Visa charges by the EU

[NickP]

I read that the EU, hopes to introduce visa charges:

"The EU claims the new measures are being brought in to increase the security of its borders"

No problem with border security yesterday by the French personnel at the Tunnel terminal in Cheriton. All the French were missing, was there a strike on perchance?

[EuroTrash]

The quote is rather baffling out of context. Where did you read it, what visa charges are you talking about (AFAIK there is always a charge for applying for a visa), what has that got to do with increasing security? A link, perhaps?

[pomme]

It was possibly this Daily Mail article (under one of the photographs) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5657345/British-holidaymakers-heading-Europe-face-6-visa-fee-Brexit.html

EU plans for a £6 visa, valid for three years, after Brexit to help make up for the EU budget lose.

[Alan Zoff]

£2 a year. That's it, I'm definitely selling up.

[EuroTrash]

ROFL

[Gardengirl]

It’s a bit steep for pensioners! ?

Apparently it will apply from 2021, applications online with €7 fee to cover 3 years if the new visa-waiver scheme is approved. It’s to be called Etias, will apply to non-EU citizens wanting to visit the Schengen Zone. It would apply to UK residents unless an exemption is agreed.

Just like going to the USA, I suppose.

[NickP]

It amused me for two reasons, one about security, as that was totally absent on Wednesday on the French side of the border, and the thinking that taking £2 per year off everybody would fill the hole in the finances left by Brexit.

[richard51]

Nicky - But isnt the onus on security on the British side. French are probably happy for anybody to go to the UK. Might be different other way!

In terms of a hole - its now becoming clear (to any thinking person) that it is rather bigger on the UK side of the channel !!!

[NickP]

Dicky, please read my first post, I was travelling from the UK to France. As you obviously don't use the tunnel, one has to go through the British border control first, then you drive about 50 yards and then deal with the French border control, before boarding the train. Simples. The French weren't there maybe they'd gone on holiday, who knows? As for holes, you must live in a different part of the UK to me, no lack of money in Surrey old boy.

[richard51]

OK didnt read it properly but I stil think that bigger issue is Fr to UK rather than UK to Fr. Land borders are probably higher priority to Fr. I had travelled in other direction that day and so probably had that in my mind.

Your last sentence is somewhat arrogant - not a nice characteristic.

[woolybanana]

Nah, Dickdick, just designed to get you to growl??

[BritinBretagne]

[quote user="NickP"]Dicky, please read my first post, I was travelling from the UK to France. As you obviously don't use the tunnel, one has to go through the British border control first, then you drive about 50 yards and then deal with the French border control, before boarding the train. Simples. The French weren't there maybe they'd gone on holiday, who knows? As for holes, you must live in a different part of the UK to me, no lack of money in Surrey old boy.[/quote]

I’ve seen a few bits of Surrey that are certainly lacking money and other parts where there’s obviously a lot of money but not much in the way of good taste.

[pomme]

When I went through Dover port at about 8.45am Wednesday 11 April there were only passport checks by the French. There weren't many cars queuing but everyone was diverted to the shed for a security check, which included mirror-scanning underneath, boot and bonnet opening and being asked whether we were carrying guns.

[Loiseau]

I am always always diverted to those checks when taking the Tunnel at Folkestone. I must look incredibly suspicious (lone septuagenarian) - or else they just want to see my embarrassment as I fumble about trying to find how to open the bonnet...

[NormanH]

Brexit latest: Outrage as people who voted to abolish free movement discover that abolishing free movement means movement will no longer be free.[:P]

[richard51]

Ok so checks are made going out from UK tunnel and ferry as well as (never happened to me btw) returning.

Asked OH and she agrees.

Presumably, knowing the information given on booking and checked by the company transporting you, goes some way towards the security issues.

Our dog, sitting in the back, was not checked going out at all, but was only checked coming in to UK by transport operator. No Fr check, UK check was more interested in what his name was and how super he looked.

[YCCMB]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-43595399

[andyh4]

That was of course nearly a month ago, but it still highlights how things can and do change.

One person's experience - important though it is - should be seen in the totality of what is happening and what could come to be.

No doubt if visas are put in place, we will see more and longer delays.

[YCCMB]

Here's a thing.

The reality of visas being introduced is, of course, entirely possible. However, there are a few things to consider.

If, indeed, a visa is introduced for Britons, it will have to be a Schengen visa.

Looking at the current list of countries whose citizens require a Schengen visa, it would appear that countries who have seemingly recently reached agreement for visa-free travel to the Schengen area include:

The Solomon Islands

St Vincent and the Grenadines

Trinidad and Tobago

Kiribati

Colombia

Dominica

Tuvalu

Georgia

Ukraine

Given that it has never, in my lifetime at least, been necessary to obtain a visa to visit the majority of EU member states, even pre-EU (except obviously those countries which used to be part of the former Soviet bloc) I'm a tad sceptical about the chances of a visa being introduced. Not least on the basis suggested. Six quid for three years? I'm not sure they'd recoup the costs of issuing them.

If all it's going to achieve is some sort of tit-for-tat "you make us get a visa and we'll make you get one too" nonsense, then for every six quid the EU makes, another six quid will be flowing back into the UK's coffers (less the £20 plus administration cost needed to run the system, no doubt). Now, I know the whole Brexit exercise is one sordid cockup after another, but surely among all the Eurocrats and Dim Tories arguing about the fine points, there must be enough brain cells to calculate that this is a complete waste of time and effort?

[Jako]

True, but that needs an agreement between the UK and the EU. In case of the 'hard Brexit' that many Tories want, no travel will be possible at all. Without agreement even a UK driver's licence is no longer valid in the EU, neither is the vehicle insurance etc. All those conveniences rely on EU institutions the UK will no longer be part of. Read the many (63 so far) 'notice to stakeholders' the EU has published about the consequences of Brexit: https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/brexit-preparedness_en

[Judith]

[quote user="Loiseau"]I am always always diverted to those checks when taking the Tunnel at Folkestone. I must look incredibly suspicious (lone septuagenarian) - or else they just want to see my embarrassment as I fumble about trying to find how to open the bonnet...[/quote]

I cam back in a hire car recently, after my unfortunate coming together at Dartford.  OK, Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth because of my onward route ... about 9pm, and getting dark.  How do you open the bonnet?  No idea, I told you already (I had had a general conversation with him about an hour before whilst waiting in the queue to check in), I have no idea ... ah, he said, oh, yes, I remember ... and found it himself.  How he thought I'd have stashed anything in a hire car, just beggars belief!.

[CeeJay]

How he thought I'd have stashed anything in a hire car, just beggars belief!.

Judith,

With respect, why not! Wool over eyes and all that!!!

Hire cars are the cars of choice in the UK for drug runners.

[Judith]

Well the car was full of my stuff, hence why I was in a hire car in the first place.  He might just have worked out that I had more on my mind that drug smuggling!  Like just getting  home!  Like when I was once asked at the Tunnel if I had any cigarettes (they were hunting smugglers!), and I said, no way, nasty habit.  I think he too got the message.