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Christopher Pincher

Minister of State (Minister for Europe and the Americas)

Part of Brexit

22nd August 2019 London

Travelling to the EU or live there? Get ready for Brexit

The UK is leaving the EU on 31 October and we are making all necessary preparations to ensure we are ready.

This includes making sure UK travellers to the EU and UK nationals living in the EU are prepared.

If this is you – or you have friends and family involved – then please read on…

UK travellers to the EU

Europe is our most popular travel destination with around 60 million visits to the EU every year.

Once we leave, people need to be ready to travel to the EU after Brexit by doing 4 things:

  • checking passports (if you have less than 6 months left)
  • getting travel insurance – make sure you’re covered
  • checking driving permits (you may need extra documents)
  • making sure your pet can travel (allow 4 months to arrange).

For more information visit our journey planner.

UK nationals living in the EU

There are more than one million UK nationals living in the EU, with more than 60% living in just four countries – Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Foreign Office is doing a lot of work already through our Embassies across Europe, to inform people about the changes they need to make ahead of Brexit on 31 October.

Many of the changes are specific to the country you are living in, but generally you will need to take action in 4 areas:

  • residency
  • healthcare
  • passports
  • driving permits

Please visit our ‘Living In Guides’ on GOV.UK which have specific information for each country.

Keep up to date

Over the coming weeks we are stepping up advice to get people prepared for Brexit.

Sign up for email alerts on both our travel advice pages and Living In Guide pages.

9 comments on “Travelling to the EU or live there? Get ready for Brexit

  1. We have been getting excellent information from the High Commission here in Cyprus. The communications are clear and very helpful.

  2. I have an appointment with immigration on 26th September, and am a pensioner. Will I still be able to get registered with GESI once I have my MEU1?

  3. I am planning to visit soon, lets see how it goes. I am very excited to visit as I am a moving blogger and I write..

  4. To be honest, this is at the lower end of the helpfulness scale. And the thrust seems to be to put the onus on individual UK citizens settled in the EU to secure their respective positions. I expect HMG to sort out my healthcare. I have paid for it over 40 years and see no reason why it cannot continue to be funded as now. You are, after all, doing exactly that for UK citz in the Irish Republic, so there is clearly no technical impediment. Hopefully you are working on the solution for UK citz in the other EU 26.

  5. Will there be any change for people who transit in an EU country from the UK to another continent eg Heathrow to Accra via Brussels.

  6. Why have you preceded each country in your guides link with the phrase “living in” then the country name. Simply putting the country name makes it easier to follow.

  7. Chris – perhaps it would have been sensible in the highlights section to add that some insurance companies have no means or producing some driver’s documentation requires in the event of a no deal. That EU Visas cost money and time if there is no deal. Medical insurance instead of an EHIC card is expensive for families.

    What will happen to mobile phone bills? I am typing this in Croatia using my UK allowance at no extra charge. Will that last?

    Safe to say none of those annoying and expensive considerations applying whilst we remain in the UK.

Comments are closed.