To shout at everyont to CHECK YOUR PASSPORT ISSUE DATE!! Not the expiry date...

[FusionChefGeoff]

I used to work in travel for fucks sake.

Both DH and my passports are not valid for our upcoming holiday to France as they are issued more than 10 years ago as of last week. They are both 'in date' if you look at the expiry date - but I completely forgot / missed the fact that doesn't matter any more.

Your passport MUST be less thatn 10 years old based on the issue date for you to travel to the EU.

Luckily, I can go to Peterborough on Monday and there are appointments for a 1 day service but fuck me £450 for 2 passports.....

Thank God I checked today and not the day before we leave.

Jesus I am still shaking. Hope I can help someone else avoid a holiday disaster with this public safety warning.

You are not being unreasonable but the EU passport people are making life v difficult. 😞

Im astounded you dont know this. It has been widely publicised for years.

It's not the EU being difficult to UK passport holders - they're treating us like nationals from any other "third country" are treated. It's a direct and entirely predictable result of us leaving the EU.

You're on Mumsnet and you've missed the eleventy billion other threads about this? 😂

And the very regular articles all over the media for years.

Mm. Well Switzerland isn’t in the EU but curiously it is still in the Schengen travel area. One rule for the Swiss …

UK passport holders are now treated exactly the way other non-EU / Schengen passport holders, e.g. US passport holders, have always been treated.

Because we left the EU and are now "third country nationals", just like Americans.

The Swiss negotiated a better treaty than the UK did. Not their fault!

Can anyone explain the 3 month validity bit...
Does that have to also be within the ten years since issue?

Because we haven't applied to be in Schengen area. One rule for us because we are the twats that left the EU.

I don’t recall allocating blame to the Swiss. But I continue to be appalled at the destruction of the UK’s relationship with the EU. UK’s decision to leave was self destructive of course, but I am not convinced that the EU behaved in a way likely to heal the rift. Quite the reverse it seems to me. I wonder if the “Evil UK attempts to stitch up the EU” narrative is as prevalent on the continent as the Boris Johnson “EU steals all our money and makes us have square bananas” narrative has been in the UK since forever.

Sorry I don't understand. Isn't the expiry date date 10yrs on from the issue date? Genuine question, I haven't seen any other threads about this or anything in the news.
How can passports issued more than 10yrs ago still be in date anyway?

I thought it was just me. I don’t understand either why it would be issued more than 10 years ago and still be in date. Going to check mine

Not me. I am not taking responsibility for that one - I registered, and I voted and I lost. Sometimes democracy means that you lose, but I did not do the twat thing.

No, if you had time left on your passport when you applied for a new one they added it on to the 10 years. I don't think this is the case any more

I wonder if the “Evil UK attempts to stitch up the EU” narrative is as prevalent on the continent as the Boris Johnson “EU steals all our money and makes us have square bananas” narrative has been in the UK since forever.

No, because the EU doesn't think the UK is evil, just stupid for the choice they made. Most EU members look at the Uk with pity, or considers them irrelevant rather than thinking of them as the bad guys! It's because of thinking like this - that Britain is special- that lead to the UK leaving in the first place.

Passports issued before 2018 used to get the extra months added on if you renewed early, so you could have 10 years and so many months on it. Now it's just a fixed 10 years, so if it's outside of the exact 10 years it won't be accepted

But isn't it just the expiry date that matters? As long as it's within 3 months or whatever the requirement is.
edited to add - just googled it now and it's now an additional requirement...got it!

No, that is the entire point of this thread.

You are shaking? Really?

No.

It can't be older than 10 years.

If itbwa issued before 2018, let's say March 2015 it might have an Expiry date of August 2025, because you renewed it early,and the "spare" few months were added on. So is now older than 10 years.

I have only ever been abroad once and so I don’t read the threads or news on travelling abroad but I would like another holiday one day and so thank you for sharing.

I don’t know why some MNers take issue when an OP offers advice.

If you already know then good for you but obviously not everyone does.

When I read a thread about something that I already know, I only comment if I have something interesting to add.
Why they feel the need to comment I’ll never know, I guess they just think they’re important.

Every year there are threads about people not realising their passport had expired, or not understanding this rule, or thinking their passport isn't valid as its burgundy, or not having done the right check.

Rule 1 of booking a holiday: Check what passport and visa you require for the country you are visiting. They are all different (except the schnegan block being the same).

Well yeah.. been like this like forever... well scince we left.
I travel abroad a few times a year.
You now get the new very dark navy passports again.
It's been all over the news and socials and travel programmes..
Im surprised that anyone who travels doesn't know.
Loads of people not being allowed to travel because they didn't check.. which has also been widely published.

Yes, the Swiss are Schengen members and we AREN'T. Which bit of this is too hard for you?