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?!

@Ohbuggeritsme my passport is 11 years long. Issued in August 2016, expires May 2027. So must be ok for a while? I intend to renew it in autumn 2025.

It's not 11 years, it's valid for 10y 9m @Lemons1571
It's true expiry for travel in Europe is August 2026

I had to cancel my flight in August last year because of this as even though my passport expired April 2022 it wasn't eligible for EU travel. (Although I also advised by passport office I could travel outside of the EU). If you've renewed the passport before travel there should not be an issue.

The passport can be valid for more than ten years, the important bit is that they only count the passport as valid 10 years from the issue date.

Can you help me as the more i read the more I don't understand.

My passport expires October 2023, valid from April 2013 which means it has/had 10 years + 3 months.

Can i use this anytime up to say January 2023?
Thanks

I don't think they add the extra months on any more, so if your passport is newly renewed it won't be an issue.

If travelling to Europe you count the expiry date as April 2023. Then you need to count 3 months back from that (although some airlines are saying 6 months) to work out whether you have enough validity for travel

And yes, they have stopped adding extra months on. They sneaked that in without telling anyone a few years ago

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?!

I don't understand why you have written this if you have renewed and it's on its way?

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat b3vause a lot of people have renewed passports before going on holiday and found they have been unable to travel due to the issue date!

Eh what are you talking about?
The issue date won't be in the future.
They are telling you to look at the issue date to count 10 years from then to get the proper expiry date on an adult passport

The issue date will be the date its printed

If it's newly issued then they'll be zero problem, it's if it's close to expiry that you need to check the issue date (no more than 5 or 10 years accordingly).

Am I missing something?

I think you're getting confused. People have been refused to travel because of their expiry date being over 10 years from the issue date. They aren't travelling on new passports but on older passports nearing the expiry date

You will have zero problems with a newly issued passport. I really think you are misunderstanding what the passport issues have been

OP are you thinking passports showing over 10 years validity are completely invalid for travel, regardless of what date you’re travelling?

Her new passport will have the date it's printed as the issue date and will be valid for 5 years from that date. It will not have an issue date in the future. Ignore the date in the old passport as it is no longer a date to look at.

The extra months in the past were added to the end of the date not the start so for e.g valid from April 2010 until Sept 2020. The actual expiry date after brexit becomes April 2020 not September. You have confused yourself and are worrying about a problem that doesn't exist

I think you are confused as there are a couple of different issues at play here.

If you have just renewed a passport, it will expire 10 years from the date of issue (or 5 years if it's a kids passport). There is no way that a brand new passport would be invalid for travel this summer.

It used to be the case (but no longer is) that if you renewed your passport well in advance of its expiry date, the passport office would add up to nine months on to compensate you for the lost time. So you might have a passport issued in August 2012 that has an expiry date of May 2023, say.

The EU used to count those extra months as part of the passports validity. They no longer do, and so the UK passport agency doesn't issue passports with bonus months any more - your passport will only ever be valid for ten years from the date of issue. As far as the EU is concerned, that passport issued in August 2012 expires in August 2022.

A complicating factor is that as a result of Brexit you now need to have 3 months remaining on your passport after the end of your holiday. So if you want to go to Spain in July, your passport has to be valid until October. The person with August 2012 passport might look at the expiry date and think they have loads of time left because it doesn't expire until May 2023, when actually the EU think it expires in in August 2022. This means they don't have 3 months validity left after their July holiday, so they won't be allowed to travel.

Does that make sense?

The passport office are not depriving anyone of apparent validity, they are making compliance with Schengen entry rules easier.

They only added on up to 9 months previously precisely to encourage a more even spread of applications throughout the year, but this is no longer helpful.

And as many PP have said you could have travelled using maiden name.
It's also not compulsory to change your surname so it's a choice some people make.
I do get the bit about being abroad and unable to travel, people received a better service when consulates had passport offices.

it depends on the country you are visiting so you always need to check specifically but does visiting a Shengen area country yes that is correct - after January 2023 you won’t be able to travel without renewing your passport.

Didn't notice this on a side of a Bus, Boris.

Its caught out a heck of a lot of people, we are friends with a woman who works in a Travel Agency, has led to a lot of urgent passport requests, not least because of the 3/6 month extension after travel back to UK.

ah thank you so much - i did wonder if i had got myself confused, and it appears that i have!
thank you lovely people for clearing it up!
this is the article (and a few others like this that confused me)
www.mirror.co.uk/money/family-3000-out-pocket-unable-26789091

That passenger had a passport that was issued May 2012 but with extra months added on. Since brexit her new expiry would be May 2022 as the extra months don't count.

As she tried to travel in April 2022 she wouldn't have 3 months remaining as he new expiry date was May 2022

Got it thanks

The actual rules are:

1. It must be less than 10 years old on the day you enter the Schengen area (check the ‘date of issue’)
2. It must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

The EU has clarified to the UK government that these rules are independent. With the example given by @beck01 and assuming the dates are valid from 25th April 2013 and it expires 17th October 2023, then the passport can be used to enter a Schengen country up to and including 24th April 2023, and it can be used to leave that country up to and including 17th July 2023.

Unfortunately, several airlines mistakenly applied tighter restrictions than were needed and would not have allowed @beck01 to travel to a Schengen country after 24th January 2023. Under pressure from the press, almost all the airlines have realised their mistake and changed their rules (some just this week) to suit the regulations. Some passengers who were denied boarding by the airlines even though they had valid passports are launching claims for compensation.

Have they clarified that rule now as the last time I read about it they were waiting on clarification as to whether the 2 rules were intertwined?