10 years rule for passport

f4phixeruk

Just a reminder to check your passport is valid. Yet again - according to the BBC - people being caught out with the rules, and blaming the travel operators.

DullGreyGuy

I suspect the BBC has more reach than this post will get. 

Great to see people always trying to find someone else to blame!

eskbanker

Perhaps it's the start of the Easter holiday season that's prompted the Beeb to put out another piece about this, but it's been covered extensively on so many travel-related sites that it's difficult to understand how people are still missing it....

Holidaymakers going to EU caught out by 10-year-passport rule - BBC News
Passport renewal: watch out for copycat sites - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)
What are the passport rules for visiting the EU? - Which? News
Travelling in Europe - Citizens Advice
Travel documents for non-EU nationals - Your Europe (europa.eu) (linked from gov.uk travel pages)

However, practically every time there's a thread about it on here, ill-informed posters spout misconceptions about it!

Slinky

eskbanker said:

Perhaps it's the start of the Easter holiday season that's prompted the Beeb to put out another piece about this, but it's been covered extensively on so many travel-related sites that it's difficult to understand how people are still missing it....

You could say the same for the Waspi women failing to notice the increase in state pension age....

840inSussex

It does not surprise me that people are confused! All of the sites I have viewed have a degree of ambiguity. The issue of the age of the passport being less than 10 years on the day you travel is fairly easy to understand. The rule about having 3 months validity on the day you expect to return is also pretty clear cut. However, lots of places hint that the EU disregards any validity period that is more than 10 years - up to 10 years 9 months in some cases. In my case on the date of outgoing travel to The Canary Islands, my passport is less than 10 years old. On the date of return I shall still have more than 3 months of validity left BUT PART OF THIS 3 MONTHS INCLUDES PART OF MY "EXTRA" 9 MONTHS VALIDITY.  Put another way, 2 months after I return, my passport becomes more than 10 years old. On the face of it, I am safe to travel, but bearing in mind the EU seem intent on punishing Brits for leaving the EU, and the fact that huge numbers of Canary Island residents are moaning there are too many tourists, I am naturally uneasy.
The EU official travel site "My Europe" does not cover this scenario, nor does the British FO official guidance.
Can anyone help?

eskbanker

840inSussex said:

However, lots of places hint that the EU disregards any validity period that is more than 10 years - up to 10 years 9 months in some cases.

In which case they're wrong.

There are two separate checks, one of which relates to entering the EU within ten years of the issue date, and the other relates to leaving with three months left until expiry, which is the actual expiry date printed on the passport, not some hypothetical truncated one, so the EU site summarises this as:

Your passport should be valid for at least 3 months after the date you intend to leave the EU and it must have been issued within the last 10 years.

840inSussex

Thank you Eskbanker. I put it down to my inexperience with forums, but I have since found other posts from January 2024 clarifying the exact issue I had.

TELLIT01

eskbanker said:

840inSussex said:

However, lots of places hint that the EU disregards any validity period that is more than 10 years - up to 10 years 9 months in some cases.

In which case they're wrong.

There are two separate checks, one of which relates to entering the EU within ten years of the issue date, and the other relates to leaving with three months left until expiry, which is the actual expiry date printed on the passport, not some hypothetical truncated one, so the EU site summarises this as:

Your passport should be valid for at least 3 months after the date you intend to leave the EU and it must have been issued within the last 10 years.

The person/people refusing to allow boarding may be wrong, but that's no help to the person with a perfectly legal passport who has to stand and watch the plane take off without them.  The case I have seen highlighted though was one where the passport had been issued more than 10 years ago.

eskbanker

TELLIT01 said:

eskbanker said:

840inSussex said:

However, lots of places hint that the EU disregards any validity period that is more than 10 years - up to 10 years 9 months in some cases.

In which case they're wrong.

There are two separate checks, one of which relates to entering the EU within ten years of the issue date, and the other relates to leaving with three months left until expiry, which is the actual expiry date printed on the passport, not some hypothetical truncated one, so the EU site summarises this as:

Your passport should be valid for at least 3 months after the date you intend to leave the EU and it must have been issued within the last 10 years.

The person/people refusing to allow boarding may be wrong, but that's no help to the person with a perfectly legal passport who has to stand and watch the plane take off without them.  The case I have seen highlighted though was one where the passport had been issued more than 10 years ago.

Are you suggesting that people renew passports prematurely just in case they encounter ignorant airline staff who don't know the rules?  I'm sure there have been one or two references to such individuals in the early days immediately after Brexit, but haven't seen anything relating to recent experiences of this?

Ganga

I know this is a money saving forum but cannot understand why some people play russian roulette with their holiday via passport validity when it easier to get it renewed and enjoy the next 10 years travel problems free.

eskbanker

Ganga said:

I know this is a money saving forum but cannot understand why some people play russian roulette with their holiday via passport validity when it easier to get it renewed and enjoy the next 10 years travel problems free.

As above, I don't believe it's anything like Russian roulette to travel with a passport compliant with widely visible and well-documented rules, but happy to be corrected if there are credible reports of significant numbers of travellers recently being refused entry/boarding with valid passports....