Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Son's passport expiring - family hols in ruins

828 replies

blueshoes · 16/10/2021 21:00

Dh and I were looking forward to our family holiday in Crete, Greece for the October half term. We watched the covid-19/PCR situation closely not realising that my 15 year old son's passport has less than 3 months. Just found out today. This is our first foreign holiday since covid struck.

The government website says that for entry to Greece, your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave Greece, or any other Schengen country.

We leave on 30 October and my son's passport expires just short of 3 months on 22 January 2022. It is too late to renew his passport as we are leaving in less than a week.

Ds cannot come with us, can he? Sad We f_ked up.

Anybody recently travelled to Greece with Ryanair with less than 3 months left on their passport? Is it a bad idea to turn up and chance it or bite the bullet now and plan on the basis ds cannot go.

OP posts:
25yearsnhsworker · 18/10/2021 16:13

Glad you got an appointment, DD had an appointment on a Monday and hers arrived on the Thursday
They may do an option to pay garauteed next day delivery so worth an ask.
All the best.

Strugglingtodomybest · 18/10/2021 16:22

This reply has been deleted

Post references deleted post Talk guidelines.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 18/10/2021 16:23

Fingers crossed for you op.

It’s an awful situation, ds sounds very chipper but if it was me I know I wouldn’t enjoy myself without one dc.

Let us know how you get on

23minutesfromTulseHill · 18/10/2021 16:31

This reply has been deleted

Post references deleted post Talk guidelines.

emptyvesselsmakethemostnoise · 18/10/2021 16:34

Jeezo @Chickenwing2, regardless of whether or not I agree with what the op is planning to do, that is an awful thing to say

Pottedpalm · 18/10/2021 17:32

Chickenwing’s horrible comment had been deleted.

justmaybenot · 18/10/2021 17:44

@blueshoes

No, I don't need childfree. DD 18 is coming with us anyway.

Dd 18 and Ds 15 are no trouble at all and a joy to holiday with at this age. Funny with good conversation. And then on their phones and laptops the rest of the time.

I'd probably run out of convo with Dh in about 2 days.

I hope you have a lovely holiday, and well done on raising nice and resourceful children. Best of luck with the passport too - and it's a good reminder for everyone here to check theirs, especially if you haven't flown since pre-pandemic. A good friend was due to visit us last month and only realised theirs was out of date when they went to check in!
QOD · 18/10/2021 17:53

Mumsnet at its knobbiest with some of these comments

shinynewapple21 · 18/10/2021 18:51

Just wondering @blueshoes if Ryannair do a mid-week flight out to Crete if you could move your holiday by a few days, say to next Wednesday? Your DC would only miss a couple of days of school and you should have the new passport by then .

reallyscaredof · 18/10/2021 19:24

Blueshoes , well done! Told you it is not a lost case...yet. I think you will get it just in time.
Try to speak to a clerk about your need to get the passport as fast as possible, when you get there with the application form and passport photos- check and re-check everything beforehand- and you'll be fine.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 18/10/2021 19:37

The likely hood is your sons password is already expired as it now goes by date of issue and not date of expiry.

MissChanandlerBong81 · 18/10/2021 19:42

My parents used to go on holiday during term time when I was that age/a couple of years older and leave me with family and/or friends. It was fine.

madisonbridges · 18/10/2021 21:03

@HannibalHayeski
@Peregrina
The UK is not like other EU countries where you can enter using an ID card which is hard not to keep valid. We've always had to use a valid passport and couldn't travel on an expired one. All UK travellers are aware of and used to that. The op didn't fail to renew the passport because she thought she didn't need to renew it til January. She just forgot to renew it. She'd never checked when the passport ran out. She could very well have gone to the passport and discovered it ran out in September. She had the same mindset whether she had to have 6 months on it, 3 months on it, 1 day on it. So it's not a Brexit problem. It's a disorganisation problem. But very easy to do. It's happened to me! Before Brexit so nit Brexit related.

Op, hope it gets sorted - although I'm not sure if your son does. 😉

CourgetteGlutTony · 18/10/2021 21:08

But in this case, the problem is entirely caused by brexit.
Why are you so keen to deny this, madisonbridges

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 18/10/2021 21:24

madisonbridges
The UK is not like other EU countries where you can enter using an ID card

The UK is not an EU country at all; "other" is not relevant here.

The OP's son has a UK passport valid until January 2022, but cannot use it to go to an EU country. A UK passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave any Schengen country.

Until January this year a UK passport valid until January of one year would have been valid in October of the previous year in any Schengen country. Now it is not.

The thing which has caused this change is the UK's decision to cease to be part of the EU.

