Brussels plots to make Britons buy £50 visas to visit Europe as EU gets ready for a no-deal Brexit
- European Commission has drawn up plans to add Britain to a visa system
- Without a deal, it could mean Britons visiting Europe hit with £50 visa fees
- Britons are able to continue travelling freely in Europe until December 31, 2020
Brussels could force Britons to buy £50 visas to travel in Europe after Brexit, draft plans handed to MEPs have revealed today.
The proposal is contained in a dossier of potential changes to EU laws being drawn up by the European Commission, run by Jean-Claude Juncker, to prepare for Brexit.
The Brussels list makes provision for Britain to be put on either the 'visa required' or the 'visa free' list once it is no longer an EU member.
If Britain is ruled to be a nation where people need visas, travellers to the continent could have to pay more than £50 for the right paperwork.
Last month Brussels unveiled separate plans to charge £7 administration fees for travellers into the EU - a fee seen as likely to hit Britain whatever the final deal on visas.
The list has been drawn up by Martin Selmayr (right), the powerful aide to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (left) (file)
Mr Juncker is in Dublin today for talks with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar (pictured)
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The list has been drawn up by Martin Selmayr, the powerful aide to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The EU could also decide that UK nationals should be exempt from visa requirement 'for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period.'
The final version is likely to be bound up in talks on the planned UK-EU trade deal.
Countries like Ukraine have deals with the EU to waive visa fees running to more than £50.
If Brexit talks collapse and there is no deal, Britain is likely to end up as a visa-required nation.
Any visa would be applicable across the EU free movement zone and not for each member state.
The new proposal is separate to plans to start charging seven euros to travellers from countries who need a visa to enter the EU free movement zone.
Nothing is expected to change for travelling Britons until at least January 1, 2021, the first day after the Brexit transition - unless the talks collapse and Britain crashes out of the EU in March.
Visa-free travel is a goal for British negotiators seeking a UK-EU post Brexit trade deal.
But the idea of Britons ever needing a visa was condemned today by a former Brexit minister.
David Jones told Politico, which revealed the plans: 'Many third countries enjoy visa-free access to the EU and given the UK's historical links, one would not expect the EU to adopt such an apparently perverse position.'
The Commission's Brexit Preparedness Group, which is made up of 12 civil servants, works directly under Selmayr's authority.
It is is tasked with drafting notices to stakeholders 'on the legal and practical implications of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.'
Visa-free travel is a goal for British negotiators led by David Davis seeking a UK-EU post Brexit trade deal (file)
The idea of Britons ever needing a visa was condemned today by former Brexit minister David Jones (file)
An EU diplomat said some major European companies also consult the group to elaborate their own preparedness strategies.
In other developments today, Home Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed EU citizens face a £65 charge for obtaining 'settled status' in Britain after Brexit.
The Home Office has unveiled proposals for the estimated three million nationals from the bloc living in the UK.
Mr Javid's plans provide for around 600,000 more people moving to the UK from Europe as family members join those already here.
Under an 'easy' system, adults who have been resident in the UK for five years will be charged £65 and children £32.50 to obtain the status. Applications will be made online and decisions should be taken within two weeks.
The details were revealed after Mr Javid tore into the EU for failing to say how it will protect British expats.
He said the glaring lack of information for UK citizens living on the continent was 'not good enough'.
Under the UK scheme, EU citizens who have lived continuously in the country for five years will be granted settled status, giving them the same rights to work, study and access benefits and services as they currently do.
The provisions would also apply to their close family members, such as spouses, children, parents and grandchildren.
Those living in the UK before December 31, 2020, but who had not met the residency criteria, would be granted pre-settled status until they meet the five-year test.
Officials insist the arrangements, which will be phased in later this year and run until June 2021, will impose the least possible burden.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured giving evidence to MPs today) said the glaring lack of information for UK citizens living on the continent was 'not good enough
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