Business travellers using Perk can now start an electronic visa or travel authorisation application and pay the fee without leaving the platform, a change that pulls one of the most tedious parts of international trip planning into the same checkout as the flight and hotel.
The company said the new workflow means eVisa and ETA costs land in the total cost of the trip, giving finance teams visibility of a category of spend that has traditionally been paid personally and claimed back weeks later, if at all. For UK firms sending staff into markets with tightening entry rules, that matters as much as the time saved.
The move builds on Entry Ready, which Perk launched earlier this year. That tool analyses a traveller’s itinerary alongside stored passport profiles and flags visa requirements before a booking is confirmed, rather than after the ticket is paid for. The new capability closes the loop by letting the traveller act on that warning immediately.
Why the timing is awkward for UK travellers
The launch arrives as the number of digital permissions UK passport holders need continues to climb. The EU’s ETIAS scheme is due to start charging travellers, with the fee rising from €7 to €20 by late 2026, and inbound visitors to Britain face their own costs, with UK ETA fees set to rise again. Each new scheme adds an application, a fee and a failure point to trips that were previously a matter of turning up with a passport.
Perk’s research suggests the failure points are already biting. The company published findings from a Censuswide survey of 8,000 business travellers, conducted between 15 and 28 April, alongside the announcement. Just over 40 per cent of respondents said they had applied for a visa or ETA in the past 12 months. Around half of that group reported problems with the process.
The consequences were not trivial. Forty-seven per cent said they had paid to expedite an application, and more than a third said a project was delayed because of visa or authorisation problems. For an SME running a small travel programme, an expedited application fee is an unbudgeted cost, and a delayed project is a client relationship under strain.
How the Sherpa partnership works
The capability comes through a partnership with Sherpa, which uses AI and more than 350 government relationships to keep entry requirement data current. Perk said applications submitted through Sherpa are processed 20 per cent faster than those made directly through government portals.
That figure is worth reading carefully. It refers to processing speed, not to approval, and it does not remove the standard advice to apply well ahead of departure. The UK’s own scheme, for example, tells applicants to allow up to three working days for a decision even though most come through in minutes. Anyone booking a trip inside that window is still exposed.
What travel managers should check
The practical questions for UK buyers are about coverage and control. Which destinations and nationalities are supported, given that a UK-based team may include passport holders from several countries. Whether the fee flows into the existing expense feed or arrives as a separate line. And whether the tool nudges travellers early enough to be useful, which is the difference between a helpful prompt and an expensive last-minute scramble.
Firms that have not revisited their documentation rules recently should treat this as a prompt to do so. Travel managers have already been urged to update corporate travel policies as new EU border processes come into force, and entry permissions are now a standing item rather than an occasional one.
Travellers can check the official requirements and costs for the UK scheme on the GOV.UK electronic travel authorisation pages, which also set out who needs an ETA.
