Travel News
France Reimposes Visa Requirement for Transit Travellers to UK - SCHENGEN NEWS
Authorities in France have decided to relaunch the Airport Transit Visa (ATV) requirement for citizens of some countries who hold a British long-stay visa or residence permit and transit through France in order to reach the United Kingdom.
The changes have been revealed by Air France-KLM, which has pointed out in an announcement that citizens of certain countries in Africa, Asia, and America will be required to have an ATV and their UK visas to transit through France SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to the announcement, citizens of the following countries will be included in France’s recent decision;
Africa: Cameroon, Angola, Central Africa Republic, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan.
Asia: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Philippines, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Russia, and Sri Lanka.
Caribbean & South America: Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
The latest decision has also been confirmed on France’s official website, through a statement which states that European rights will no longer be valid within the United Kingdom, post-Brexit.
“The regulations governing UK citizens’ movements and their family members will change from that date onwards. The regulations governing the movements of some third countries nationals residing in the UK will also change from that date onwards,†the statement reads.
In November, France’s Home Secretary, Gerald Darmanin, and the United Kingdom’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, discussed cooperation between them to fight illegal immigration at their shared border.
During the meeting held back then, they agreed that illegal border crossing issue at their shared border should be addressed with determination.
According to the data published previously by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, the number of British nationals residing in France, in 2016 was at 148,300, a third of which were retirees (53,000).
A previous study conducted by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat stressed that there was marked a considerable increase in British nationals emigrating to the European Union since Britain left the block on January 31, 2019.