WITH six months to go until
the UK is due to leave the
EU, how travellers, and UK
and EU passport holders in
particular, will be affected
remains unclear.
In the Brexit White Paper,
Britain has proposed
reciprocal visa-free travel
arrangements to enable UK
and EU citizens to continue
to travel freely for tourism in
the future.
However, if no deal
is reached, the EU has
indicated that British
passport holders may have
to apply on the European
Travel Information and
Authorisation System
(ETIAS) for an electronic visa
exemption similar to the
current UK-US ESTA system.
These currently cost around
€7 (R118).
Locally, there may also be
a shift in airlines’ booking
patterns as UK and EU
passport holders living in
South Africa may elect to
fly directly to Europe or the
UK via an African or Middle
Eastern carrier to avoid the
additional admin and cost of
applying for various ETIASs.
British passports are likely
to lose all rights associated
with EU membership but will
continue to be valid travel
documents.
British passport holders
with less than a year on their
passports are being advised
to renew. If no Brexit deal is
reached, passport holders
will be considered ‘third
country’ nationals and will
require six months’ validity
on their passports to enter
the EU.
This month, the validity
period of British passports
was changed to conform with
the Schengen border code
which does not recognise
passports valid for more
than 10 years (passports
that have been renewed a
few months before expiry).
This process is expected
to delay passport renewals
which normally take
approximately three weeks to
renew.
Brexit could change travel patterns
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