UK cancels Swedish academic Andreas Malm's travel authorisation ahead of Palestine Action event

The UK Home Office has cancelled the electronic travel authorisation of Swedish academic Andreas Malm, and he says the decision is linked to a London event he was due to attend. Al Jazeera reported the cancellation on 30 October 2026.

An electronic travel authorisation, or ETA, is a digital permit that lets some visitors travel to the UK without applying for a visa. The Home Office said Malm's presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good, a phrase used in immigration decisions to describe whether a person's presence is judged acceptable.

Malm was due to speak one week after the cancellation on a panel organised in London by Tribune, a British socialist magazine. According to Tribune Magazine, the Home Office had blocked him from coming to the UK to speak at the event. The panel was to discuss the ban on Palestine Action, the direct-action group that was proscribed, meaning formally banned under UK law, as a terrorist organisation last year, when Keir Starmer was prime minister.

Huda Ammori, a cofounder of Palestine Action, was also scheduled to appear. The panel was to be chaired by Hala Hanina of Palestine Deep Dive.

Malm told Al Jazeera that he believes his ETA was cancelled because he was due to appear on the panel alongside Ammori. He said he last visited the UK in May using an ETA and has visited the country regularly for decades.

The Home Office email sent to Malm said that to visit the UK he needs to apply for a visa, after which his circumstances will be considered in more detail. Tribune reported that he was told he must apply for a standard visitor, transit or temporary work visa. The UK government website gives a processing time of three weeks for a standard visitor visa.

Malm is an associate professor of human ecology at Lund University in Sweden. The Guardian describes him as a climate academic and Swedish author.