Post brexit travel into EU: your experiences

[SouthEastBuses]

Just some random questions I'd thought I'd ask.

Since Brexit, when travelling to the EU, what have your experiences been like? Were any additional questions (such as proof of onward or return journey, proof of funds, proof of accomodation etc.) ever asked by border guards, or have you just had your passports stamped? (note, Covid-related questions do not count here).

I've been to Spain and Italy, and on either occasions I've just had my passport stamped, nothing else.

Also, mods, please move this to a more appropriate discussion if required

 

[gabrielhj07]

Since our departure from the EU was in early 2020, travel has been rather limited but I have some experience of France and Ireland.


France, to which I have travelled by 'chunnel' is much the same as it always was, perhaps a slightly longer queue in Folkestone when heading to the continent, but arriving on the French side there is literally no interaction with border control (straight onto the autoroutes). Coming in the other direction it's pretty smooth.

I haven't as much experience with the ferries post-Brexit as I do before, but delays and the like are well known about at Dover. Arriving into Portsmouth from Ouistreham (especially on the daytime sailings) always seemed to be a good candidate for long delays & queues, I don't suspect this has improved since Brexit.

Anyone wishing to cross the channel (and avoid the hassle of the 'big' ports at Dover and Portsmouth) should try the DFDS/Transmanche Newhaven-Dieppe sailing, 4/5 hours and it's usually pretty quiet. I can't comment on the experience post-Brexit, but when I last sailed that route in 2018, there weren't really any queues to speak of at either end, nor on the return.


Ireland is much the same as it was before. Ferries first, the Holyhead-Dublin route operates as normal, with little to no effort put in to extra checks (even passenger locator forms, when they were a thing). This goes for both Irish & Stena. I have yet to try it but I hear that the Pembroke & Fishguard-Rosslare routes are much the same, if quieter.
Flying into Dublin takes a bit of getting used to, it's often very bad for long waits on both arrival and departure. Interestingly, on arrival at Dublin from the UK, most, if not all of the passengers head straight for the 'non-EU' passport gates, when in fact UK passports will work the EU gates. (Mine did and it's one of the new 'bloo' ones.)

The border between the North and the Republic remains fully open, so anyone wishing to avoid a bit of potential hassle can fly to Belfast and drive across, or alternatively take the Birkenhead-Belfast ferry. I've tried both since Brexit and both are hassle free, being a domestic journey.


I'll fly to Portugal at the end of this month, so I'll update this post accordingly.

 

[XAM2175]

Since Brexit, when travelling to the EU, what have your experiences been like?

Can I presume that you're directing this question specifically at British citizens?

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Can I presume that you're directing this question specifically at British citizens?

Yes I am

 

[Mikw]

It depends.

If yours is the only flight to arrive from the UK at an airport you'll probably wait to be asked a few questions at passport control and be through in about 5 or 10 minutes.

However, if it's a holiday destination and 3 or 4 British flights arrive at once it can take over an hour, a bit like when you arrive in the USA behind a jumbo jet.

At Tenerife in May there was a reported 2 hour queue to get through passport control

 

[duncanp]

My only experience of post Brexit travel to the E.U. is when I went to France at the end of November last year by Eurostar.

There was no difference in the check in, security and UK passport control processes.

The French passport control was much the same as before - they just looked at the ID page to check that my passport met the validity rules. didn't bother checking the COVID documentation, and then stamped the passport.

Coming back (from Lille Europe) it was also very similar to before Brexit. The French passport control just looked at my passport to check I had an entry stamp, and then put an exit stamp on the same page.

Once the E.T.I.A.S. system comes in, they won't even need to do the stamping, as all entries and exits from the Schengen zone will be recorded electronically.

 

[43172]

Travelled to Billund in Denmark at the end of April, first time travelling to the EU since Brexit. Didn't encounter any issues at Danish border control, handed passport over to be stamped and a couple of questions asked but all quite friendly toned in nature. One of the people in front of me was even given suggestions of what to do whilst out there by control, mainly Lego based as Lego comes from Billund.