Not that this is anything whatever to do with Brexit, obviously. I mean, Brexit isn't about leaving the EU, is it. Erm...

madisonbridges · 18/10/2021 21:33

@CourgetteGlutTony

But in this case, the problem is entirely caused by brexit. Why are you so keen to deny this, madisonbridges
Because its not been caused by Brexit. It's been caused by someone not checking the passport. Expiry dates existed before Brexit.
madisonbridges · 18/10/2021 21:38

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

madisonbridges The UK is not like other EU countries where you can enter using an ID card

The UK is not an EU country at all; "other" is not relevant here.

The OP's son has a UK passport valid until January 2022, but cannot use it to go to an EU country. A UK passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave any Schengen country.

Until January this year a UK passport valid until January of one year would have been valid in October of the previous year in any Schengen country. Now it is not.

The thing which has caused this change is the UK's decision to cease to be part of the EU.

Not that this is anything whatever to do with Brexit, obviously. I mean, Brexit isn't about leaving the EU, is it. Erm...

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime The UK's not in the EU anymore. Wow. When did that happened and why haven't there been hundreds if not thousand of threads on it?

I think I addressed all your other points in my previous post.

Abraxan · 18/10/2021 21:39

Expiry dates existed before Brexit.

And the OP's Dd passport is within the expiry date. It expires in 22 January 2022. It has just short of 3 months left to run. It essence it is still a valid passport.

Prior to leaving the EU the OP's Ds could travel using his still valid passport.

The need to have 3 months left on the passport did not exist when travel to eu countries from the U.K. until we left the EU, following Brexit.

Therefore, this issue has been caused by the changes that came into play following Brexit.

I don't understand why you don't understand that if Brexit had not happened then the OPs ds would not be having this issue and would be travelling legitimately to Greece this weekend.

justwantobeamum · 18/10/2021 21:50

@blueshoes hope his passport comes through. If not, he will be absolutely fine. I'm howling at some of these posters who think that a 15 year old at home for a week could warrant social services, thank god none of you were my mother! In the next 1-12 months (depending on his birthday) he could move out, get married and have a baby legally if he wanted.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 18/10/2021 22:07

madisonbridges
The UK's not in the EU anymore. Wow. When did that happened and why haven't there been hundreds if not thousand of threads on it?

Well, since you wrote "The UK is not like other EU countries where you can enter using an ID card", I rather assumed you didn't know the UK is no longer in the EU. Since the UK is not in the EU, "other" really doesn't enter into it. The UK is not like "other" spiders, or like "other" marshmallows, or like "other" Asian countries, because it is not a spider nor a marshmallow nor in Asia; I hope knowing that may help to sort out your confusion.

I think I addressed all your other points in my previous post.

Well, no, you didn't, because what you wrote was far from accurate, but don't let it worry you. I'll get along very nicely without any further misinformation. But thanks for trying.

KT727 · 18/10/2021 22:23

I think this is more of a big deal than you realise OP.

Your DS sounds sweet and thoughtful but really I bet he's been looking forward to his first foreign holiday since Covid too so it's great that you now have a chance of getting his passport in time. Perhaps if it's late he can stay with friends for 1 or 2 nights and get a lift to the airport for the last 5 days of the holiday.

Lightisnotwhite · 18/10/2021 22:35

@Abraxan

Expiry dates existed before Brexit.

And the OP's Dd passport is within the expiry date. It expires in 22 January 2022. It has just short of 3 months left to run. It essence it is still a valid passport.

Prior to leaving the EU the OP's Ds could travel using his still valid passport.

The need to have 3 months left on the passport did not exist when travel to eu countries from the U.K. until we left the EU, following Brexit.

Therefore, this issue has been caused by the changes that came into play following Brexit.

I don't understand why you don't understand that if Brexit had not happened then the OPs ds would not be having this issue and would be travelling legitimately to Greece this weekend.

But as you say it’s been a year already. How long before it’s not Brexit but just disorganisation?
23minutesfromTulseHill · 18/10/2021 22:40

'first foreign holiday since covid'

I reckon bitterness and jealousy about someone else possibly getting to have a foreign holiday underlies much of the criticism of OP on this thread. Backed up by the 'my 175-month-old still needs me there before he will settle' contingent.
I have visions of this kid trying to look nonchalant while kicking a suspiciously passport-shaped packet under the doormat on Thursday morning.

madisonbridges · 18/10/2021 22:43

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime. When I said other, obviously you must have known I was referring to pre Brexit because now ID cards can't be used to enter the UK except under limited circumstances. But if pettiness stokes your fire, go for it.

What I wrote, perfectly accurate. But I understand you can't refute it so it's just as well you let it slide.🙂 😉

23minutesfromTulseHill · 18/10/2021 22:59

What I wrote, perfectly accurate

Really not. Any decent copy editor would, at the current date, be on your opening sentence like a rat up a drainpipe.
'The UK is not like other EU countries within the Schengen zone where you residents or nationals of another Schengen state can enter using an ID card which is hard not to keep valid.'

Accuracy =/= pettiness.