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Travelling to the EU with a UK passport if there’s no Brexit deal
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If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, British passport holders will be
considered third country nationals by countries within the Schengen area after 29 March 2019. The following countries are within the Schengen area:
Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
If you’re a British citizen, as an EU national, you’re currently able to
enter the Schengen area if you have a valid passport. There’s no
requirement for British passports to have a minimum or maximum validity
period remaining when you enter or leave the Schengen area.
After 29 March 2019
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, British passport holders will be considered a third country national under the Schengen Border Code. This means you’ll need to comply with different rules to enter and travel around the Schengen area. Third-country nationals are citizens of countries which do not belong to the EU or the European Economic Area, such as Australia, Canada and the USA. According to the Schengen Border Code, third country passports must:
- have been issued within the last 10 years on the date of arrival in a Schengen country, and
- have at least 3 months’ validity remaining on the date of intended departure from the last country visited in the Schengen area. Because third country nationals can remain in the Schengen area for 90 days (approximately 3 months), the actual check carried out could be that the passport has at least 6 months validity remaining on the date of arrival.
So if you plan to travel to the Schengen area after 29 March 2019, check the issue date and make sure your passport is no older than 9 years and 6 months on the day of travel.
For example, if you’re planning to travel to the Schengen area on 30
March 2019, your passport should have an issue date on or after 1
October 2009. This is to avoid any possibility of your adult British
passport not complying with the Schengen Border Code. For 5-year child passports issued to under-16s, check the expiry date
and make sure there will be at least 6 months validity remaining on the
date of travel. If your passport does not meet the criteria for third country
nationals, you may be denied entry to any of the Schengen area countries.
New UK passports printed between 30 March 2019 up until the introduction of the new passport design will be burgundy but will not include the words ‘European Union’ on the front cover. This includes passports issued by the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar. Blue passports will start being issued from late 2019.
