Do UK citizens need a visa for Schengen area?
No short-stay visa for a British citizen passport: up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area. Border staff register you in the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) at no charge. ETIAS is not taking applications yet.
Key facts
| Visa needed? | No visa for tourism, visiting family or friends, business meetings, or short study. EES is a border registration, not a visa. ETIAS is not open. |
|---|---|
| Maximum stay | 90 days in any 180-day period. Days in other Schengen countries in that window count. |
| Cost | No visa fee. EES registration has no charge. When ETIAS opens, the EU’s published application fee is EUR 20. Applicants under 18 or over 70 are exempt from that fee. |
| How to apply | You do not apply for a short-stay visa or for EES before travel. Do not pay a website for an ETIAS authorisation. The EU says applications are not being collected yet. |
| Passport validity | Date of issue less than 10 years before the day you arrive, and an expiry date at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area. |
| Other documents | Officers may ask for a return or onward ticket, proof of where you will stay, and proof you can pay for the trip. In France they may also ask for travel insurance. |
| Official link | Use the authority’s own website. Entry Visa Guide does not take applications. · EU page: who should apply for ETIAS (opens in a new tab) |
Apply only on the government website linked above. This site does not issue the authorisation and does not take the application. Other websites charge their own service fee on top of any government charge.
How to apply
- Check the passport issue date and the expiry date against the Schengen rules before you book.
- Add up days already spent in Schengen countries in the 180 days before you travel. The cap is 90 days in total, not 90 days in each country.
- On arrival, follow signs for the Entry/Exit System. You may be asked for a photo and fingerprints. Children aged 11 or younger are not fingerprinted. There is nothing to buy in advance.
- When the EU announces that ETIAS is open, apply only on travel-europe.europa.eu (opens in a new tab). A commercial site that calls the authorisation a visa is not the EU system.
Where this rule applies
The EU lists 29 countries using EES: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. In Cyprus and Ireland, passports are still stamped.
The EU’s ETIAS country list is 30 countries: those EES countries plus Cyprus. Ireland is not on that list. A stay in Cyprus is counted separately from the 90 days in the other countries, once ETIAS is in use.
GOV.UK France advice says the EES record is valid for 3 years, registration has no cost, and checks can also happen before you leave the UK if you enter through Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone, or Eurostar at St Pancras.
ETIAS is not open
The EU ETIAS site says the system is not in operation and that no applications are being collected. It also says the EU will give the start date several months before launch. A 15 April 2026 EU news item said UK nationals would need ETIAS from the last quarter of 2026. Checked on 16 October 2026, the live EU pages still say travellers do not apply yet.
When it starts, an ETIAS authorisation is planned to last three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first, and it is linked to that passport. It is a travel authorisation for a visa-free stay, not a visa sold by this website. Withdrawal Agreement residence documents have their own exemption rules, with different treatment for documents issued by Ireland and by Cyprus. Read the EU page before you rely on an exemption.
Read ETIAS latest for UK travellers and EES explained.
Recent changes
- Checked against GOV.UK France entry requirements and the EU Travel Europe pages for EES and ETIAS. ETIAS applications were still not being collected. · source (opens in a new tab)
FAQ
Do I need ETIAS for France, Spain, or Italy today?
No. On 16 October 2026 the EU site says ETIAS is not in operation and applications are not being collected. You still need a passport that meets the Schengen validity rules, and you may be registered in EES at the border.
Does the 90-day limit reset in each country?
No. GOV.UK says visits to Schengen countries in the 180 days before you travel count towards the same 90 days. Overstaying can lead to a ban of up to 3 years.
Is EES the same as a visa?
No. EES records your entry and exit, including a photo and fingerprints where required. GOV.UK says there is no cost and you do not register before you reach the border.
Can I work on a visa-free Schengen stay?
No. The visa-free rule GOV.UK describes covers tourism, visits, business meetings, cultural or sports events, and short-term studies or training. Working follows a different national rule.
Sources
- GOV.UK: France entry requirements, including Schengen passport rules, the 90-day stay, and EES (opens in a new tab)
- European Union: countries using the Entry/Exit System (opens in a new tab)
- European Union: who should apply for ETIAS, including the note that it is not in operation (opens in a new tab)
- European Union: ETIAS questions, including the EUR 20 fee and three-year validity (opens in a new tab)
- European Union: UK nationals and ETIAS, news item dated 15 April 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Last verified: 2026-10-16
Related reading
Independent guide, not legal advice. Entry Visa Guide is an independent information site. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or run by any government or public authority. Always check official sources before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Report an error.