Travelling into UK with a Romanian passport holder with UK residency - passport expiry query

alan_d

I'm trying to find a definitive answer to this on the gov website, and struggling!
We're planning to visit France, by ferry in August, and bring a family friend who is 14. She has a Romanian passport, but has UK residency.
We will have a letter of consent from her legal guardian, no problem there.
I understand from the ferry company, that she needs at least 3 months remaining on her passport.
We are due to leave France on 2nd September and get into the UK on the 3rd.... and her passport expires on 2nd December.

Info here states "valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave" - as we're leaving France on the 2nd, is that good enough?

Or, as Romania is a EU country (and as she has UK residency), does the 3-month month thing not matter?

Can anyone point me to some official documentation to clarify the situation here?

Caz3121

UK passport holders travelling to France - Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for a minimum of 3 months beyond the period of intended stay.

Romanian passport holders travelling to France - Passports and other documents accepted for entry issued to nationals of Romania must be valid on arrival.

DullGreyGuy

For getting into France her residency makes no difference, it matters simply her nationality and where she is travelling from. As an EU citizen entering from the UK she will simply need a valid passport or national ID card from Romania (if they have them).

As a non-British citizen, getting back into the UK will always be the more fun part. 

CKhalvashi

An EU citizen (strictly speaking) cannot enter the EU on a non-EU passport, and indeed may be depriving themselves of rights by doing so.

With UK residency an ID card should be ok both ways. A Romanian citizen will not require any extra validity on a passport, however. This is reserved for non-EU citizens, mainly should deportation become necessary or the event of a flight delay. A Romanian citizen has the same rights as any EU citizen in the EU, including the right to be present indefinitely.

As this is a child, an EU citizen can use the non-EU lanes at any airport in addition to the EU lanes. I've found it's sometimes quicker to do this at certain airports when entering, but also choose to do so in the event of travelling with non-EU citizen colleagues.

DullGreyGuy

CKhalvashi said:

An EU citizen (strictly speaking) cannot enter the EU on a non-EU passport, and indeed may be depriving themselves of rights by doing so.

Any links? @CKhalvashi

My EU passport is expired and the Mrs doesn't have one so have just been using my UK passport. Agree rights may be lesser but never seen anything stating the EU must use EU nationality

eDicky

I'm understanding from your post that you're concerned about your friend's entry into France and acceptance for passage on the ferry to France, and not her return to UK (it's not entirely clear).

As an EU national with a valid Romanian passport there is no restriction on entry to or length of stay in any EU country.

However it appears that on return she would arrive in the UK with an expired passport, albeit with UK residency, if allowed passage on the ferry or flight. Whether this is permissible might be something worth confirming.

alan_d

eDicky said:

I'm understanding from your post that you're concerned about your friend's entry into France and acceptance for passage on the ferry to France, and not her return to UK (it's not entirely clear).

As an EU national with a valid Romanian passport there is no restriction on entry to or length of stay in any EU country.

However it appears that on return she would arrive in the UK with an expired passport, albeit with UK residency, if allowed passage on the ferry or flight. Whether this is permissible might be something worth confirming.

Apologies if not clear.
I was concerned about the return to the UK, as her passport will have 3 months - to the day - to run at that point.
From what I found here, it simply states that as an EU national, she just needs a valid passport (it doesn't state that it needs 3 months remaining). As she has 'settled' status, there should be no issue.

I have printed her immigration status (settled). From what I can see (and the comments above), we should be fine.

CKhalvashi

DullGreyGuy said:

CKhalvashi said:

An EU citizen (strictly speaking) cannot enter the EU on a non-EU passport, and indeed may be depriving themselves of rights by doing so.

Any links? @CKhalvashi

My EU passport is expired and the Mrs doesn't have one so have just been using my UK passport. Agree rights may be lesser but never seen anything stating the EU must use EU nationality

I'll dig the guidance out shortly (read that as probably in the morning, remind me if I forget please, its on my work laptop which is downstairs).

There was EU guidance issued in late 2020 in relation to exactly this and it formed part of legal advice we had to take at the time.

eDicky

I'm mistaken, her passport will of course still be valid on return to UK.

The three months' remaining validity beyond intended departure date has no relevance for UK entry, because of her settled status.

Probably the ferry company misunderstood your enquiry, perhaps because of your mention of departure date from France, which confused me also.

jimi_man

Also, as an EU citizen with Settled Status then just a Nat ID card would be sufficient for entry to the U.K. (and obviously for entry to France). 

They wouldn’t be allowed to use the eGates with an ID card and if the SS is not ‘attached’ to the ID card (I’m guessing it isn’t) then some means of proving the SS will make it easier. If it’s attached to an expired passport then that’s fine to carry with them as well. 

DullGreyGuy

alan_d said

I have printed her immigration status (settled). From what I can see (and the comments above), we should be fine.

Never had material issues with French immigration.

UK is always been much more painful... Mrs had Permanent Residency (the pre-Brexit version of settled status) and was held at immigration for over an hour because the border agent decided he didnt think it was valid even though the reason for that was her split from her ex about 3 years before the PR was even issued. 

BiL was held for 4 hours and was not allowed to access his anti-anxiety medicines from his hold luggage despite not needing a visa to enter because he only had £1,000 on him. When he left he probably still had north of £750 of it left.

I'd say hopefully things have gotten better since Brexit but given the anti-immigration agenda it doesnt seem likely.