Where face veils are restricted: a running list
France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland have national restrictions. Portugal joined in August 2026. Spain restricts regionally. This list is checked periodically and dated.
The single most-searched question about niqab is whether it is legal where the reader lives or travels. This page tracks that.
This table covers Europe. Restrictions elsewhere are at least as consequential and are covered in their own notes, linked below. This page should not be read as if Europe were the whole picture.
National restrictions in Europe
| Country | Status |
|---|---|
| France | Full-face covering prohibited in public since 2011 |
| Belgium | National ban since 2011 |
| Denmark | Ban in public since 2018 |
| Austria | Ban since 2017 |
| Netherlands | Partial ban — schools, hospitals, public transport, government buildings |
| Switzerland | National ban following referendum; enforcement from 2025 |
| Portugal | Signed into law 18 August 2026 |
Regional and partial
Spain has no national ban; restrictions are municipal and regional, with Seville and Cantabria reported as adding measures in March 2026.
United Kingdom has no ban. Reform UK and Restore Britain have publicly pledged one; no legislation has been enacted.
Quebec does not ban the face veil in public generally, but bars it for public-sector workers on the job and, since October 2025, for students at school — see Quebec's Bill 21 and Bill 94 for the detail that a single line here cannot carry.
Beyond Europe
Most of the recent restriction has not happened in Europe. Four Muslim-majority Central Asian states — Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — restricted the face veil between 2023 and 2025, argued over national identity and religious authority rather than secularism; see Central Asia's bans. Chad, Cameroon and neighbouring states banned it in 2015, after Boko Haram used the veil as a disguise in suicide bombings — confirmed in Cameroon's case, pre-empted in Chad's; see West and Central Africa's security bans. Sri Lanka's cabinet approved a ban in 2021 on counter-terrorism grounds; see Sri Lanka moves to ban the burqa. Each of these rests on a different justification, and treating them as one global trend would flatten exactly the differences that matter.
How to read this page
Three cautions, and they matter more than the table.
Laws change, and this page can go stale. It carries a verification date for that reason. If the date above is old, treat the entries as indicative and check the current position.
"Banned" covers very different things. A prohibition on public roads is not the same as one covering schools and government buildings. Enforcement varies even where the statute does not, and penalties range from small fines to substantial ones.
This is not legal advice. For a specific situation — travel, employment, identification — consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction.
Compiled from published reporting. Individual country entries will be expanded into their own pages with primary legal sources.