The rules for United Kingdom and European Union travelers to go to and from each other have changed notably over this past year.
As someone who did not vote for Brexit, I regard these changes as highly annoying, not because they complicate crossing a border but because the implementation of these new hurdles and the causes that allowed them just seem juvenile or petty.
Authority never misses a chance to be more authoritative.
I have always loved the quote from Blaise Pascal, which goes, “all of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Security is key, evidently and obviously, but the rapid move to isolationism, I believe, is fueled mostly by politicians’ hubris.
The perceived fear of immigration has been a key talking point of many countries’ elections, and it seems to me the ease of travel has been eroded because of that and the need to keep some voters pacified.
I lived in the U.S. for two decades; my wife, who I met in New York City, is Italian and now lives in London with me, and her twin sister and her family live in Spain, her partner and their daughter, our niece, being Spanish.
The twins’ mother was Greek American, with that side of the family hailing originally from Lesbos and before that, we believe, from Turkey, or more correctly from the Ottoman Empire.
My English next-door neighbor was turned away from the airport last month for not having six months’ validity on her U.K. passport.
That is, I think, a known requirement, but the confusion seemed to come in yet another change, this time in U.K. law.
Her 10-year passport would have been issued prior to 2018, and prior to 2018 the U.K. allowed “extra months” to be added to a new passport if the holder renewed early, for the entirely sensible notion of encouraging people to be proactive.
My neighbor’s passport was valid for 10 years and eight months, but airport officials now ignore those extra months and strictly cap a U.K. passport “lifespan” as 10 years from the date of issue.
For the last few months, U.K. passport holders have had to go through extra steps of identification at the border arrival point before entering EU territory.
Again, that is not a new idea.
As a Green Card holder in the U.S., before I gained citizenship, I was used to that, but the new requirements have delayed entry and is yet another component that can make travel a frustration, not a joy.
My wife always takes her “right for U.K. settled status” documentation with her when she leaves the country.
That, too, is a relatively recent piece of legislation.
Most travelers in that same group, I am pretty sure, do not bring it with them.
In addition, EU citizens coming to the U.K. have for a year needed to have a visa to enter the U.K., although we Brits do not need one to go the other way.
That is, we do not need one yet, but that will change, perhaps by the end of 2026 but more likely in 2027.
The European Travel Information and Authorisation System visa will, at last reckoning, have a £20 cost and last for three years. It will be able to be gained online, so, like all visas worldwide, is merely a cash-generating exercise.
Some of the above is me griping, and so far, I have not had a single mishap at an airport, so I am one of the following things — prepared or lucky — but as we have just officially entered the summer, these are things to bear in mind.
We all work hard in an ever-complicated world, and the last thing we need is a ruined vacation or nonattendance at an important work event abroad.
Hoteliers talk often about the elimination of pain points and guest friction.
Surely, we possess the technology to eradicate half or nearly all the hurdles of travel, although I suspect future solutions will be offered with fat, annual processing fees.
The sprint towards isolationism will likely continue to mean there is probably no desire to link up countries’ passport-check and security systems.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CoStar News or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.