As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly complete your UK ETA application.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the official UK ETA application service through GOV.UK and read its current instructions without entering payment details.
   2. Gather the passport you will use for travel, your travel plans, contact details and any records needed to answer immigration or character questions accurately.
   3. Paste the prompt into a chatbot, then provide only non-sensitive planning information and use private placeholders for passport numbers, dates of birth, full addresses and payment details.
   4. Ask the chatbot to produce the preparation table and fill each non-sensitive answer from your own records, leaving uncertain or sensitive fields marked for private entry.
   5. Enter the application yourself on the official GOV.UK service, comparing every field with your passport and records rather than copying an unverified chatbot answer.
   6. Before paying and submitting, check the declarations, immigration and character answers against the official wording; ask an immigration solicitor or regulated immigration adviser about any serious or unclear case.

   Prompt

   Help me prepare, but do not submit, a UK ETA application. This is not professional advice. Use only the information I provide and never invent an answer. Do not ask me to paste my passport number, date of birth, payment details, full address or other sensitive identity data into this chat. Instead, tell me where each item belongs in the official GOV.UK application and use labels such as [passport details entered privately].
   
   Create:
   1. A checklist of the information and documents I need to have ready.
   2. A question-by-question preparation table with columns for official question or topic, my answer or private placeholder, source document, and a check I should make.
   3. A list of any missing information or answers that need clarification.
   4. A final private checking list covering spelling of my name, passport details, nationality, travel details, contact details, previous immigration or criminality answers, declarations and payment.
   
   Treat questions about immigration history, refusals, criminal convictions, false documents, or other character matters as requiring the exact answer from my records and the official GOV.UK guidance. Do not decide that I am eligible, do not give legal advice, and do not tell me to answer yes or no unless the supplied facts and official wording make that unambiguous. Tell me to use the official GOV.UK UK ETA service for the actual application and payment.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.