Business Visitors After Brexit:
Short-Term Travel to the Schengen Area

Business Visitors After Brexit: Short-Term Travel to the Schengen Area

Our first Brexit newsletter examined EU Business Visitors and last week we reviewed UK Business Visitors Travelling to the EU. The common theme in both of these subjects is that business travel after Brexit is complex and ensuring compliance with local regulations is more challenging than ever. The Post-Brexit Business Travel Assessment protects your organisation and travellers from severe penalties of non-compliance. Easy to use and quick to complete, the tool asks each traveller carefully-researched questions about their activities while in their destination country. The traveller will have a result within seconds of submission.

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Today we’re focusing on UK nationals travelling to the EU for short-term visits in the Schengen Area. If your business travellers stay within the Schengen Area for less than 90 days in any 180-day period, the UK and the EU have agreed to visa-free travel for these short visits. These 90 days can comprise a series of short visits to one or more of the 26 countries in the Schengen zone, or one long visit. Please note: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania are visa-free for UK nationals but follow their own separate system. Ireland allows unrestricted travel from the UK as part of a common travel area for British nationals.

Whilst a visa is not required, UK travellers have to demonstrate, and provide evidence for, their eligibility for admission at the Schengen border crossing and must also prove that the stay will not exceed that ‘90 in 180-day period’ limitation.

Travellers will need to carry with them:

• A valid passport – issued within the last ten years and with at least six month’s validity remaining
• Justification for travel – e.g., letter from EU business confirming nature of activities to be undertaken
• Evidence that they are able to support themselves for the duration of their stay
• Travel itinerary – which includes details of accommodation and return travel
• Comprehensive sickness insurance covering the Schengen Area and valid for the duration of their stay

In addition, the following are important recent changes to travel protocols for UK nationals in the Schengen Area and EU:

• UK nationals are no longer able to use the designated lanes at border crossing points in the EU, EEA and Switzerland, and may experience longer airport queues in the 'All Passports' lanes
• UK nationals now have their passports stamped when they enter and leave the EU/Schengen Area
• UK national are now subject to checks against databases upon entry and exit

Finally, looking ahead to developments on the horizon, the EU expects to fully implement its new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) by the end of 2022. Similar to the U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) or Canada’s Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) programmes, ETIAS will track Schengen Area visitors from visa-waiver countries, including undertaking a detailed security check of each applicant to determine whether they are allowed to enter any Schengen Zone country.

You can prepare your organisation and business travellers for this new travel landscape by using the Post-Brexit Business Travel assessment. In less than five minutes, you’ll get the necessary guidance on requirements for travel as well as a Support Letter to make travel entry as easy as possible.

In our next blog, we’ll explore EU Posted Workers and A1 Certificates. CIBTvisas stands ready to support you and your travel program. Contact your dedicated CIBTvisas Account Manager today for more information. Don’t have an Account Manager? Contact us.