Here’s what we know about Brexit travel restrictions easing, outbound and inbound

After the vote to leave the EU, the decades-long ease with which the British have holidayed, worked and lived in other member states has ended.

The UK negotiated for British travellers to the Schengen Area (covering much of Europe) to be limited to a stay of 90 days in any 180 days. So UK passport holders with second homes in the European Union cannot spend more than three months of the winter living there, unless they have a hard-to-obtain long-stay visa.

Conversely, the UK has made it much tougher for many European visitors to come to Britain – insisting they have passports rather than national ID cards. That decision has devastated inbound tourism in some areas of the UK.

Yet both these policies, chosen by the British government, are beginning to unwind.

These are the key questions and answers on how travel rules are easing between the UK and Europe.

What was the situation while the UK was in the EU?

Right up until the end of 2020, which included the Brexit transition period, British travellers could stay as long as they wished in the European Union, up to and including their passport expiry date (UK citizens who happen also to have a passport from Ireland or another EU nation still enjoy this freedom).

But when negotiating the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the government arranged for the UK to be treated as a “third country”. This means British travellers are subject to exactly the same restrictions as passport holders from many other states, such as Venezuela, Tonga and East Timor. Yet unlike those countries, the UK has extremely close ties with the European Union.

Were we expecting to join that particular club?

No. Immediately after the 2016 referendum, Boris Johnson assured UK travellers nothing would change after Brexit. He said: “British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to study; to buy homes and settle down.” That turned out not to be true.

At around the same time, his colleague, David Davis, the first Brexit secretary, promised: “There will be no downside to Brexit, only a considerable upside.”

What are the current rules for British travellers to the EU?

While the UK was in the EU, the fact that many British passports were issued for over 10 years was irrelevant. But the issue date is now significant. A UK passport must now comply with two rules for travel to the European Union and wider Schengen Area:

These two rules are independent of each other, so ignore any nonsense you may have read insisting “UK passports run out after nine years and nine months”.

Third-country nationals may also be asked to justify their travel plans, including financial means, accommodation arrangements and a ticket out of the Schengen Area before they exceeed the stay limit.

Just remind me about the Schengen Area?

This is the “passport-free” zone for travel between most European nations. It is named after the village of Schengen in Luxembourg, which is on the border of France and Germany – a symbolic location, where the former frontier infrastructure is now out of use.

The Schengen Area includes almost all the EU countries except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania – plus Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican City.

How long can I stay in the Schengen Area?

“British citizens do not require a visa if spending up to 90 days over a 180-day period in the Schengen Area,” says the French government.

The simplest way to look at this: if you enter the Schengen Area on 1 January 2024, having not been in the zone for the previous 90 days, you would be able to stay there until the end of March. You would then need to remain outside of Schengen for another 90 days, until late June.

Of course most people will have more complex travel plans than this. The question to ask on the day you plan to travel to the Schengen Area is: going back 180 days (almost six months), on how many days have you been in the the zone?

If the answer is less than 90 days in the past 180 days, you are entitled to enter the Schengen Area. But how long you can stay depends on a “rolling count” – on each day, you must look back 180 days and work out how many days you have been in the zone.

What happens if I overstay?

Third-country travellers are generally given three days’ grace on breaking the 90-day limit. Any longer than that and they are likely to be handed an entry ban for one year. This applies throughout the Schengen Area – not just the country in which you overstayed.

I want to stay longer. Can I?

Many British people with second homes in France or a tradition of spending winter in Spain are in this position: they do not want nor need residence, but simply want to stay longer than three months.

Each country has its own version of a long-stay visitor visa. For France, the answer is a visa de long séjour (VLS-T). The six-month version entitles the holder to make multiple trips to France. To get one, you will need to provide evidence of income and/or financial resources. You must attend an interview in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, have fingerprints taken and pay €99 (£87) for the visa along with a processing fee of about £30.

Spain has a similar “long duration” visa, for which you have to submit:

You must attend an interview at a Spanish consulate general in London or Edinburgh.

A long-stay permit for a specific EU country does not mean that you are entitled to spend more than 90 days in 180 in other Schengen Area nations. But any time spent in the country for which you have a visa does not count towards the 90-day tally.

What is changing?

Some local politicians in France have been campaigning for their government to make it easier for British property owners to stay longer than 90 days.

