stay. Unlike other destinations, the UK does not require extra months of validity beyond the trip
• Evidence that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit
• Evidence that you can support yourself and any dependants for the duration of the trip without recourse to public funds
• Evidence that you can pay for your return or onward journey
• Where someone else is paying for the trip, documentation showing who is covering the costs

Vaccinations

• No mandatory vaccines for entry: no international certificate of vaccination (yellow fever included) is required under the International Health Regulations.

Health insurance

Not mandatory for this destination.

Transit rules

The UK draws a line between two kinds of transit. If you are only changing planes and will not pass through border control, the relevant permission is the Direct Airside Transit visa (DATV), and you stay in the transit area without entering the country. If you do pass through border control but leave the UK within 48 hours, the relevant permission is the Visitor in Transit visa. Staying longer than 48 hours rules both of them out: you then need a Standard Visitor visa. Whether you need a transit visa at all depends on your nationality.

Customs limits

Cash

Declare if cash reaches or exceeds 10,000 GBP.

Alcohol

42 liters of beer, or 18 liters of still wine, or a combination of 4 liters of spirits + 9 liters of beverages up to 22% ABV (same rules for everyone, EU or non-EU, since 1 January 2021).

Tobacco

200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250g of rolling tobacco, or 200 units of heated tobacco.

Overstay penalties

Staying beyond your permission counts as a previous breach of UK immigration law and triggers a mandatory refusal period for future applications, whose length depends on how you left: 12 months if you left voluntarily at your own expense; 2 years if you left at public expense within 6 months of being given notice of liability for removal; 5 years if you left at public expense after those 6 months; and 10 years if you were deported or removed at public expense, or if you used deception in an application. One important carve-out: overstaying by 30 days or less, where the overstaying began on or after 6 April 2017, is not treated as a breach if you left the UK voluntarily.

Common reasons for denial

• Failing to satisfy the officer that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit.
• Failing to show you can support yourself during the stay without recourse to public funds, or pay for your return journey.
• Having previously breached UK immigration law (an overstay, for instance), which triggers a mandatory refusal period of between 12 months and 10 years depending on how you left the country.
• Having used deception in an earlier application: refusal is mandatory for 10 years.