Published on The Times digital on 19th November 2021

Having both doses of your vaccine has fast become the norm for bypassing quarantine and even a Covid test before travel. And yet, just as things are beginning to gain a semblance of normality, a handful of countries are now tightening their travel restrictions by putting an expiry date on vaccine validity.

It means that to be recognised as fully vaccinated, you’ll need to have received the required dosage of an accepted vaccine within the last 12 months, or have had a booster jab within a specific time frame.

This new trend began with Croatia, which updated its entry requirements in July 2021. Austria followed suit in August, and now Israel and Switzerland have both introduced similar restrictions. And as more countries weigh up whether their own citizens will require a booster jab, it’s feasible that the trend will continue to snowball. Here’s what you need to know.

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Published on The Times digital on 5th November 2021

little under four years after the referendum, the UK finally left the EU at 11pm on January 31, 2020 and entered a transition period, during which the final details of Brexit were negotiated. The transition period ended on December 31, 2020, and the UK officially left the EU single market and customs union at 11pm that day.

From that point the UK became what’s known as a “Third Country”, one that’s defined by the EU as “a country that is not a member of the European Union as well as a country or territory whose citizens do not enjoy the European Union right to free movement”.

There have been wide-ranging implications for travellers as a result of these changes, including updates on passport validity, increased roaming charges and of course how long you can stay in an EU country without a visa.

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