10 year passport rule.....

[Ohbuggeritsme]

There have been a couple of articles lately about people denied entry to Schengen areas due to the 10 year passport rule. Basically your passport cannot be older than 10 years and must be valid for at least 3 months at your time of return.

So not only does the expiry date count, but also the issue date.
I have just renewed my daughter's passport as it runs out within a week of returning from France in August. This is what has caught people out apparently, where the time has been added to their passport upon renewal, it means the passport is older than 10 years
Obviously as a child her passport is only valid for 5 years, so timewise well within the rules.
So I think we'll be OK, but I got this niggling doubt that as it will be technically over 5 years (for a child) we might run into problems!
I've done a lot of googling but can't find anything concrete about rules for children, only an adult's passport.
So am I right thinking I'm being a dick and totally over thinking this and we'll be fine?!

If you’ve just renewed it, you won’t have a problem?

I had this last week - my DD’s passport is for 6 years as we renewed early. Travelled just after Easter and the 5 year date would have taken her to the end of May (so less than 3 months).

Flew to Portugal with no issues at either side. Like you, I couldn’t find any information online aside from it couldn’t be more than 10 years old.

If you go on gov.uk there’s a bit where you type the number in and it tells you if it’s expired. I almost got caught out with it in November and that told me what I needed to do.

Doesn’t it say on gov.uk that children passports are based on the expiry date?

Have you got her new passport OP?
I renewed dds as close to the expiry date as possible. Just so there would be months of lost time. But if you're going away within 3 months of expiry then it's not possible.

@Lemons1571 this is the problem some people have had, where the passport has just been renewed so they have the requisite time when returning, it has taken the passport over 10 years, which causes a problem in these areas

I also looked into this for children’s passports and couldn’t find any concrete information. I think maybe the rule is all passports need to be within 10 years validity, so a child’s 5 year passport would count as within those 10 years? If it’s very close to the expiry date I would probably renew anyway though.

@Nutrigrainygoodness it's been printed and is on the way to us. We go middle of August, and her original passport ran out just after we return

Children's passports are not impacted as they are less than 10 years. This is why the government have stopped adding extra time to passports especially for 10 year ones

I'll take a look at UK gov site now. I've been googling entry requirements for france/schengen areas which are clear as mud!

@CouldIBeAnymoreOuting that was my thinking but convinced myself I could be wrong lol
Passport has been renewed and is on its way to us x

Oh I found out about this on Saturday. We go away in 3 weeks and due to the issue date my passport will essentially by invalid (expiry Dec 2022). Luckily I found out when I did and I've used the premium service and due to pick up a new passport from the passport office a few days before we go (fingers crossed).

Yes

Basically it means that you can't add unexpired months to the validity of the passport because they don't 'count'. And for many destinations you need six months validity, so that doesn't 'count' either

It's a rule that is likely to disproportionately affect women due to name changes.

My passport is valid 15m longer than its issue date. I married when my previous passport was 2 years old, so rather than waste most of its life, held on through most of it then renewed/ name-changed when one of my children needed their 5 year renewal. We have family abroad so it was logical to send both passports together rather than have double disruption of members of our family unable to travel in a potential emergency.

Given how unreliable the passport office is, you would think it would be desirable to have people update their passports ahead of time, and consistently through the year rather than depriving them of apparent validity on an expensive document and encouraging last minute updates

I married when my previous passport was 2 years old, so rather than waste most of its life, held on through most of it then renewed/ name-changed when one of my children needed their 5 year renewal

Or you could have just kept on using it and booked flights in your maiden name.

I don't understand this at all, are people saying when they renew that the expiry date is longer than 10 years? e.g 2020 to 2031? This is very confusing and I travel a lot.

Children’s passport validity is based on the expiry, not the issue, date

@BusterGonad that's correct. If you renew early so the expiry gives you the 3 or 6 months validity when returning, the time is added to your passport and therefore takes it over 10 years.

BusterGonad They’ve stopped doing it now but in the past if you renewed your passport early they added the extra months on to the length of the new passport. So you could have a passport valid for more than 10 years. The extra months no longer count so you have to work out 10 years from the issue date, not expiry date. Minus the 3/6 months from the date of homeward travel too. That’s what has caught people out.

I know what you mean and I can’t find info either. My passport was issued with 10 years and 6 months on it, but I have heard some countries will not recognise the extra 6 months as valid because it is over 10 years. Any links or advice gratefully received.

Thanks everyone, I was worried I'd be caught out for something I didn't understand. All ours are fine. 👍

You have to check with your destination country

FCDO website for travel advice is a good place to start.

In the past up to 9 months could be added on from the old passport so a passport could be valid for 10y 9months. Since brexit those extra months are ignored so you need to add 10 years to the issue date to get the true expiry date rather than going by the printed expiry date.

Then you need 3 or 6 months remaining depending on which country you are going to so deduct them too.

If its a European country you are going to then they won't recognise the extra months over 10 years so your true expiry date is 10 years from the issue date.

@BogRollBOGOF only 9 extra months could be added. You could have used the old passport until it expired and used your old name when booking travel