With more and more uncertainty piling up after another unproductive round of negotiations with Brussels, people are starting to worry about how a no deal Brexit will affect their winter and half-term holidays.
With less than a month until the deadline, there is still little clarity on how Brexit will turn out; a deal that allows the free movement of people is looking highly unlikely, and a no deal exit seems more inevitable by the day.
Rebecca Kingsley, Brand Manager of consumer awareness initiative Travel Insurance Explained, answers the burning questions about travelling in a post-Brexit world:
Will I have to get a visa to visit Europe?
Currently, holidaymakers can stay in the EU for 90-days without needing to apply for a visa, but it is still not known if holidaymakers will need a visa to visit Europe post-Brexit. For those hoping to move to a European country for work, stay for longer periods of time or study abroad, a visa will likely be required.
Will my travel insurance still be valid if we leave no deal?
Your travel insurance policy will remain valid whether we leave with or without a deal. Having said that, the majority of travel insurance companies will not cover you in the event of Brexit disruption. For example, if the chaos of Brexit results in long lines at the airport and you miss your flight, then unfortunately most travel insurance policies will not cover you. However, some travel insurance policies are offering to cover Brexit-related disruption as standard. Look out for travel insurers who specifically state they will provide cover in the case of Brexit delays.
Will my passport still be valid in the event of a no deal Brexit?
Post-Brexit your passport will need to be valid for at least six months from the date you are due to return home. If your passport has fewer than six months left on it before it expires, then you may be denied entry into the EU. If you leave for an EU country before Brexit and return after, customs shouldn’t hold you to that rule and you will be allowed back in to the UK.
EHIC and travel insurance
Currently, the EHIC entitles UK citizens to free or discounted healthcare in the EU. If we leave the EU without a deal there is a chance the EHIC will cease immediately. Holidaymakers are advised to ensure they are buying a suitable travel insurance policy. All travel insurance policies will offer cover for emergency medical expenses, but holidaymakers will need to ensure they declare any existing conditions. Failure to do so could result in a claim being denied. Without the EHIC or a suitable travel insurance policy, holidaymakers who fall ill or sustain an injury abroad could face large medical bills. It’s also important to remember that travel insurance will not cover you if the purpose of your trip is medical, such as cosmetic or dental surgery.
Rebecca Kingsley says:
“Unless you are travelling around 31st October, you shouldn’t find your travels to be affected too significantly, as long as a lengthy visa process isn’t implemented. If you are travelling around that date then you should make sure you leave plenty of time for delays and the change in the customs system.
“The most important things you need to think about are the expiry date on your passport and making sure you have the appropriate travel insurance when visiting an EU country. Failure to do so could see you denied entry into the country you are visiting, or land you with a hefty medical bill should you visit any hospital”.
It could always be worse. We could be staying. See how this country has been ruined SINCE being ‘in’. Imagine another 40 years of such.
Instead of asking yourself ‘how bad will it be, IF we ever leave’, ask yourself, ‘what sort of world will it be for our children IF we are forced to stay’
We are funding the near third world European countries to have a better standard of life, yet at the expense of our own. Now we cannot even afford to cut the verges, or keep toilets and library’s open.
Even in the two world wars those levels of cut backs weren’t necessary.
Yet we import tens of thousands of dirt poor people, who come with NOTHING and so a home, costing a fortune has to be provided a huge cost, along with costly education, free NHS services, and often those who are old enough to work, earn low wages which are then made up, via tax credits, by the workers, thus Costing us again, as if they earn low wages they pay in little or nothing but claim hundreds in tax credits, child tax credits, child allowance, subsidised rent and council tax.
Many unfortunately come from areas where mugging, pick pocketing, handbag stealing, drug dealing, ‘adult’ sleaze ‘working’ and other unpleasant ways of life are the norm, thus bringing more of such to our country, filling our jails, so our own, home grown low life can no longer be jailed for meaningful sentences.
Add the FACT that due to supply and demand rules, the MORE impoverished people who arrive, lowers the wages of all the rest of us, with bosses KNOWING ‘if’ you won’t work for it, ‘they’ will.
The same supply and demand rules ensure that tens of thousands of ‘extra’ bodies then force RENT upwards, with landlords KNOWING that they can get the maximum rent for often poor quality accommodation, as the demand ensures such will rent, and the low paid immigrants rent is heavily subsidised, so they can afford the unfair levels asked, which WE then have to pay to secure a property.
The Media won’t tell you this, but it is FACT. Truth is, employers gain, as they pay out lower wages, as the rest of us are subsidising such as shown above.
The rich MP’s and their families own both businesses AND large property and land portfolios, so they ‘gain’ on both fronts, AND ensure they never ever live, work, holiday, travel, have their children educated or treated with the very people they inflict upon US.
Sure not all are bad, and the higher paid who more than pay their way are a boon, but too many are lowering OUR standard of living to understandably ‘better’ their lot in life.
Yet even the nice ones, take up a little part of a greenfield site, take up a space on the road, use more energy, water, landfill etc. Adding to our growing problems.
Oh dear Az-zahra Aziz,..
Another one who can’t tell the difference between their own deluded fantasy and actual reality.
Methinks you’ve been listening to the rabble rousing, bigoted rants of Nigel to much
“Even in the two world wars those levels of cut backs weren’t necessary”
Maybe not, (but perhaps you’re misguided there as well),..
But if you think the chronic and extreme austerity we have been subjected to over the last 10 years or so is down to the relatively small amounts we pay to the EU, then you really don’t understand the whole system of economy and public finance.
(a clue for you,.. the actual net amount we send to the EU works out somewhere around £2 per person, per week (no, the £350M per week was a proven big fat lie, and admitted as such by the leave campaign after the referendum ),…d’you think that amount would have made any difference to the cut-backs,…& for that measly £2 per person per week, our children get the opportunity to travel, live and work (and the rest of us get to retire if we want to), anywhere within Europe)
Orac
So, so far nothing has changed then ? Everything above is in force now ?
75 white papers issued including one on holidays if you read it you would know whats it all about everything above was in that white paper
“HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOUR TRAVELS WITH THE FAMILY?”
Not much, nothing will change for going abroad apart from a bit of insurance. Most will not see any difference as it’ll be part of the package deal. We travelled to the EU before we joined without issue. Why should it be any different when we leave.
Non story.
Media hype on every subject, scare mongering.. as an example before we Entered the EU, the border system between North and South Ireland worked. rewind back to the pre EU system to get things going ,then it can be fine tuned as required at a later date..Its not a big scary world out there, its a great opportunity for our future and the future of your children, yes there are challenges ,,adapt and overcome …