How long can you stay? Visa-free limits compared across 25 destinations

Tourist stay limits for UK and Canadian passports in these 25 destinations run from 30 days to 180. Most are 90. The number depends on the destination and on the nationality in your passport, and in a few places on the officer who stamps it.

The table covers the two passports whose home governments publish entry advice for every one of these destinations: the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Global Affairs Canada. US passports are not in the table. US readers should use the State Department's country pages and the destination governments linked below. The assumptions are an ordinary passport, a trip for tourism or short business, and arrival at an international airport.

There is no single rule. Each country sets its own limit, and the home government's travel advice reports it. Where a destination government's own page could be read, it is cited in the notes. Where the two sources differ, the table says so and does not pick one.

The two source sets are the FCDO's travel advice pages and Canada's travel advice and advisories. Use the official page of the country you are visiting for anything that affects a booking. For other passports, start with our visa checker and confirm on the official page.

The tables are grouped by region. Each group has a rule box with the date its pages were read. A cell with a number is the visa-free or visa-on-arrival stay. A cell that says "e-visa" or "permit" means you apply online before you fly.

East, Southeast and South Asia

Thailand shows why the date matters. The FCDO's page now says that from 15 September 2026 visa-exempt entry gives up to 30 days for tourism only, and Canada's page, updated on 22 September 2026, says 30 days too. Our Thailand entry rules page has the detail, and the pages for China, Vietnam, India, Bali and Sri Lanka cover the permits.

Middle East and Africa

Two of these rows depend on a permit and an officer's judgment, not a single number. In Kenya the eTA is a travel authorization, and the Kenyan site says the length of stay is decided at the point of entry. In Egypt the visa on arrival and the e-visa have different validity, and the rules are on our Egypt page. The Türkiye and Kenya pages have the rest.

Europe and North America

The permit rows are worth reading twice. A UK passport holder flying to the US needs an approved ESTA, and CBP lists the stay as 90 days or less. A Canadian visitor to the UK needs an ETA, and GOV.UK's announcement of 24 February 2026 says that from 25 February 2026 airlines bar boarding without one. Our ETIAS, ESTA, eTA and UK ETA comparison puts the four schemes in one table, and the single guides are ESTA, UK ETA and Canada eTA. For Europe, the 90/180 rule explains how the days are counted, and for Mexico see the tourist card guide.

South America, Central America and Oceania

Peru is the row where the sources disagree. The FCDO says visitors normally get 90 days in a 180-day period and officers can grant 183 days in 365. Canada's page says under 90 days per 365-day period. Peru's own migration authority says the maximum tourist stay is 183 days in 12 months and that the officer states the length at the stamp. Read the stamp, not the table.

The table applies to ordinary passports used for tourism. It does not cover work, study, long-term stays or people who hold a second nationality in the destination. Dual nationals follow the destination's own rules, and several of the Canadian pages carry a warning for dual citizens of the country concerned.

Residence status changes the answer. Someone who already holds a visa or residence permit for the destination is not governed by the visa-free limit. Some destinations bar a change of status after a visa-free entry: Canada's South Korea page says you cannot change your visa status once you are there as a tourist.

South Korea is the widest gap. UK passports get 90 days, and Canada's advice gives Canadian passports 180. New Zealand runs the other way: 6 months for UK passports, 90 days for Canadian ones. Vietnam waives the visa for 45 days for UK passports, while Canadian passports need an e-visa valid for up to 90 days. Singapore gives UK passports a range of 30 to 90 days at the officer's discretion and Canadian passports 30.

The rest match. Japan, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Türkiye, Morocco, the Schengen area, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica give both passports the same number. For a mixed group, plan around the shorter of the two. Where an extension exists, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Argentina, it is a separate application and not an automatic right.

The stay limit is only one of the entry conditions. Several of the destinations above ask for a digital form before you board, and several set a passport validity rule that is longer than the trip.

On forms, the FCDO says every foreign visitor to Thailand must complete a digital arrival card online, within 3 days before arrival, and Canada's page says the same for all entry points by air, land or sea. Canada's pages also list online forms for Indonesia (the All Indonesia Declaration Form, up to 72 hours before arrival), India (the e-Arrival Card, up to 72 hours before), Sri Lanka (an online arrival card, up to three days before), South Korea (an entry declaration, up to 3 days before) and New Zealand (the Traveller Declaration). Vietnam encourages a digital pre-arrival form but does not require one, according to Canada's page.

On passports, the pages give different rules. Thailand needs 6 months of validity after arrival and one blank page, according to the FCDO. Vietnam and India need 6 months and two blank pages. The FCDO says Japan only needs validity for the length of the stay and a blank page for the stamp. For the Schengen area the FCDO says the passport must have been issued less than 10 years before arrival and must expire at least 3 months after you plan to leave. Check the destination's rule against your passport's expiry date before you pay for flights.

Work through the steps in this order:

• Find the row for each country on the route and read the days for your passport. Where the cell says the officer decides, plan for the lower number.

• Add the days across the whole trip where the rule is a window. The Schengen area and Türkiye count 90 days in any 180, so earlier trips in the last 180 days use up the allowance.

• Check whether the row needs a permit. Apply on the official site only, and keep the confirmation with your booking.

• Compare the passport expiry with the validity rule above, and look for a digital arrival form with a deadline.

• Read the destination's own page within a month of departure. Four of the limits above carry an end date or a recent change.

Extensions follow different rules, and the table keeps them in the notes. The FCDO says Japan allows an application for a further 90 days at an immigration office, and Taiwan allows one extension of 90 days after arrival. Indonesia extends the 30-day stay once for another 30 days, and Argentina allows one extension of the same length as the first stay. Morocco asks for a request at a police station to go past 90 days. In Kenya, the immigration department says a visitor's pass can be extended to a maximum of 6 months. None of these is automatic, and each needs an application before the first stay ends.

Four limits moved or are about to. Thailand's visa-exempt stay became 30 days on 15 September 2026, according to the FCDO. China's 30-day visa-free policy and South Korea's K-ETA waiver both run to 31 December 2026, so a trip that straddles the new year needs a fresh check. The UK began enforcing its ETA on 25 February 2026, and the fee on GOV.UK is now £20.

ETIAS, Europe's permit, is not in operation. The European Commission's ETIAS page says only that it will announce the start date several months before launch. The Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026, according to a Commission news item of 28 April 2026. Neither changes the 90/180 limit.

Our travel insurance guides explain what to check, and our connectivity guides cover data for the trips that need an arrival card or an e-visa on your phone.