Urgent advice needed about passport rules from the trusted Mumsnet community

[lovemyboyz247]

I’m asking for my colleague as she’s asked me for advice and im worried I might be reading this wrong.

She is flying to Sharm el Sheikh on 20th December returning on 27th December. Her son’s passport expires on 29th June 2026.

According to the UK government website it says this:

Passport validity requirements: to enter Egypt, your passport must have an ‘expiry date’ at least 6 months after the date you arrive and have at least one blank page.

She was all in a panic this morning as she checked ChatGPT and it said her son cannot travel using his current passport, but I think he will be ok to travel.

have I got this wrong? I don’t want her to go to the airport and he’s unable to fly. She contacted EasyJet and they said they can’t give passport advice, so I told her I would ask on here.

Thanks in advance.

What was the start date of the passeport

6 months on from 27th December is 27th June (or maybe 26th?). 29th June 2026 expiry means it’s ok

Does ChatGPT know the present date? Thought the ‘friendly robots 🤖’ were kept in time limitations.

Sorry date of issue of passport is 29th June 2021

You don’t explain why you think fine?

From my reading of this, the crucial point here is her date of arrival in Egypt:

...passport must have an ‘expiry date’ at least 6 months after the date you arrive...

She's arriving in Egypt on 20th December Six months after this is 20th June. As the passport expires on 29th June, this means she is within the time limit by nine days.

It'll be fine.

Sounds ok then

Expiry date is 6 months a

• 9 days after she arrives, and 6 months + 2 days after she leaves, so why would it not be ok on that point?

It's also ok going by issue date + 10 years + 3 months.

Does he have a blank page?

What did chatgpt give as the reason for it not being ok?

I think it’s fine because the passport doesn’t expire until 29th June and it says have to be valid 6months from entry date which is 20th December

Thank you. Yes there’s a blank page. But it’s a child passport. Not sure if that makes a difference but I thought the 6month rule would still apply

And what’s their counter logic?

She’s relying on what ChatGPT is saying and is panicking. She said when she put the dates in, ChatGPT said her son won’t be able to travel

You put dates in chat GPT

and actually show her / screen shot and send

she’s not inputting correctly

That’s irrelevant.

ChatGPT will respond in different ways depending on how much detail you give and what you exactly ask. It's not a substitute for getting expert advice on such specific topics.

I bet you could ask ChatGPT a more specific and detailed question and get the correct response out of it, if that would help stop her from panicking and get her to understand what you are saying.

At the time the question was asked we didnt know the age of the son, he could well have been an adult

And this is why only a fool relies on it for important situations

It's very clear from what the UK government website says that this is fine, why did she need to ask ChatGPT?

I've just asked ChatGPT and it responded stating that the passport isn't valid but it's own explanation stated that the passport was valid! When I then asked it why it was giving contradictory information, it apologised and corrected itself to say that the passport is valid.....

Still would have been irrelevant.

I suspect you’re referring to an EU passport rule that doesn’t apply to travel to Egypt. In theory you could travel to Egypt on a 20 year old passport if it was still valid and had 6 months validity after leaving (assuming there is country that has passports with 20 years plus validity).

This is terrifying. My MIL has started to outsource her thinking to ChatGPT and the stuff she comes out with his horrifying too. This is Year 1 or Year 2 level reading comprehension. Unless the friend has severe learning disabilities this is an abject lesson on the perils of unleashing AI on the unwitting public (and I think this is the thin end of the wedge),

Still would have been irrelevant.

I suspect you’re referring to an EU passport rule that doesn’t apply to travel to Egypt. In theory you could travel to Egypt on a 20 year old passport if it was still valid and had 6 months validity after leaving (assuming there is country that has passports with 20 years plus validity).

Don't know if it's still the case, but if you renewed your adult passport before it expired you could get the extra time added onto your new passport eg your new passport could be valid for 10 years and 2 months. Some countries were counting 10 years from the start date of the passport. Doesn't affect op, but maybe that's whats causing confusion with ChatGPT (I think it's easily confused...)

I looked up the information on the government website after she had checked ChatGPT and was talking to me all in a panic.

When she wouldn’t believe me, she called EasyJet and they wouldn’t give her a direct answer and said they can’t give advice on passports and visas.

Thank you to everyone for replying.

I was doubting myself after she refused to believe me, but everyone has agreed with me, so I will show her this and hopefully she will calm down and get on with some work!

thanks again