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Visa requirements for British citizens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Visa requirements for British citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of the United Kingdom.
As of 2025, British citizens have visa-free or visa on arrival access to 186 countries and territories, ranking the British passport 6th in the world according to the Henley Passport Index. It is important to note that British citizen,visa and destination are subjective terms and multiple classes of British citizenship exist.[1]
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and thus lost its freedom of movement to EU countries (except Ireland) on 31 December 2020. However, as a part of the Common Travel Area, British citizens do still have freedom of movement to Ireland.
Visa requirements for other classes of British nationals such as British nationals (overseas), British overseas citizens, British overseas territories citizens, British protected persons or British subjects are different.
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History
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Visa requirements for British citizens were lifted by many European nations in the few years after World War II. The first changes occurred in 1947. These were removed by France on 1 January 1947. [2]
This was then quickly followed by Belgium on 15 February 1947,[3] Luxembourg 15 February 1947,[4] Norway on 1 March 1947,[5] Denmark on 22 March 1947,[6] Sweden on 1 April 1947,[7] Netherlands on 15 April 1947,[8] Switzerland on 24 June 1947[9] Liechtenstein on 24 June 1947[9] and Iceland on 1 July 1947.[10]
The requirement was lifted by Italy on 1 January 1948,[11] Monaco (8 November 1948),[12] Austria (15 May 1955),[13][14] Paraguay (27 November 1966),[15] United States (1 July 1988), Poland (1 July 1992), Bulgaria (March 1997),[16] Romania (1 January 2001),[17] Serbia and Montenegro (31 May 2003),[18] Ukraine (1 May 2005),[19] Georgia (1 June 2006),[20] Moldova (1 January 2007),[21] Kyrgyzstan (27 July 2012),[22] Armenia (10 January 2013), Kazakhstan (15 July 2014),[23] Indonesia (13 June 2015),[24] Vietnam (1 July 2015)[25] Belarus (12 February 2017),[26] Cape Verde (1 January 2019),[27] Uzbekistan (1 February 2019),[28] Turkey (2 March 2020)[29] and Oman (December 2020).
Electronic visas for British citizens were introduced: India (15 August 2015),[30] Djibouti (18 February 2018),[31] Malawi (October 2019) and Mongolia (November 2021). In April 2021, India announced that it would stop issuing electronic visas for British citizens from August 2021, however this was reinstated in December 2022.[32]
Honduras cancelled a visa-free regime for British citizens as a reciprocal measure in August 2024.[33] Similarly, Namibia will introduce visas for British citizens for reciprocity reasons, starting April 2025.[34]
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Visa requirements map
Visa on arrival
eVisa
Visa available both on arrival or online
Visa required
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Visa requirements
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Common Travel Area
The United Kingdom, together with its Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland make up a Common Travel Area where:
- No ID is required for travel by land for British or Irish citizens
- Only photographic ID is required for travel by air or sea for British or Irish citizens (but some airlines - such as Ryanair - may mandate passports for all)
However, there are occasionally checks on coaches and trains moving between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. British citizens living in Ireland have many of the same rights and entitlements as an Irish citizen.[397] Citizens of third countries must have passports and, if required, visas to travel between the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
British visas don't enable travel to Ireland for people without agreement with Ireland, and vice versa. Passengers travelling between the Common Travel Area and the Schengen Area are subject to systematic passport/identity checks.
British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories
Territories and disputed areas
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Non-ordinary passports
Holders of exclusive categories of British passports have this visa-free access, to: China (diplomatic passports),[522] Kuwait (diplomatic or official passports),[523] Mongolia (diplomatic passports),[524] Qatar (diplomatic or official passports and British Diplomatic Messenger or Queen's Messenger Passports)[525] and the United Arab Emirates (diplomatic or official passports).[526]
Holders of diplomatic or service passports of any country have visa-free access to Ethiopia,[527] and Zimbabwe.[528] Holders of British official and diplomatic passports require a visa for South Africa.[529]
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Non-visa restrictions
Many countries have entry restrictions on foreigners that go beyond the common requirement of having either a valid visa or a visa exemption. Such restrictions may be health related or impose additional documentation requirements on certain classes of people for diplomatic or political purposes.
Blank passport pages
Many countries require a minimum number of blank pages to be available in the passport being presented, typically one or two pages.[530] Endorsement pages, which often appear after the visa pages, are not counted as being valid or available.
Vaccination
The African countries of Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia, require all incoming passengers older than nine months to one year[531] to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, as does the South American territory of French Guiana.[532]
Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area or has visited one recently or has transited for 12 hours in those countries: Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.[533][534]
Passport validity length
Very few countries, such as Paraguay, just require a valid passport on arrival.
However many countries and groupings now require only an identity card – especially from their neighbours. Other countries may have special bilateral arrangements that depart from the generality of their passport validity length policies to shorten the period of passport validity required for each other's citizens[535][536] or even accept passports that have already expired (but not been cancelled).[537]
Some countries, such as Japan,[538] Ireland and the United Kingdom,[539] require a passport valid throughout the period of the intended stay.
In the absence of specific bilateral agreements, countries requiring passports to be valid for at least 6 more months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain,[540] Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel,[541] Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru,[542] Philippines,[543] Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.[544]
Countries requiring passports valid for at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia and Zambia.
