Schengen/EU entry and 10 year passport rules

zagfles

mtc95 said:

la531983 said:

Also contact Simon Calder, he has a proper bee in his bonnet at the moment on this issue (and rightly so).

Yes, he has just written about another similar case.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/passport-brexit-klm-denied-boarding-paris-b2702858.html

It's hard to believe that travel staff are still getting this wrong.

Getting competent CS staff who know what they're doing seems rare in any industry. Banking staff are even worse. 

But all the confusion is so unnecessary, the EU could have simply allowed reasonable transitional arrangements rather than being petty about this issue. I have an EU passport, issued under EU rules, fair enough bring the UK into line with everyone else for new passports, but what harm would there have been in continuing to allow a few extra months over 10 years for passports issued when were still in the EU.

It's almost like they want to punish us for Brexit, even though I imagine the vast majority of people who regularly travel to the EU probably voted against Brexit and are already annoyed enough about losing their EU citizenship. 

mtc95

Quoting Simon Calder again but he completely rejects this belief that we are being "punished" by the EU   He says it is the UK government that insisted on this.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/eu-brexit-red-tape-travel-entry-exit-system-etias-b2601368.html

See myth 2.

zagfles

mtc95 said:

Quoting Simon Calder again but he completely rejects this belief that we are being "punished" by the EU   He says it is the UK government that insisted on this.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/eu-brexit-red-tape-travel-entry-exit-system-etias-b2601368.html

See myth 2.

That's all about the EES/ETIAS, which is a couple of years overdue, nothing to do with passport validity. There is no reason they couldn't have allowed a transition period for passports valid a few months over 10 years and issued while we were still in the EU. The EU set the entry criteria for EU countries/Schengen, not the UK. The UK did not insist that passports issued more than 10 years ago stopped being valid for travel to the EU. 

The article is basically a rant, banging on about "third country nationals like East Timor and Venezuela". That's an interesting choice of examples, why not countries like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Basically any country not in the EU/EEA/EFTA.

Obviously East Timor and Venezuela are the first such countries that popped into his head.  Wonder why? 

cumbrianmale

zagfles said:

mtc95 said:

Quoting Simon Calder again but he completely rejects this belief that we are being "punished" by the EU   He says it is the UK government that insisted on this.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/eu-brexit-red-tape-travel-entry-exit-system-etias-b2601368.html

See myth 2.

That's all about the EES/ETIAS, which is a couple of years overdue, nothing to do with passport validity. There is no reason they couldn't have allowed a transition period for passports valid a few months over 10 years and issued while we were still in the EU. The EU set the entry criteria for EU countries/Schengen, not the UK. The UK did not insist that passports issued more than 10 years ago stopped being valid for travel to the EU. 

The article is basically a rant, banging on about "third country nationals like East Timor and Venezuela". That's an interesting choice of examples, why not countries like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Basically any country not in the EU/EEA/EFTA.

Obviously East Timor and Venezuela are the first such countries that popped into his head.  Wonder why? 

From what I have read on the EU and Netherlands Embassy websites it is not them causing the issue. It is the ground staff doing check in misinterpreting or being misinformed by their employers about passport validity.

As an aside the hotel kindly cancelled my booking and didn't charge me even though it was a non refundable booking. My losses are limited to my museum bookings so now only €80

zagfles

cumbrianmale said:

zagfles said:

mtc95 said:

Quoting Simon Calder again but he completely rejects this belief that we are being "punished" by the EU   He says it is the UK government that insisted on this.  

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/eu-brexit-red-tape-travel-entry-exit-system-etias-b2601368.html

See myth 2.

That's all about the EES/ETIAS, which is a couple of years overdue, nothing to do with passport validity. There is no reason they couldn't have allowed a transition period for passports valid a few months over 10 years and issued while we were still in the EU. The EU set the entry criteria for EU countries/Schengen, not the UK. The UK did not insist that passports issued more than 10 years ago stopped being valid for travel to the EU. 

The article is basically a rant, banging on about "third country nationals like East Timor and Venezuela". That's an interesting choice of examples, why not countries like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Basically any country not in the EU/EEA/EFTA.

Obviously East Timor and Venezuela are the first such countries that popped into his head.  Wonder why? 

From what I have read on the EU and Netherlands Embassy websites it is not them causing the issue. It is the ground staff doing check in misinterpreting or being misinformed by their employers about passport validity.

As an aside the hotel kindly cancelled my booking and didn't charge me even though it was a non refundable booking. My losses are limited to my museum bookings so now only €80

Yes, but the point was the rules have become complex enough to confuse ground staff. They've confused enough people here. The EU were quite happy to accept passports issued over 10 years ago to enter Schengen when we were in the EU, they might not have done for third countries but they could have allowed a transition for passports issued before Brexit. It would have been a trivial concession. But they didn't.

Good news on the hotel, a lot of hotels will cancel non cancellable bookings. Still worth pursuing with the airline as it might educate them

katejo

Back in 2018, when the news of this passport validity change first became known, I asked 2 European friends (1 Greek and 1 Swedish) how long their passports were valid for. Both told me 5 years and were surprised that we were allowed 10 years.