Visa requirements for British citizens

British citizens can enter all 29 Schengen states without a visa, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole area.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, the United Kingdom and 86 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

No country asks holders of the British passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter the United Kingdom without one.

The reverse holds for 70 countries: holders of the British passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for the United Kingdom (Albania, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus and 65 others).

18 countries ask holders of the British passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 13 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in the United Kingdom, and 1 also takes applications through a visa application centre there (China).

5 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in the United Kingdom, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for the United Kingdom, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Belgium (4).

The United States refused 20% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of the United Kingdom in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 67 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 129 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in the United Kingdom refused 11% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 52nd highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the British passport

By continent, the British passport is visa-free in 44 countries in Europe, 29 countries in the Americas, 20 countries in Asia, 17 countries in Africa and 5 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for British citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), the Bahamas (240 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Barbados (180 days) and Costa Rica (180 days).

Visa on arrival

British citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and 26 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how British citizens enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba and 17 others. Australia, Canada, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis and 2 others ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

The United Kingdom’s neighbours

Ireland admits British citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Irish passport ranks 6th (161 destinations). Of the 199 passports in the data, 1 can enter visa-free, 85 need an ETA and 113 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for the United Kingdom.