Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials of her Department have had with EU counterparts on the expansion of visa-free travel between the UK and the EU after the end of the transition period.

For those taking short trips to the UK, it is UK’s intention EU, EEA and Swiss citizens will not be required to obtain a visa and will be able to visit under, our standard visitor rules for non-visa nationals, for up to 180 days. Those coming to live and work in the UK will be subject to the arrangements in the new Points Based Immigration System.

The EU has already legislated UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. This will apply from the end of the transition period to all UK nationals travelling to and within the Schengen area for purposes such as tourism.

Stays beyond the standard Schengen visa-free allocation from 1 January 2021 onwards will be for individual Member States to decide and implement through domestic entry rules and visa arrangements for non-EU citizens.

The UK continues to urge the EU to reflect on the more generous position the UK’s standard visitor rules for non-visa nationals offers compared to the position they have legislated for UK nationals in the EU.