 

[philosopher]

I flew to Krakow on May 29th from Stansted and travelled back from Budapest to Heathrow on the 11th June. U.K. passport was stamped on arrival in Krakow but no questions were asked. On the return, passport was stamped at Budapest but again no questions were asked.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Travelled to Billund in Denmark at the end of April, first time travelling to the EU since Brexit. Didn't encounter any issues at Danish border control, handed passport over to be stamped and a couple of questions asked but all quite friendly toned in nature. One of the people in front of me was even given suggestions of what to do whilst out there by control, mainly Lego based as Lego comes from Billund.

What questions were asked, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[AlterEgo]

Immigration will generally ask questions like “what brings you to (country)?” “Are you here for a holiday or to meet someone?”

Extremely benign establishing questions.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Immigration will generally ask questions like “what brings you to (country)?” “Are you here for a holiday or to meet someone?”

Extremely benign establishing questions.

Oh yeah absolutely, nothing wrong with that all, I was just curious to know whether this has ever happened to you guys or not, because the both times I went to the EU post Brexit, I've only ever had my passport stamped and nothing else.

 

[43172]

What questions were asked, if you don't mind me asking?

I was asked how long I was out for, what I had planned to do, all in a friendly tone. The response given by @AlterEgo is the sort of questions I was asked

 

[AlterEgo]

Oh yeah absolutely, nothing wrong with that all, I was just curious to know whether this has ever happened to you guys or not, because the both times I went to the EU post Brexit, I've only ever had my passport stamped and nothing else.

Often they don't ask. Sometimes they do. Depends how busy it is.

Most immigration officers have a good idea of the profile of person they want to ask more questions of. I sometimes get asked if I don't fit the profile of a flight, for example landing in Mayotte from Reunion, but having a UK passport and being an English speaker.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Flew to and from Nantes, France, a few weeks ago.
A bit of a queue to get through passport control on arrival, mostly as the circulation area is far too small and narrow to really cater for arrivals requiring passport control (this meant EU citizens effectively had to wait as long as UK ones). Quick look at passport, no questions, no checking of COVID vaccination status (despite that officially being required then), stamp passport, out.

Coming back, no queue, passport stamped, a couple of friendly questions (and wine recommendations), no problem at all.

 

[E27007]

My neighbour, Greek and a GP in England, recently flew UK to Greece and return, he told me of his experience of changing flights in Germany, the passport control officer, expecting to check a Greek passport, on noticing the passport was for the UK and not Greece, visibly changed his attitude and treated the passport as though it was soiled waste paper, my neighbour said it was the same treatment outward and return, my neighbour, a kindly friendly educated man, was quite upset by the contemptuous attitude of the officials. I guess we are being punished for Brexit.

 

[edwin_m]

In the last couple of months I've taken Eurostar to Paris and Easyjet to Madrid. No additional questions other than a separate official asking to see the Covid pass, very little wait for passport check at Madrid and the situation on Eurostar has been reported on various other threads. I did take a credit card statement to Madrid showing my credit limit, after reading that Spain is starting to ask of proof of ability to support oneself during a stay, but it wasn't needed.

The officials may have noticed that I have a business visa and two sets of entry/exit stamps for another country where they are relatively difficult to obtain, and that might have made them less concerned that I was at risk of becoming destitute.

 

[duncanp]

My neighbour, Greek and a GP in England, recently flew UK to Greece and return, he told me of his experience of changing flights in Germany, the passport control officer, expecting to check a Greek passport, on noticing the passport was for the UK and not Greece, visibly changed his attitude and treated the passport as though it was soiled waste paper, my neighbour said it was the same treatment outward and return, my neighbour, a kindly friendly educated man, was quite upset by the contemptuous attitude of the officials. I guess we are being punished for Brexit.

Which shows the bloody mindedness of some people in the EU.

 

[AlterEgo]

Which shows the bloody mindedness of some people in the EU.

Never experienced this in the EU and I’ve done a couple of dozen entries on my UK passport to various states since Brexit. “Treated like soiled waste paper” sounds like projection to me.

