Passport validity - sense check with me...

[ReviewingTheSituation]

I've seen so many threads over the summer with tales of woe about passports not being valid that I checked mine before thinking about booking flights.

My passport was issued on 23/4/13
My passport expires on 23/9/23

I understand the new rules to be that my passport must be within 10 years of the issue date to travel (ie - I can travel up until 22/4/23) and must have 3 months of validity left (for Portugal specificially) ie - up until 23/6/23

So I'm working on the basis that I can travel in the EU, on my current passport, until April 23.

I was sure I'd read somewhere that it needed 6 months validity, but that would still mean I could travel until March 23 on the same passport.

Any chinks in my logic here??

I thought it meant that it now expires on 23/04/23 as it cannot be valid for longer than 10 years now.

Here's what it says on the government website:

Passport validity
If you are planning to travel to an EU country (except Ireland), or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City, you must follow the Schengen area passport requirements.
Your passport must be:
Issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

Validity still references the expiry date here.

I am with you that the last day of travel to Europe on that passport is 22/4/23. The confusion before was with the 3 months validity and if that’s on the actual expiry date or the 10 years. But the govt website has been updated now to be much clearer. See here
www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/portugal/entry-requirements

Your passport must be:

Issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

"Your passport must be: Issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the 'date of issue') valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the 'expiry date')"

The above is slightly misleading because post-Brexit your passport is valid for 10 years from date of issue, so ignore the September date. So you could travel to Portugal on it up to 21.01.23.

Simon Calder also explains it here. twitter.com/simoncalder/status/1561607957024055296?s=21&t=fRzHRRlQbPDASspW5SzG6g

Ahh a difference of opinion. I had a passport with an expiry date that was nearly 11 years after the issue. Any remaining time when applying for a new passport was added on, but post Brexit these extra months were no longer valid and I had to apply for an emergency passport to travel to Malta. I have heard accounts of people being turned away by airlines for this reason.

I don't think that's right - not according to the info on the gov website, and Simon Calder also says this about it in the article a PP linked to:

4. “Whatever the expiry date says on your passport, it is really only valid for 10 years after the issue date”
Will whoever is spreading this nonsense around, please stop?

I had read this in a few places, but it does appear to be untrue.

I stand corrected and out of pocket 😥

It is SO confusing though! I consider myself to be an intelligent woman, but all the info out there makes it very confusing!

Simon Calder has just posted another article about this now (I've not read it).

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/simon-calder-travel-question-passport-b2158220.html

I took the advice from the govt website last August, had to put back the departure date of our holiday and wait for a fast-track, expensive passport. Arrgghhh ! Thank goodness for Simon Calder though. He's great at cutting through the nonsense.

Eek - did we summon him up.

Ha ha - I did wonder if he was reading.