Countries requiring passports with a validity of at least 3 months beyond the date of intended departure include Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Montenegro, Nauru, Moldova and New Zealand. Similarly, the EEA countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, all European Union countries (except Ireland) together with Switzerland also require 3 months validity beyond the date of the bearer's intended departure unless the bearer is an EEA or Swiss national.
Countries requiring passports valid for at least 3 months on arrival include Albania, North Macedonia, Panama, and Senegal.
Bermuda requires passports to be valid for at least 45 days upon entry.
Countries that require a passport validity of at least one month beyond the date of intended departure include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, the Maldives[545] and South Africa.
Maximum passport age
Countries of the Schengen area require non-EU passports to be less than 10 years old upon entry.[546] A number of holders of British passports, which until September 2018 could be issued with a validity period of up to 10 years and nine months if the previous passport was not expired, were unable to travel to the EU subsequent to Brexit due to this restriction.[547]
Criminal record
Some countries, including Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and the United States,[548] routinely deny entry to non-citizens who have a criminal record, while others impose restrictions depending on the type of conviction and the length of the sentence.
Persona non grata
The government of a country can declare a diplomat persona non grata, banning them from entering the country or expelling them if they have already entered. In non-diplomatic use, the authorities of a country may also declare a foreigner persona non grata permanently or temporarily, usually because of unlawful activity.[549]
Israeli stamps
Kuwait,[550] Lebanon,[551] Libya,[552] and Yemen[553] do not allow entry to people with passport stamps from Israel or whose passports have either a used or an unused Israeli visa, or where there is evidence of previous travel to Israel such as entry or exit stamps from neighbouring border posts in transit countries such as Jordan and Egypt.
To circumvent this Arab League boycott of Israel, the Israeli immigration services have now mostly ceased to stamp foreign nationals' passports on either entry to or exit from Israel (unless the entry is for some work-related purposes). Since 15 January 2013, Israel no longer stamps foreign passports at Ben Gurion Airport. Passports are still (as of 22 June 2017[update]) stamped at Erez when passing into and out of Gaza.[citation needed]
Iran refuses admission to holders of passports containing an Israeli visa or stamp that is less than 12 months old.
Biometrics
Several countries mandate that all travellers, or all foreign travellers, be fingerprinted on arrival and will refuse admission to or even arrest travellers who refuse to comply. In some countries, such as the United States, this may apply even to transit passengers who merely wish to change planes rather than go landside.[554]
Fingerprinting countries/regions include Afghanistan,[555][556] Argentina,[557] Brunei, Cambodia,[558] China,[559] Ethiopia,[560] Ghana, Guinea,[561] India, Japan,[562][563] Kenya (both fingerprints and a photo are taken),[564] Malaysia upon entry and departure,[565] Mongolia, Saudi Arabia,[566] Singapore, South Korea,[567] Taiwan, Thailand,[568] Uganda,[569] the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Many countries also require a photo be taken of people entering the country. The United States, which does not fully implement exit control formalities at its land frontiers (although long mandated by its own legislation),[570][571][572] intends to implement facial recognition for passengers departing from international airports to identify people who overstay their visa.[573]
Together with fingerprint and face recognition, iris scanning is one of three biometric identification technologies internationally standardised since 2006 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for use in e-passports[574] and the United Arab Emirates conducts iris scanning on visitors who need to apply for a visa.[575][576]
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Travel consequences of Brexit
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On 23 June 2016, a majority of the British electorate who voted, did so to leave the European Union in a nationwide referendum.[577]
In March 2017, the UK sent notification of their intention to leave the EU to the European Council through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. British citizens ceased to be EU citizens upon the UK's departure from the EU thus forfeiting the rights of citizens.[578][579][580]
The UK withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020, but British citizens retained the right of freedom of movement until the transitional period ended on 31 December 2020.
From 1 January 2021, when EU law ceased to apply to the United Kingdom, British citizens are afforded visa-free visits to the Schengen Area, for 90 days in any 180-day period.[54][55][56] British citizens also enjoy visa-free entry to Bulgaria[581] and Romania.[304]
From sometime in 2026, most visa-exempt travellers seeking entry to the EU and EEA must apply and pay for travel authorisation through ETIAS.[582][583] This was confirmed on 12 September 2018 and has no exception, yet agreed, for British citizens.[584] This does not affect British-Irish travel which is governed by laws that pre-date the European Community.[585]
When in a non-EU country where there is no British embassy, British citizens no longer have the right to consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country.[586]
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Consular protection of British citizens abroad
When in a country where there is no British embassy, British citizens may get help from the embassy of any other commonwealth country present in that country. There are also informal arrangements with some other countries, including New Zealand and Australia, to help British nationals in some countries.[587]
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Foreign travel statistics
According to the Foreign travel advice provided by the British Government (unless otherwise noted) these are the numbers of British visitors to various countries per annum in 2015 (unless otherwise noted):[588]
Foreign travel statistics
- Data for 2014
- Data for 2017
- Data for 2015
- Data for 2016
- Counting only guests in tourist accommodation establishments.
- Data for 2011
- Data for 2018
- Data for arrivals by air only.
- Data for 2012
- Data for 2013
- Data for 2009
- Data for 2010
- Data for 2019
- Data for 2005
- Total number includes tourists, business travelers, students, exchange visitors, temporary workers and families, diplomats and other representatives and all other classes of nonimmigrant admissions (I-94).
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See also
References and notes
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