I’ve only had one reaction to presenting a UK passport at an EU border and that was at Dzaoudzi in Mayotte, a tiny and fairly impoverished French archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The officer was delighted with my “Brexit passport” and laughed, called a colleague over and they looked at the new design. I believe he won a staff sweepstake by having the first new blue UK passport at the border!

 

[181]

The border between the North and the Republic remains fully open, so anyone wishing to avoid a bit of potential hassle can fly to Belfast and drive across, or alternatively take the Birkenhead-Belfast ferry. I've tried both since Brexit and both are hassle free, being a domestic journey.

A tangent to this thread, but I've done Belfast-Birkenhead twice, in 2014 and again earlier this year, and on both occasions there was an ID check on arrival at Birkenhead -- very brief, but I don't know what would happen if you didn't have any suitable ID (as you might not for an intra-UK journey).

My only post-Brexit journey to the EU so far has been across the border from NI to Donegal (no checks at all), so apart from that I can't comment on the main point of the thread.

 

[D6130]

My experiences - flying to and from Italy in October-December 2020 and travelling by rail through France to and from Italy in September-November 2021 and May-June 2022 - were much as described by others upthread. The biggest delay was on arrival back at Gatwick in December 2020, when the UKBF officers wanted to see just about everyone's passenger locator forms....but luckily they are now a thing of the past (We hope!).

 

[route101]

A tangent to this thread, but I've done Belfast-Birkenhead twice, in 2014 and again earlier this year, and on both occasions there was an ID check on arrival at Birkenhead -- very brief, but I don't know what would happen if you didn't have any suitable ID (as you might not for an intra-UK journey).

My only post-Brexit journey to the EU so far has been across the border from NI to Donegal (no checks at all), so apart from that I can't comment on the main point of the thread.

I had UK Border Force check IDs before boarding the ferry to Scotland at Belfast but that was a decade ago.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Aug 2022 ==

Only travelled to France a few months back as a foot passenger from Portsmouth. I got asked if I stayed in France and they stamped me in. Are they always stamping UK passports?

 

[D6130]

Are they always stamping UK passports?

Since Bexit, yes....just to ensure that we don't exceed our 90 days in 180 maximum permitted length of stay.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Visited Spain in May.
On arrival, Spanish passport control simply scanned and stamped our passports with no questions or delay.
There was only a very short wait in the queue, which is no different to what it was pre-Brexit.
The only hold up was at the separate Covid checkpoint, where they needed to scan your Covid passport Q code.
It took about a minute.

My wife flew to the Netherlands in July.
Sailed through Eindhoven airport with a brief stamping of her and her mother’s passports. No delay or hold ups.
People passing through Amsterdam Schiphol we’re having very long delays, because of the staffing shortages that are affecting many airports right across Western Europe at the moment.

The problems at Schiphol are apparently far worst than any UK airport has been experiencing.

 

[SouthEastBuses]

Just arrived in Greece (Rhodes). No questions asked at all, and was a breeze. Arrived at passport control, just handed my passport to the women, took a look, then a stamp, and out!

 

[70014IronDuke]

Since Bexit, yes....just to ensure that we don't exceed our 90 days in 180 maximum permitted length of stay.

Yes, it seems so. Sadly. This is a regression from the pre-Schengen days, when most countries just let you pass. Most of the time, you could have stayed in Germany or Benelux for months and nobody would have known, or could prove it, unless they were out to specifically check you.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Yes, it seems so. Sadly. This is a regression from the pre-Schengen days, when most countries just let you pass. Most of the time, you could have stayed in Germany or Benelux for months and nobody would have known, or could prove it, unless they were out to specifically check you.

Don’t forget that EU member states, including those within Schengen, have generally become more circumspect with external border checks, due to the high levels of illegal immigration.
Some still appear to be more slack than others though.

 

[D6130]

Don’t forget that EU member states, including those within Schengen, have generally become more circumspect with external border checks, due to the high levels of illegal immigration.

Especially France.