UK citizens with second homes in France can make a useful social and economic contribution to communities, especially in rural area. Kicking them out after less than three months – in accordance with the rules the British government asked for – stops them spending money in the locality and supporting businesses and cultural events.

On 19 December 2023, the Senate and National Assembly in Paris voted in principle to grant long-stay visas to British property owners more or less automatically.

The exact amendment notes that life has got much more difficult for British property owners since Brexit: “If these difficulties find their roots in the sovereign decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the fact remains that many of their nationals actively participate in the dynamism of the local economy in our territories.

“Thus, in view of the unique links which unite our two countries and the importance of this public for the French economy, this appeal amendment wishes, by way of derogation, to ease the conditions of entry into French territory for British citizens who own second homes in France.”

If it is rubber-stamped, it would allow British property owners to spend as much of the year as they wish in France. Any time spent in France will not count towards the 90-day limit in the rest of the Schengen Area.

Stephen Jolly, of the pressure group France Visa Free, said: “France is helping us solve the 90-in-180-day problem for some British visitors.

“Eventually we want to see a truly reciprocal mobility arrangement between the UK and each EU country. But for the time being this change in French law is huge. It shows that the French are willing to address the adverse effects of Brexit.”

Surely this must apply throughout the EU – not just France?

No. While the common Schengen Area rules are decided in Brussels and cannot be modified by individual states, each EU nation is sovereign and is free to offer long-stay visas for its own territory to anyone it wishes.

What is different for Ireland?

Freedom of movement for UK citizens and unlimited length of stay in Ireland is guaranteed under the provisions of the Common Travel Agreement. Any time spent by British travellers in the Republic does not count towards the time limitations for the rest of Europe.

People who live in Northern Ireland are exempt from the 90/180 rule if they have a passport from the Irish Republic, which is easily obtained by most people in Northern Ireland. They have an automatic right to travel anywhere in the Schengen Area and other EU countries, even though Ireland is outside the Schengen Area.

The government in Dublin says: “Irish citizens continue to have EU citizenship wherever they live. They continue to enjoy the right to travel and live and work anywhere in the EU.”

Do the EU countries outside Schengen have different rules?

Each of Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania has its own individual 90/180 day limits. A British traveller could therefore effectively keep “flipping” between Schengen and those other countries – though frontier officials may demand to see evidence of financial means.

What about travel to the UK for Europeans?

One of the flagship Brexit policies on immigration was to end the right for Europeans to travel to the UK using national identity cards. In October 2021, the then-home secretary Priti Patel banned what she called “the use of insecure ID cards for people to enter our country”. She said it was imperative to “clamp down on the criminals that seek to enter our country illegally using forged documents”.

The consequences of banning IDs?

The ban disenfranchised more than 200 million European Union citizens who have ID cards but not passports from visiting the UK. It almost wiped out the previously healthy inbound tourism from groups of EU schoolchildren. Many diverted to the remaining European Union nations where English is the main language: Ireland and Malta.

The UK Institute of Tourist Guiding reported a 99 per cent drop in school group bookings from Europe for summer 2022 compared with pre-Brexit, pre-Covid 2019. And Patricia Yates, chief executive of VisitBritain, told MPs: “You will find destinations like Hastings absolutely decimated by a lack of school visits.”

What has changed now?

In December 2023, the current home secretary, James Cleverly, announced a U-turn. He said: “We are making changes to allow children aged 18 and under, studying at a school in France, to visit the UK on an organised educational trip without the usual passport or visit visa requirements.

“EU, other EEA and Swiss national children will be able to travel on their national identity card.”

Lord Ricketts, chair of the European Affairs Committee said: “We now urge the government to get this extended to children studying in all EU states for the benefit of both sides.”

How does the UK benefit from allowing in tourists with ID cards?

European citizens can use their national identity cards to visit any EU/Schengen Area country, as well as a number beyond those borders. With such extensive freedom to travel with a document that they have to own anyway, many Europeans do not bother with the red tape and expense of procuring a passport.

While some prospective travellers may obtain a passport specifically to visit the UK, many will not.

The United Kingdom has therefore restricted access to the closest thing any country can get to free money: inbound tourism. Overseas visitors bring highly desirable social and economic benefits. They boost local amenities, create jobs and improve international understanding.

What does the UK government say now?

“This is a hugely exciting time for our country, one filled with potential and opportunity.

“This is a government that possesses the ambition and determination the UK needs to succeed now and for many years to come.”