Beware, there re already scam websites about offering complete the ETA form for £90!
Many many countries have ETA style systems and require citizens to enter on that passport. Schengen are bringing it in later this year. So, why not the UK?
Well a few reasons, depending on the jurisdiction.
- Politicians are under a lot of pressure from their constituents to do a better job of screening people coming into the country.
- Revenue generation, knowing that a few bucks won’t stop people from coming, and if it does GOOD! we don’t want them anyway.
- Software is a no-brainer. The Australians have had a pre-arrival system in place for decades and bugs have be worked out.*
- In theory reduces workload on Immigration officers (or reduces staff requirements).
- Revenue generation. Expect price increases to exceed rate of inflation.
- To be seen as doing something.
- …
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The real problems came when residents wanted to get out of the DDR.
Again… why? Even if the whole universe does it, why?
Sorry, bad example but young slammer had to get into the DDR on a few occasions.
But you know what I was trying to say.
All part of the Politician 's syllogism
- We must do something.
- This is something.
- Therefore, we must do this.
In this case the something is foreigners / immigration.
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IIRC when I entered the DDR in the mid-70s not only did I have to pay a visa fee I was compelled to convert some Deutsche Marks into Ost Marks at a fixed exchange rate (1 DEM = 1 DDM). I think it was 20 DEM but it could have been 10. I was also warned that I had to spend the DDMs , I would not be permitted to export them.
Of course we couldn’t find anywhere to do so.
Intershop, the only place where you could exchange DM’s for goods.
Back in the day Slammer would grab two seasacks and a wallet full of DM’s, go to intershop in Rostok and fill the sacks with jeans, next stop Danzig where I would go down the gangway eyeball the two armed polish guards and dive into the two seasacks, each guard got two pair of jeans and I would be free to dissappear in the harbour bars. That was the day where the ships dispensary would supply the crew with a pack of 100 condoms. Some hours later I would wobble back to the ship in a 20° slant and very pale. But my seasacks would be full of polish vodka, the good stuff, because the next stop was Kaliningrad.
Back in Hamburg it was off to the Reeperbahn to offload my bottles of good Russian Hooker diesel, (knock off brand perfume) from Kaliningrad and the rest of the Vodka.
That was the time when the Nutella Bande (pimps) were at their hight and I got top prices selling directly
Good times.
It is not the same thing - the first is a visa, second is not.
The Certificate of entitlement (actually, “certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the uk”) was a cool thing to have in the 90s and 00’s. You send off your foreign passport with a copy of your UK passport with a very small fee, and they would put a sticker on the other passport which basically meant “i have a british passport at home”.
This was a huge convenience eg travelling for dual citizens living in the UK, as they would only carry the non-british passport and be fine with uk immigration upon return to the UK. Until fraudsters caught on, realizing that forging this COE sticker (or stamp in the 90s) meant that the person could prove to employers he is allowed to work or claim benefits. So first, they made employers verify with the authorities COE stickers before employment. Nowadays, one can only get a COE at a huge cost, and ONLY if they never had a UK passport before, making the whole thing useless. The paperwork for the COE is the same as applying for a first UK passport… I don’t think it is something you can get at Calais.
From the PoV of someone wanting to visit family for a week or 2 it is in effect exactly the same thing. As the UK government doesn’t allow UK nationals to get the £20 version.
This reminded me I need to renew passports for the kids if we want to visit grandparents in the Summer.
Looking back at the halcyon days before the UK left the EU. There’s obviously nostalgia for "the good old days" when Brit’s going on holiday to their favourite destinations like France & particularly the Costa’s in Spain “used to cheerfully wave their British Passports” at passport control, without so much as a stamp on their passports ( or even a whiff of red tape ! 
) & if they happened to overstay their welcome; they could always claim that they’re after a bar job on the costa’s & thinking of settling down in Spain; under the terms of the EU’s freedom of movement & labour, of course the fringe benefits of doing so ( particularly for permanent jobs ) is they can start contributing to their Spanish State pension ( from INSS ) so that even if they haven’t worked long enough in Spain to get the minimum ( 15 year ) state pension ( with the Brits being EU citizens ) INSS has to take account the number of years he or she contributed to the UK state pension according to their NIC contributions ( to get a proportional amount ) from the Spanish State Pension when they retire.
EU citizens moving to live & work in Spain enjoyed the same when contributing to the British DWP Pension. Of course all that changed when Britain left the EU, for British Expats in an EU country & the same for EU citizens in the UK the musical chairs song of hoping between countries stopped when the UK chair disappeared, you had to decide where you really want to live & stay for good.
Gone are the days of cheerfully waving your British & EU passport through passport control as the EU’s ETIAS comes into effect and the same with the British ETA; not to mention the “red tape” with customs & import duties when buying goods & services between the EU and the UK !!!
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And of course the UK does not accept European IDs so on top of everything else, you have to get a passport go there… Not a great way to get European tourists go visit.
More examples of difficulties:
What is this guy on?
“I am not paying £1,178 to the UK government for us to visit family,” he said. “So there is only one solution: renounce our British citizenship. Is this really what the government wants?”
How on earth would it cost that to get your UK passport? It costs more to renounce than to get the passport.
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Got you by the short and curlys
The Home Office fee to renounce (give up) any form of British nationality is currently £482 per person.
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That’s the cost of 2 certificates of entitlement.
Reading all the breathless outrage in that article, I’m sure the naming of the “Certificate of Entitlement” wasn’t an accident… 
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