With less than a month before the end of the Brexit transition period, there are many new developments to the guidelines around traveling to countries within the EU. While it is still uncertain whether British citizens would require a visa to go to the EU, clarity on this will only be possible once the European Travel Information Authorisation System (ETIAS) is finalised in 2022.
How to navigate through the Brexit travel restrictions:
- Unlike the pre-Brexit period, a British traveler now needs to have more than six months of validity remaining on their passport to enter the EU external borders. If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months needed.
- As a citizen of a non-member country, British citizens may be denied entry to the European Union if the border official believes that they do not have the finances to sustain their proposed stay.
Since the UK has signed up for a maximum of 90 days’ stay in any 180 day period, your arrival date in the Schengen area will be recorded by the Schengen Information system (SIS) to ensure you comply with the 90-day allowance. In case you exceed your 90-day allowance, you will be given three days’ grace period to exit the borders. Non-compliance with this would lead to a one-year entry ban to the Schengen area. In the official online application process that the UK citizens have to now undertake, the EU will also demand a list of personal information from British citizens before entering its territory. This includes basic information like - name, address, place, and date of birth, nationality, passport number, and expiry date; along with educational, health, and criminal background. Just like citizens of any third country, the EU would require you to specify the purpose of your visit (Holiday, business, visiting family, etc). Lastly, you must also specify the country you will first arrive in and provide the address of the place you will be staying on the first night of your arrival. Most online applications will be approved within the span of a few minutes, however, if an application is flagged, a decision may take longer. Sometimes the applicant may also have to attend an interview at a consulate of the country they intend to visit.
These stringent immigration laws essentially impact business travel because one will no longer be able to take the “next flight out to Stockholm” or “catch the next train to Paris”. This is outside of the mental countdown one has to do, while visiting Schengen regions.
With Voyage Manager, business trips to the European Union can still be stress-free for your employees. Both, the Voyage Manager and the Mia Bazo platforms, will automatically monitor the number of days that your staff has spent in the EU and notify them as they approach their 90-day allowance limit. Our platforms also allow easy access to all your travel documentation online, including your passport, entry permits, and eventually the Eurovisa through Voyage Manager’s mobile apps. This enables staff to have all their necessary documents ready on the go to avoid any hassle at the border.
