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Visa requirements for British citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of the United Kingdom. As of 1 January 2017, British citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 173 countries and territories, ranking the British passport 4th in terms of travel freedom (tied with Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, French, Luxembourgish, Norwegian and Singaporean passports) according to the Henley visa restrictions index. Additionally, the World Tourism Organization also published a report on 15 January 2016 ranking the British passport 1st in the world (tied with Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Singapore) in terms of travel freedom, with a mobility index of 160 (out of 215 with no visa weighted by 1, visa on arrival weighted by 0.7, eVisa by 0.5, and traditional visa weighted by 0).
Contents
- Territories and partially recognized states
- Right to consular protection in non EU countries
- Impact on travel from United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union
- Vaccination
- Passport validity
- Fingerprinting
- Conflicts
- Non ordinary passports
- Foreign travel statistics
- References
Visa requirements for other classes of British nationals such as British Nationals (Overseas), British Overseas Citizens, British Overseas Territories Citizens, British Protected Persons or British Subjects are different.
Territories and partially recognized states
Visa requirements for British citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries and restricted zones:
Right to consular protection in non-EU countries
When in a non-EU country where there is no British embassy, British citizens as EU citizens have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country.
Impact on travel from United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union
On 23 June 2016, the British electorate voted to leave the European Union in a nationwide referendum in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. The UK must send notification of their intention to leave the EU to the European Council through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. After notifying the European Council, the UK then has two years to negotiate with other member states until it leaves, and British citizens will only then cease to be citizens of the European Union. British citizens will still have the right of freedom of movement until the UK formally leaves. It has since been suggested that British citizens wishing to travel to EU countries may have to apply for a visa or apply online for an American style ESTA visa waiver and pay a fee in order to enter the country of destination.
Vaccination
Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination. Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area.
Passport validity
Many countries require passport validity of no less than 6 months and one or two blank pages.
Countries requiring passport validity of at least 6 months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Cambodia, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (except when arriving at Basra - 3 months and Erbil or Sulaimaniyah - on arrival), Israel, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, countries requiring passport validity of at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia, Zambia, countries requiring passport validity of at least 3 months on arrival include Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Moldova, Nauru, Panama, United Arab Emirates and countries requiring passport validity of at least 1 month on arrival include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand, South Africa. Other countries require either a passport valid on arrival or passport valid throughout the period of intended stay.
Fingerprinting
Several countries including Argentina, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all adult passengers (age varies by country) to be fingerprinted on arrival.
Conflicts
Israel, subject to the Arab League boycott due to the Arab–Israeli conflict, does not stamp passports any more. Instead, it issues ID cards to visitors. Previously, it was possible to get the stamp on a separate piece of paper.
However, similar conflicts exist between other countries. Visitors with passport stamps from such countries may have trouble entering the other countries.
Non-ordinary passports
Holders of various categories of official British passports have additional visa-free access to the following countries - China (diplomatic passports), Kuwait (diplomatic or official passports), Mongolia (diplomatic or official passports), Qatar (diplomatic or official passports and British Diplomatic Messenger or Queen's Messenger Passports) and the United Arab Emirates (diplomatic or official passports). Holders of diplomatic or service passports of any country have visa-free access to Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe. Holders of British official and diplomatic passports require a visa for South Africa.
Foreign travel statistics
According to the Foreign travel advice provided by the British Government (unless otherwise noted) these are the numbers of British visitors to various countries per annum in 2015 (unless otherwise noted):