WIN ISSUE 298 | FEBRUARY 2019
A Four Night Break in North Wales at Bodelwyddan Castle
WIN See Page 28... DEAL OR NO DEAL!
What you need to know about package holidays, passports - and driving on the Continent...
S THE clock ticks down to Brexit at the end of March, it will either be a case of business as usual for UK travellers - or it will mean a number of changes to how UK passport holders holiday, transit or do business in Europe.
A
If you are the holder of an Irish passport, everything continues as before.
However if you are a UK passport holder, things will be slightly diff erent with the introduction of a new visa system. You will still be able to go on holiday and visit European friends and relatives without a visa provided you don’t intend to stay in Europe for any longer than 90 days in any six-month period, but if you are staying for longer then you will have to pay a new €7 fee for a visa from 2021. The new electronic visa waiver is a system similar to the Esta scheme used by the US.
The proposed Etias (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) will see citizens of 61 countries outside the Schengen area required to pre- register for visa-free travel.
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 and under the Withdrawal Agreement, there will be an implementation period until December 2020 where consumer protections will be the same as they are now. This means that your package holiday will be protected if you bought it from any business within the EU and complete the holiday before the end of that period.
With regard to package holidays, if we leave the EU without a deal, after March 29, 2019, your protections will stay the same if you buy a package holiday from a UK based business. If you are unsure where your
package travel organiser is based, for example if you are shopping online, you should verify with them and check their terms and conditions.
If you book your holiday before March 29, 2019 but the holiday takes place after that date, there is a risk that, in the event of a no deal exit, the insolvency protections put in place by EU businesses will cease to apply to UK consumers as soon as the UK ceases to be part of the EU. In that situation, if you are booked with an EU business and they became insolvent, the protection for UK travellers would depend on the law of the country concerned.
With regards to passports, the UK Government has advised that after March 29, 2019 you should have at least six months left on your passport from your date of arrival. This applies to both adult and child passports. The new rules will apply to passports issued by the UK, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey, and the new rules will apply for travel to and between the 26 countries in the Schengen area, but do not apply to travelling to and in the Republic of Ireland. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are not in the Schengen area. So you should check the entry requirements for these countries. You’ll also need a debit or credit card to use this service, and incidentally it’s £9.50 cheaper to apply for a passport online than by post. It should take around six weeks to get your fi rst UK adult passport, but it can take longer. So the Passport authorities warn: Don’t book travel until you have a valid passport - doing so is at your own risk. With regard to renewing your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), the Government has said it wants both UK and EU citizens to be able to
12-Page Cruise Special Inside - Pages 13-24
SHOW BUSINESS! Maruren Ledwith, organiser of the Holiday World Show In Titanic Exhibition Centre recently is pictured with Chelsea Cousins and Jonathan Adair of Northern Ireland Travel
News, TV presenter Paul Martin and Lord Mayor of Belfast Deidre Hargey (More pictures inside)
continue using the EHIC scheme after Brexit, but this will need to be agreed as part of any deal on the future relationship between the UK and the EU. This future relationship will be negotiated during the transition period―it is not the same as the withdrawal agreement. During the transition period (which will run from from March 2019 to December 2020 if parliament pass the withdrawal agreement) current arrangements around the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme will still apply. An EHIC lets you get State healthcare in other EEA countries and Switzerland at a reduced cost or sometimes for free.
When it comes to driving abroad, you are currently able to use your Great Britain (GB) or Northern Ireland driving licence in all EU or European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland. If you’re caught breaking the law, for example by a speed camera, the authorities can get the vehicle’s registered keeper’s details from DVLA.
However, you may need an international driving permit (IDP) to drive outside the EU or EEA if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on March 29, 2019. If you’re travelling through more than one country, you might need more than one type of IDP.
A Two Night Hotel Stay in Athlone
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