United Kingdom entry requirements, by passport

Vaccinations

• No mandatory vaccines for entry. The international vaccination certificate is asked of nobody: not the yellow fever one, and not even of travellers arriving from a country with risk of transmission. That is what the country has declared in the International Health Regulations list.

Customs limits

Cash

Cash of 10,000 GBP or more must be declared when entering Great Britain from outside the UK, including when that total is reached by a family or group travelling together. When entering Northern Ireland from a non-EU country or from Great Britain, the threshold is 10,000 EUR or the equivalent.

Alcohol

On arrival in Great Britain: 42 litres of beer and 18 litres of still wine, plus either 4 litres of spirits over 22% or 9 litres of other drinks up to 22% (sparkling wine, fortified wine, cider). That last allowance can be split in proportion. There is no allowance for anyone under 17.

Tobacco

Only one of these amounts: 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars, 250g of tobacco or 200 sticks for heated tobacco devices. It can be split in proportion (100 cigarettes and 25 cigars, for example). There is no allowance for anyone under 17.

Overstay penalties

Staying beyond your permission counts as a previous breach of UK immigration law and triggers a mandatory refusal period for future applications, whose length depends on how you left: 12 months if you left voluntarily at your own expense; 2 years if you left at public expense within 6 months of being given notice of liability for removal; 5 years if you left at public expense after those 6 months; and 10 years if you were deported or removed at public expense, or if you used deception in an application. One important carve-out: overstaying by 30 days or less, where the overstaying began on or after 6 April 2017, is not treated as a breach if you left the UK voluntarily.

Grounds for refusal

• Failing to satisfy the officer that you will leave the UK at the end of your visit.
• Failing to show you can support yourself during the stay without recourse to public funds, or pay for your return journey.
• Having previously breached UK immigration law (an overstay, for instance), which triggers a mandatory refusal period of between 12 months and 10 years depending on how you left the country.
• Having used deception in an earlier application: refusal is mandatory for 10 years.

What to do if you are refused entry →