Britain is not a member of the Schengen Zone, which allows for visa-free travel within the 26 countries that are members.
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The Guardian reports that France and Germany favour a system that would require people to apply for a visa at least 72 hours before travelling, at a proposed cost of £10 ($13.20).
British travelers may soon have to apply and pay for visas to visit Europe as a result of Brexit negotiations, a Tory MP has confirmed.
“In theory United Kingdom citizens, as third-country nationals, would certainly be subject to the obligations” of such a scheme, said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow specialising in justice and home affairs at the Centre for European Reform.
But Mrs May wants to keep her thinking quiet at the moment so as not to expose her negotiating hand with other European Union leaders during exit talks. “It will all have to be negotiated”.
Its blueprint would offer free movement for European Union tourists, students, pensioners and other self-sufficient people as long as that was reciprocated. We have no idea what the rules will be.
Amber Rudd said reports the European Commission is considering plans for a visa programme to operate across the Schengen free movement area is a “reminder” that the United Kingdom is in a “two way negotiation” with the EU as it seeks its divorce from Brussels.
People from many non-EU countries now have to apply in advance for a £50 visa for a short trip to the continent.
Border Force check the passports of passengers arriving at Gatwick Airport.
Last week it emerged that the French and German governments had suggested modelling a European Commission proposal for a common visa waiver programme on the US Esta scheme.
Under the USA system, introduced in 2009, immigration authorities assess whether a visitor is eligible to enter the country under its visa waiver programme before they arrive at the border. He’s due to fill the national seat in Brussels vacated by Jonathan Hill, who resigned as a commissioner after the United Kingdom voted in a June referendum to leave the 28-nation EU.
Davis said the government would have clear negotiating guidelines in place by the time Article 50 was triggered. The British secretary of state refused to offer any guarantee.
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“The peace process is the one thing that all Europeans do understand, and it is the fulcrum through which continued assistance, subsidy and subvention to Northern Ireland could come”, he observed. But the free travel question will be one of many bargaining chips. “The two are not remotely comparable of course, but after Brexit Britain will be a third country like Turkey”.
