Passport rules to the EU. Did you know....

[Tailfeather]

...that your passport needs to have been issued within the last 10 years? It's not just a case of it still being valid or having x amount of months left. I've had 2 friends in the last few weeks get to the airport and been denied their holiday as they weren't aware of this rule. And they can't claim on insurance. I've seen others I didn't know who were turned away at the boarding gate.

Maybe you did know. But I thought I would share, just in case it helps one other person.

Always check the FCO website before you travel for this and other country specific quirks - www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

In reality passports can now only be used for nine years and six months or nine years and nine months.

This was massive news last year as there were loads of stories in the news about people being turned away from airports. However, given that several posters on this thread were unaware, this is a timely reminder, so thank you @Tailfeather for starting this thread.

People who don't know.

I think people might be surprised what people don't know.

That's not the same issue as your passport being issued within the last 10 years though.

Yes I knew because it’s been all over the press in the last couple of years not to mention on here . It’s also highlighted on most airline pages and in the T&Cs of most travel bookings.

Or tried to turn up to vote in a local election and got turned away because they didn't have ID.

Or got stuck at Dover because the new border controls meant they took forever to get through the border.

( I can think of lots of political storylines for them)

Thanks to this post, I checked what I needed to travel to Canada (yes I know it's not in the EU...it just gave me a prompt), and saw that the travel requirements are different to what they were when I last went, and we now need an eTA (electronic travel thingy).

That would have been a bad thing to find out at the check in desk.

Thankfully, it's an instant online thing (thank you Canada!) and it's done now.

…and yet every other week there’s a sad-faced family in the paper who were turned away at the airport

Always a good idea to check the FCO advice page - and also the tourism place of the country you're going to.

Local laws, customs etc....

It's been widely reported. Loads and loads of sorry faces at airports in the last 2 years. Surprised anyone could've missed it.

H had to do an in person appointment to replace a perfectly valid passport lady autumn because of this at expense and time off work. So annoying but we read the entry rules carefully long before we travelled.

Them de rules.

There were sad-faced families being turned away at airports before Brexit. The UK has always done a very good line in sad-faced families arriving unprepared at airports.

From the end of this year there's the ETIAS requirement too. More reasons for sad-face.
https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

Only if your destination requires that. Which was always the case. We just didn’t have it for common destinations inside the EU, because we were also inside the EU, so had freedom of movement…

Yes, I do know this - I just never get around to doing it, or leave it too late. It's a fault of mine that has got me in more than a few pickles. Hence the thanks for this post.

I didn't. Holiday in Europe at least once each year, and checked many sites around what was and wasn't allowed when travelling through various pandemic rules. The fact that some people has passports that were valid for more than 20 years was need to me until I read this thread . Then again - in 2019 after nagging DS for months about getting his passport renewed, I let my own run out of date, only discovering two weeks before travel! It would appear that this rule would not have affected me so perhaps that's why it never clicked .

To add - I have seen the info about the extra months needed left on a passport advertised widely - just not the bit about the date of issue being different in some cases .

That should read

The fact that some people had passports that were valid for more than 10 years was news to me until I read this thread .

I had no idea about this. Mine and dds passports have ran out. Dh passport was issued in 2018. We go on holiday next April. In a flap about passports now. Will renew mine and dds asap. I presume dh passport is still valid.

My point exactly, but people were saying everyone knows by now etc when they clearly haven’t followed the rules.

I remember posting on here before brexit that we would lose our freedom of movement rights and going to Europe would become like going to America. I was actually laughed at for thinking such a thing by a bunch of thick as shit pro brexit posters.
Where are they all now?

That’s really unfortunate but I would assume that there has been many times during the booking stage they will have been able to find this information, especially if they’ve booked it online, you have to agree that you’ve read the conditions and one of those will be the passport info.

If they’ve booked via an agent then the agent should have asked if they had all the required documentation.

im really surprised at some point they haven’t checked the entry requirements of the country they are travelling to. So they may not have known but you should check entry requirements as standard whenever travelling.

Everyone should know by now, but the 50% rule kicks in so there will always be sad faced UK families in airports - whether it's passports, ETIAS, or just exceptionalism thinking they're entitled to load a suitcase up to 60kg and expect some poor schmuck to hump it into the plane.

I've not been abroad since Brexit, you betcha I'll be checking what's changed before I do as I'm sure a lot has changed!
But people are people and some will forget etc and then there are an amazing number of people who go through life rather passively and expect people to put things their way instead of going looking.

It's incredibly annoying as still have until May next year counting the extra time but only till 6th August for Europe. Am working overseas at the moment and only back inthe UK briefly in the summer....literally 10 days.... Either have to pay a fortune for week return or just not go to the EU in the next few months.

This is brexit working as it should!