10 yr Passport Rule

craftyman5

We turned up at Stanstead airport at around 04.30 for our flight To Sardinia, 16/09/2026
But were refused check in as one of the passports was 'not valid' even though the expiry date is May 2027,
It was my understanding that passports needed 6 months validity upon return to the UK, it had 8 months.
On the Jet2 website when booking a holiday, I agree it states check validity of passports but not what to check, ours were in date,
It also states when filling in the passenger information request Name, Country, Passport number, etc, But more importantly - EXPIRY DATE,
We did not know of this new '10 year ruling', we have not heard, read nor seen anything about it anywhere, we did not know of it, it was a total surprise to us.
Nobody we have spoken to yet is aware of it either,
We are a couple of pensioners that were looking to enjoy a weeks holiday, and are now considerably out of pocket. Money that we cannot afford to loose.
There is no Insurance claim as apparently it is not covered on our travel insurance.
I don't believe that this change of regulation has been properly advertised / publicised and needs attending to ASAP.

eskbanker

It's not a change in regulation as such, in that the EU have always required non-EU visitors to have a passport issued within the last ten years.

Obviously while we were still in the EU this didn't affect UK passport holders, but post-Brexit it has come into play, and affects those whose passports had extra months added (which stopped in 2018).

Therefore if your passport was issued more than ten years ago, you can't use it to enter the EU, regardless of its stated expiry date.

This issue has received widespread coverage on here and elsewhere…

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/passport-renewal/#10yearsold

To enter EU countries, your passport must be: 

Less than 10 years old (from the ‘date of issue’) on the day you arrive into the EU

Valid for at least 3 months (based on the ‘date of expiry’) on the day you leave the EU.

https://www.jet2holidays.com/passport-information

jackieblack

It has been widely advertised/discussed for many years… this article on MSE is from January 2019 and states:

" Extra months on your passport that bring its validity to over 10 years won't count. If you renewed a 10-year adult passport before it expired, extra months may have been added to your new passport's expiry date, making it valid for more than 10 years. But these months WON'T count towards the six months you need left on your passport from your date of arrival.

In most cases, therefore, adults will need to renew their passport by the time it is nine years and six months old. "

And this page on Jet2's website says "

"Check your passport’s validity

Most EU countries require UK passports to be less than ten years old"

I understand how disappointed you must be, but it is always the traveller's responsibility to check the validity of their passport.

Caz3121

This has been the case for travel to the EU since 2021 and has been covered in many news articles since….each summer there appears to be a number of travellers that were unaware of this so have lost their holidays

There are two separate checks…the expiry date is one of them but the issue date is also key

Italy follows Schengen area rules. Your passport must:

• have a ‘date of issue’ less than 10 years before the date you arrive – if you renewed your passport before 1 October 2018, it might have a date of issue that is more than 10 years ago, making it invalid for entry to the Schengen area
• have an ‘expiry date’ at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area (the expiry date does not need to be within 10 years of the date of issue)

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements

Jet2 do have information on their website and a useful video you can use https://www.jet2holidays.com/passport-information

Check your passport’s validity

Most EU countries require UK passports to be less than ten years old and still be valid for at least three months after you come back from your holiday.

Since the UK stopped adding additional months the passports in 2018 there is only another couple of years before this problem goes away.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140876#Comment_82140876

I appreciate that you're citing that 2019 article to illustrate that the issue has been publicised for a long time, but for the avoidance of doubt it's inaccurate, in that there is no six-month requirement as anticipated at that stage…

la531983

Had you actually checked in online as most people do you may have actually seen this requirement.

And indeed it does say check, and thats incumbent on you to do so.

MasterG83

As above, this has been in place for 5 years, the date of issue must be less than ten years prior, on arrival.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683759/10-yr-passport-rule

Unfortunately your understanding was wrong, since 2010 if you needed a visa or 2013 if you didnt need a visa the EU has taken passport expiry to be a maximum of 10 years from the date of issue. As members of the EU that didnt apply to UK passport holders but when Brexit took effect we are just another non-EU country needing to comply with EU law to enter.

Rather than going on what your understanding is its always worth checking on https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy/entry-requirements as these things do change overtime and just because it was X a decade ago doesnt mean its automatically X now. Even better you would check the country's own website but not all are great at keeping theirs up to date and never had an issue with the UK Foreign Office advice.

Obviously it depends how often the people you spoke to read the news or travel materials etc…. if your soul source of information is the bloke down the pub then it's credible you dont know. If you read the news daily then you have been told about it but forgotten as there was a lot of noise about it both in terms of entry and ensuring you get your passport stamped as they will look for previous cases of overstaying and thats the assumption if you have an entry stamp without a matching exit stamp.

Unfortunately it being Jet2 its probably going to be an expensive mistake with no one but yourselves to blame. We had something a little similar once, someone forgot their passport, but it was during covid so planes quiet and VS were very kind to allow us to move our dates despite it clearly being our fault and presumably too late for them to resell the seat.

katejo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683759/10-yr-passport-rule

As others have said, this was publicised in 2018. There have been so many cases in the news!

katejo

Mine still looks like an EU maroon passport but was issued in Jan 2019 for exactly 10 years so will have to be replaced by about Sept 2028

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683759/10-yr-passport-rule

Sorry to hear that you lost your holiday because of this rule.

But your first port of call for checking travel requirements is detailed in the post above by Caz3121.

Travellers are responsible for ensuring their travel documents comply with whichever country they are planning to visit.

Unforutnately for you, you didn't.