If you’re planning a UK trip with your kids, or your elderly parents are joining the family holiday, you’ve probably wondered: does everyone need their own UK ETA, or is there some age cutoff that makes this simpler?
Short answer: no, there’s no age limit. Every Malaysian traveling to the UK needs their own ETA, whether they’re 3 months old or 83 years old. No exceptions for age. But there’s more nuance to how this actually works in practice, especially when you’re applying for children, and that’s what trips people up.
Official UK ETA Portal: https://application.uketa.com.my/
Do babies and children really need their own UK ETA?
Yes. This surprises a lot of parents, but the UK Home Office is clear on this: every traveler needs an ETA, including babies and children, with no minimum age requirement. A two-week-old infant flying to London for a family wedding needs their own ETA record, separate from their parents.
This makes sense once you think about how the ETA system works. It’s not a visa tied to a household or a family unit. It’s an individual travel authorisation linked to a specific passport. Since every traveler, including infants, has their own passport when crossing UK border control, every passport needs its own ETA.
I’ve seen a few Malaysian families get caught out by this, especially when they’re booking for a big group trip. They apply for the adults and just… forget the kids need one too. Then they’re stuck sorting it out last minute at the airport, which is stressful and sometimes means missing the flight.
Who actually fills out the application for a child?
Since a toddler obviously can’t fill out an online form, a parent or legal guardian applies on the child’s behalf. The UK government’s own guidance confirms you can apply for other people, which covers children, elderly relatives, or anyone else traveling in your group who isn’t comfortable doing it themselves.
A few practical things to know here:
When you’re applying for your child, you’ll need their passport details, not yours, even though you’re the one filling in the form. Double check you’re not accidentally entering your own passport number out of habit. This is a surprisingly common mistake, especially when you’re rushing through applications for four or five family members back to back.
You’ll also need a recent photo of the child that meets the same photo requirements as adult applications. For a squirmy toddler or a newborn, this can take a few tries. A plain background, good lighting, and the child looking at the camera (or at least not covering their face) usually does the trick.
Is there an upper age limit too?
No. There’s no cutoff on the older end either. Your parents or grandparents, no matter their age, need the same ETA as anyone else. The only people exempt from needing a UK ETA are British and Irish citizens, including dual citizens. Age itself isn’t a factor anywhere in the eligibility rules.
If you’re bringing elderly family members who aren’t confident with online applications, this is one area where using an assisted application service helps. Someone else handles the form, the photo upload, and the payment, and your parents don’t have to wrestle with a website they’re unfamiliar with.
What does it cost per person, and does the price change by age?
The ETA costs £30 per person, and this is the same fee regardless of the traveler’s age. A baby’s ETA costs exactly the same as an adult’s. There’s no discount for children and no reduced fee for seniors. If you’ve got a family of four flying to the UK, budget for four separate £30 fees, plus any service charges if you’re using an assisted application platform.
Once approved, the ETA is valid for multiple trips over a set period, so you won’t need to reapply every time you travel, as long as the passport it’s linked to doesn’t expire or get replaced first.
Common mistakes Malaysian families make with child applications
A few patterns show up again and again when families apply for kids alongside their own applications.
The first is mismatched passport and application names. If your child’s passport lists their full legal name including a middle name, the ETA application needs to match exactly. Even small differences, like a missing hyphen or an abbreviated name, can cause delays or rejection.
The second is applying too early or too late relative to passport expiry. If your child’s passport is close to expiring, and you get their ETA approved, then renew the passport before travel, the ETA becomes invalid because it’s tied to that specific passport number. You’d need to reapply with the new passport details. It’s worth checking passport expiry dates for the whole family before you start any ETA applications, not just your own.
The third is assuming a family booking means one application covers everyone. It doesn’t. Each traveler, each passport, gets their own separate ETA record, even if you’re booking flights and hotels as a single family reservation.
What if my child was born in the UK or has dual nationality?
This is a common question for Malaysian families with UK-born children or mixed nationality. If your child holds a British or Irish passport, they’re exempt from needing an ETA altogether, same as any other British or Irish citizen. But if they’re traveling on a Malaysian passport, even if they were born in the UK or hold dual citizenship, they’ll need an ETA unless they’re traveling on the British or Irish document specifically.
This is worth sorting out before you book flights, since it affects which passport your child should actually be traveling on.
Bottom line
There’s no age limit on either end for UK ETA applications. Every Malaysian traveler needs one, from newborns to grandparents, and the process, cost, and requirements are the same regardless of age. The only real difference for children is that a parent or guardian handles the application on their behalf using the child’s own passport details.
If you’re getting ready to apply for your whole family, it’s worth reading through our step-by-step guide on how to apply for a UK ETA from Malaysia before you start, and checking our breakdown of UK ETA cost for Malaysians so you know exactly what to budget for the whole group. If you’re still deciding whether your trip needs an ETA or a full visa, our comparison on UK ETA vs UK visa for Malaysians covers that distinction in more detail.
