A notice by the UK Home Office revealed that blue passports will be back in circulation, following Britain's exit from the European Union, and listed a number of travel guidelines in case of a no-deal Brexit.
"After 29 March 2019, if you're a British passport holder (including passports issued by the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar), you'll be considered a third country national under the Schengen Border Code and will therefore need to comply with different rules to enter and travel around the Schengen area," the Home Office explained.
In case of no-deal and in order to travel to the countries of the area, Brits will have to hold passports issues in the last 10 years and have at least three months' validity.
"If your passport does not meet these criteria, you may be denied entry to any of the Schengen area countries, and you should renew your passport before you travel," the note warned.
No Deal Passports
Blue and gold are making a comeback, as the pre-EU color scheme will return to adorn British passports by the end of 2019, as decided the by government last year.
The new technical note by the Home Office has listed details of the color-conversion.
"Passports printed between 30 March 2019 up until the introduction of the new passport design will be burgundy but will not include the words 'European Union' on the front cover. This includes passports issued by the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar. Blue passports will start being issued from late 2019."
The Home Office also explained that if British citizens renew their passports between late 2019 and early 2020, the documents will be automatically issued in either blue or burgundy.
In 2017, the then Immigration Minister, Brandon Lewis, announced that the new blue passport is set to be "one of the most secure travel documents in the world, with a raft of new security measures to protect against fraud and forgery."
Britain is currently negotiating its terms of EU exit and although Westminster has committed to continued free movement during a two-year transition period until the end of 2020, failure to reach a deal with EU before the Brexit deadline could bring that into question.
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