- Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen Zone from January 1st, 2025, means British nationals have more restricted access when travelling to or through them, experts warn.
- Before leaving the country, UK travellers should check if the ETIAS programme will have rolled out and ensure to apply for the €7 (£5.77) permit a few days ahead of departure.
- If crossing the border by land, Brits can expect random checks at the old Schengen borders.
After 13 years in the making, Romania’s and Bulgaria’s full Schengen area membership concluded with a unanimous vote on Thursday from interior ministers of EU countries. This means that UK citizens’ travel plans for 2025 are now positively and negatively affected.
According to Magdalena Petrusic from Plitvice Lakes Tours, UK travellers now need to remember several things before setting for Europe next year. On the bright side, there will be almost no land border checks to and through Romania and Bulgaria. However, Brits will need a special permit for this, which they never would have needed for these two countries.
Fewer border checks
If you are travelling by air or sea, nothing is actually changing in terms of border crossing. That is because checks at the Romanian and Bulgarian borders with other Schengen countries were already removed on March 31st, 2024. This means that flying from the UK to Romania and Bulgaria has been the same as flying to other Schengen countries for the last nine months of 2024.
However, if you are travelling by land, there will be random checks at the border with Romania and Bulgaria at least until June 30th, 2025. This temporary measure is said to have been introduced to appease Austria, which had previously vetoed the two countries’ accession due to alleged irregular migration concerns.
ETIAS permit from 2024
The greatest hurdle UK travellers might face in 2025 is the new European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). It will require citizens of all non-EU countries with visa-free access, like the UK, aged 18 to 70, to apply for a €7 (£5.77) permit a few days before departure. The scheme has not been rolled out yet but is set to start in 2025. Anyone who does not have a European Union passport should visit the etias.com website to check if and when the system goes live. Though approvals could take only minutes to come back, a delay of a few days is possible, hence giving it at least a week to get processed might be best. Once obtained, the ETIAS permit is valid for three years across all Schengen Zone countries, so long as your passport does not expire before that.
Other than the upcoming ETIAS, UK nationals are allowed to enter the EU and Schengen countries without a visa, if they do not stay over 90 days every 180 days. The only exception is Ireland, where there are no time limits.
European Union =/= Schengen Zone =/= Euro Zone
Importantly, there is a distinction between countries that are members of the European Union, of the Schengen Zone and of the Euro Zone.
The European Union counts 27 member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
As of January 1st, 2025, all of them, except for Ireland and Cyprus, will have become members of the Schengen Zone, with an extra four non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
UK nationals can visit the following Schengen countries for 90 days in a 180-day window, pending an ETIAS permit: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
However, not all of them are part of the Euro Zone, which refers to being able to use the Euro (€) currency within the country. 20 out of the 27 EU countries adopted the euro for internal commerce, with an extra four micro-states joining: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. The seven EU countries that do not yet or ever wish to accept the Euro as payment in local shops, for instance, are Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
If UK travellers wish to pay cash in these seven countries, they are advised to either use a local ATM or take only £20, £10 and £5 notes to exchange when needed. This is because conventional exchange spots might refuse £50 notes due to high forgery incidence. Foreign coins are generally not accepted either at high-street exchange points.
UK travellers can currently pay in euros (€) in: Andorra (via a formal EU arrangement), Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo (without a formal EU arrangement), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco (via a formal EU arrangement), Montenegro (without a formal EU arrangement), The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, San Marino (via a formal EU arrangement), Slovenia, Spain, and The Vatican City (via a formal EU arrangement)