The new years is going to throw up some fresh challenges for Britons travelling to Europe and the Schengen Zone. One important issue is if travelling with the “old” burgundy passport, according to the British government which has issued a reminder to British travellers. Since the UK left the European Union in 2020, UK passport holders are now seen as ‘third-country nationals’ by EU and Schengen countries. This means the entry rules have changed. And many UK holidaymakers are still being caught out by them.
The Post Office explains that passports issued after 2018 are valid for exactly 10 years. But if your passport was issued before September 2018, it might be valid for up to 10 years and nine months. This is because, before 2018, the passport office would add up to nine extra months from your old passport to your new one.
This means some people have passports that haven’t officially expired and are still valid for travel worldwide. The exception is travel in Europe, where passports must be less than 10 years old.
To travel to Europe and Schengen countries, your passport must be:
Issued less than 10 years before your departure date.
Valid for at least three months after your planned return date.
And remember, you can now only stay in Schengen countries for up to 90 days within a six-month period. Before Brexit, you could stay as long as you wanted.
The government advice at the moment is:
You do not need a visa for short trips to the EU or countries in the Schengen area if both of the following apply:
you’re staying for 90 days or less in a 180-day period
you’re visiting as a tourist or for certain other reasons
Other reasons include:
studying a short course
getting medical
treatment
travelling for business for your UK employer, for example to attend a business meeting or conference
journalism or other
media activities
Furthermore, be aware of the rules and regulations if travelling to countries in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in a 180-day period. You can travel to more than one country in a 180-day period. How long you can stay in each country depends on whether or not it’s in the Schengen area.
The countries in the Schengen area are:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Your total stay in the Schengen area must be no more than 90 days in every 180 days. It does not matter how many countries you visit. The 180-day period keeps ‘rolling’.
To work out if your stay is within the 90 day limit, use the following steps.
Check the date you plan to leave the Schengen area on your next trip.
Count back 180 days from that date to get the start of the 180-day period.
Add up the number of days you have already spent in the Schengen area in that 180-day period (you can use the dates stamped in your passport showing when you entered and left a country).
Work out how many days you will spend in the Schengen area on your next trip. Add this number to the number of days you worked out in step 3.
Check that the total number of days is not more than 90.
2 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
The 90 day rule has been in place since the beginning of the EU. It did not change after Brexit. What changed after Brexit is that the UK is no longer an EU member state.
And this is news because?