It’s official – a no-deal Brexit will make traveling a pain

Traveling between the UK and European Union will get a whole lot more complicated – and expensive – should Brexit talks end without a deal, British government papers released Thursday suggest.

The UK is due to leave the 28-member European Union on March 29 next year, and British Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly said she is prepared to walk away from talks without an agreement.

The papers reiterate that a no-deal scenario is unlikely, but they give a first glimpse of what failed talks could look like for British nationals.

Immigration

Without a deal, British passport holders will be considered “third-country nationals” and will need to comply with different rules to travel in the Schengen area, a borderless zone of 26 European states. This will leave British citizens with the same status as people from countries like Australia, Canada and the United States.

This means more stringent rules on passports. British citizens will need to have at least three months’ validity on their passports, which must have been issued in the past 10 years. It is also likely to mean that British nationals cannot join express queues at EU airports.

EU citizens arriving in Britain will have to follow the normal migration procedures, as Britain is not part of Schengen, the papers say.

The UK’s passports will no longer be burgundy, and the country will begin printing blue ones in late 2019, the papers say.

But there is some good news – an agreement that allows borderless land travel between Ireland and the UK for their citizens will remain in place, and Irish nationals in the UK maintain their right to remain there.

Mobile roaming charges

British citizens currently enjoy surcharge-free roaming on their mobile phones in EU countries, and vice versa, under an EU regulation. But in a no-deal situation, that cannot be guaranteed as the regulation would expire for UK citizens.

The papers say the government will impose regulations on UK operators to limit roaming charges to ￡45 ($59) a month to ease the pain. Brexit Minister Dominc Raab told the BBC that two operators – Vodafone and Three – had agreed to keep roaming free.

The cost of roaming will also depend on what UK operators’ partners in Europe choose to charge, the papers point out, adding that there was no reason they could not together choose to provide free roaming if they want to.

- Source: CNN " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426185455-brexit-plane-aviation.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_1078,w_1915,c_crop/h_540,w_960" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426185455-brexit-plane-aviation.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_1078,w_1915,c_crop/h_540,w_960" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="

" data-timestamp-html="

Updated 2:10 PM EDT, Thu September 13, 2018

" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2018-05-02T09:13:16Z" data-video-section="business" data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/04/26/brexit-flights-uk-aviation-sje-lon-orig.cnn" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="brexit flights uk aviation sje lon orig" data-first-publish-slug="brexit flights uk aviation sje lon orig" data-video-tags="accidents, disasters and safety,air transportation,air transportation safety,air travel incidents,airlines,brexit,business and industry sectors,business, economy and trade,europe,european union,northern europe,safety issues and practices,transportation and warehousing,travel and tourism,travel safety and security,united kingdom" data-details="">

Video Ad Feedback

How Brexit could end flights in and out of the UK

03:30 - Source: CNN

Driving

British driving licenses may no longer be valid in the European Union, and if British nationals move to another EU country to live, they may no longer be able to exchange their UK licenses for local ones, the papers say.

UK nationals may be required to obtain an international driving license, or face being turned away at borders and face fines.

The papers say the government will, in this case, pursue agreements with individual EU countries.