Under the new rules, all Poles travelling to the United Kingdom must carry a passport. Polish ID cards are no longer accepted, including for people holding settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, British and Polish authorities said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The change marks the final end of post-Brexit transitional arrangements that had allowed some EU citizens, including Poles, to enter the UK using national ID cards. From 2026, no exceptions apply.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Document checks are carried out before departure by airlines, ferry operators, coach companies and rail operators, including Eurostar. Travellers without a valid passport will not be allowed to board planes, ships, coaches or trains bound for the UK.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The same requirements apply to motorists using the Channel Tunnel and to travellers entering the UK from Ireland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
British authorities stressed that residency status in the UK does not replace the obligation to hold a passport when crossing the border. Settled or pre-settled status continues to regulate the right to live and work in the country, but not the type of travel document required.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In addition, most Polish citizens travelling to the UK for short stays must hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), a digital entry permit linked to a passport. The ETA system has been in force for EU citizens since 2025 and applies to visa-free travel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Unlike travel within the European Union, where Polish citizens can continue to cross borders using a national ID card, entry to the United Kingdom now requires a passport in all cases.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(tf)<\/p>\n
Source: IAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under the new rules, all Poles travelling to the United Kingdom must carry a passport. Polish ID cards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-667581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115821847960882919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}