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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to remind you all to check your passports

144 replies

Theimpossiblegirl · 18/04/2018 08:28

Just that really. Every year we have the panic as holidays draw near and people realise they have expired.
I just renewed mine and dds but hadn't realised mine needed doing until I checked.
Online is cheaper now too.
If posting this saves just one person getting to that awful panic of trying to get it done last minute I'll be happy. :)

OP posts:
Twotabbycats · 18/04/2018 22:46

Just though I would add a reminder for anyone living abroad that you can no longer renew passports at British consulates/embassies - you either have to send everything to the U.K. (and allow 4 weeks, which means 4 weeks without your passport and the necessity to apply for an emergency travel document if there is, well, an emergency Hmm) or make an appointment at a passport office when you are back in the U.K.

Nearly sent mine off this time last year (with 6 months left but didn't want to leave it till the last minute) but didn't for some reason. Was so glad I didn't part with it as I had to travel with no notice when my Dad was dying.

reallybadidea · 18/04/2018 22:55

After a few close shaves we put a yearly reminder in our google calendars to check all our passports/ehics on the 2nd January. Gives us plenty of time to sort out replacements before the summer.

Other thing we find handy, especially with 6 of us, is to tape our ehics to the back of our respective passports. Makes it physically impossible to leave the country without it and makes each individual's passport easily identifiable rather than having to flick through all of them!

Ginkypig · 18/04/2018 23:51

Thankyou for all the help guys.

SubtitlesOn · 19/04/2018 00:00

Also don't forget things like ESTA if going to USA

Skiiltan · 19/04/2018 00:33

EHIC is a good point. Do they have expiry dates?

Well, I guess they all expire next March.

Changebagsandgladrags · 19/04/2018 00:34

Bollocks totally forgot about the EHIC

BitOutOfPractice · 19/04/2018 08:56

@Skiiltan mine is valid until 2023 (renewed a few weeks ago) but no idea if that will be enforced

Talith · 19/04/2018 09:08

We should do the same with a school place/11+ application klaxon to check EVERY DETAIL EVEN IF PARTNER SAYS THEYVE DONE IT as it breaks my heart when we get people desperately posting who've fucked up or their partners have and missed the deadlines or made incorrect presumptions about the process.

Skiiltan · 19/04/2018 15:04

@BitOutOfPractice - Skiiltan mine is valid until 2023 (renewed a few weeks ago) but no idea if that will be enforced

It isn't valid beyond March 2019 unless there is an agreement between the UK and the 30 EEA countries plus Switzerland before that date (or the UK government backtracks on the deadline date for EU exit of 31 Mar 2019). This has been brought up several times in EU exit discussions but no proposals have been made yet. The 2023 expiry date will be based on a standard 5-year term throughout the EEA/Switzerland, but that obviously ceases to apply when the UK leaves the EU and the EEA.

Katherine2626 · 19/04/2018 18:05

Check your driving licence too - i didn't know this until a colleague went completely mad at having to pay a fine because her driving licence had expired. she though it was for life!

Janek · 19/04/2018 18:19

In your colleague's defence, the paper ones lasted until your 70th birthday. I was unpleasantly surprised when I had to pay to renew my photo driving licence after ten years in my new house...

MongerTruffle · 19/04/2018 18:34

And many countries require a passport that still has at least six months to run.

Just to clarify (a lot of people get confused about this): your passport does not need to be valid past the date of your entry when travelling to EEA countries and Switzerland.

Anna I think that if you have an EHIC card you don't have to pay on the spot
That's not true. In many countries you have to pay first and then make a claim to the NHS using the phone number on the back of the card.

MrsPear · 19/04/2018 18:42

Oh lord I have to renew ds 2 - we travel to Albania so you need 6 months. Last time we travelled they put a child and his mother on the next flight for that very reason Shock I had a told you so moment with h.

waterjungle · 19/04/2018 18:46

Before DH and I were married, our first holiday together was to S.East Asia. He was flicking through his passport in Heathrow departure lounge and said -
"Oh look my passport runs out in 3 months".
I almost threw up on the spot, he didn't think it would be a problem. I pointed out that everyone knew you had to have more than 6 months on your passport to leave the EU - he said this wasn't common knowledge.
After 15 hours of flying they wouldn't let us into Indonesia.
We got hauled into the small room and I had to do some pretty desperate negotiation and part with quite a bit of money to go on holiday - they were ready to send him on the next plane home and tbh I was so cross he would have been going alone.

Noodledoodledoo · 19/04/2018 18:52

With EHIC cards - we completely forgot last year to get one for our son - have insurance so it completely slipped our minds! We applied the night before and on the email we got it said we would be covered from the point of the email being recieving the email. Info that might be useful.

Passports I know our renewal dates as they tie in with certain events - mine was renewed after wedding as it was due, husband and daughters just after she was born.

BestIsWest · 19/04/2018 19:14

ETA’s for Canada too. Online with the Canadian Govenment Website.

Don’t be doing it in the airport like my uncle.

MrsPear · 19/04/2018 19:30

Oh I found the ehic’s in the passport wallet - they expire after we leave. Is it just me imaging them in a social history museum in 100 years?!

pointythings · 19/04/2018 19:53

We never forget - because we are forrin we have to go to our Embassy in London to get our passports done.

I have a 10 year passport now so am good till 2027 - DDs have 4 and a bit years on theirs.

Cadsuane · 19/04/2018 20:03

We aren't going away this year but DD1's and DD2's passports both ran out last week. DD1 will be 18 in a few weeks so we will get her adult passport an a few weeks when we have time to get her photo done.
And while I was looking at what we needed to do I discovered that as DD2 is 16 later in the year we can wait till then get her an adult passport too. So this should be the last time we need to pay for them!

GeekyBlinders · 19/04/2018 20:11

I had to get mine renewed at the passport office this week, cost a fortune. I travel a lot for work and I just can't risk being without it for 3-4 weeks. It actually spires in October but I have a trip to the US soon, at short notice, and I needed a valid passport to book the flights, so off I went to get a fast track renewal.

clyde5591 · 19/04/2018 20:21

Thank you for the post - DH's needs to be renewed and of course we forgot.

Great post

AdoraBell · 19/04/2018 20:22

I had to renew mine when I was forrin in another country. Had to send it to the US, British embassy in Washington. Total PITA because even though they sent it back by courier it then got handed over to local postal system. Then said embassy called to say it had been returned and did I still want it? Ended up with it being delivered to the local British embassy.

Stopyourhavering64 · 19/04/2018 20:27

And make sure you have travel insurance!

FuzzyCustard · 19/04/2018 20:28

I've let mine expire. No point in renewing- no holiday for us because of DH's illness. :(

ARoomSomewhere · 19/04/2018 20:37

did they just put the price up? :(

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