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.

Yes that’s true but if you have to keep renewing it early to fly then it’s only 9.5 years’ or less itms😀

It depends where you go i suppose
EU needs 3 months remaining
USA needs it to be valid for the length of your stay

Hi @dementedpixie
I think I've googled so much about easyjet rejecting passports I've driven myself into a frenzy😫
Both passports issued 12/4/2016
One expires 12thJuly 2026 the other 12thAugust 2026.
We fly to Italy on Sept 13th 2025 returning Sept 24th to UK.
I've been told I'm OK but am I.
Any advice would be great thankyou so much.

Both passports issued 12/4/2016
One expires 12thJuly 2026 the other 12thAugust 2026.
We fly to Italy on Sept 13th 2025 returning Sept 24th to UK.
--‐-----

On 13th September 2025 your passports will be under 10 years old (10 years from issue is 12/4/2026)

On 24th September 2025 you will have at least 3 months remaing on your passports (expiry dates of 12/7/26 and 12/8/26).

Both passports are valid for your holiday @Thedogscollar

@KTheGrey it's part of our punishment program like macron and french watching boats sail to us.

Apparently soon at least for Germany we will be going back in

A lot of people don’t seem to realise that if you have a valid ESTA for US travel, if you change your passport before your holiday then your ESTA is no longer valid. Get a new one before you go on your holiday! They’re quick to do online and it will save a lot of heartache at the airport.

As a side note, I’m not interested if you think that the US is the worst place to go on holiday 🤷‍♀️

Honestly you've set my mind at rest. I've googled too much on Easyjet rejecting passports and I've just been worrying myself into a frenzy.
Thankyou for taking the time to answer.
Is this your line of work or are you just sensible😂

https://www.confused.com/travel-insurance/passport-checker

Just check when and where you want to travel.

Well, I didn’t know any of this but I disagree that this isn’t the EU being difficult - they are choosing for an expiry date on a passport to not be an expiry date if you’re travelling to the EU from certain countries.

That’s completely on them.

@FusionChefGeoff thanks for the warning, mine’s ok but had a moment of “oh shit” before I checked it. I wasn’t aware because I haven’t been abroad for a couple of years due to illness, and as a result am really in need of a holiday! Ignore the tutters 🙄

Well the swiss never joined the eu then left because their thought of grandeur is above wvrybody else, did they?

Why on EARTH would you even question whether your passport is still in date? Why on earth?
Some questions I understand, but this is just nonsensical. Unless your return journey is booked for November 2026....

Or they are thinking that a passport that is valid for 10 years should expire 10 years after it was issued.

Their choice. After all, pre Brexit they were fine with it. Other than leaving the EU, what exactly has changed with that passport holder? Nothing.

It’s 100% their choice to ignore the expiry date on a passport. (Of course it’s also a choice to visit an EU country from the UK.)

I think international travel can just be stressful for a lot of us, and when one thing goes wrong we start to wonder if it's going to set off a string of mishaps.

So wonder what UK do for those travelling to UK from Europe

are we as stringent about expiry dates?

Other than leaving the EU, what exactly has changed with that passport holder? Nothing.

FFS. Leaving the EU was a big deal! It meant that the preferential treatment you had no longer applies. You now get treated exactly the same as any other country that isn't in the EU (which you chose to leave) or the EEA (which your politicians also chose to leave) or the Schengen area (which you never joined).

"Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

The UK passport office should start the new one exactly when the old one expires then it would be fairer otherwise they are ripping us off as you are not getting the full 10 years, even if you had to take both passports to airport

last year I renewed my passport early in May as sometimes passport office strikes, it didn’t expire till October but didn’t want to risk it. I probably could have used the old one to go to Italy in July in hindsight but never sure.

The people of the UK made it difficult for themselves.

No, the passport just has to be valid for the entire stay.

But it does have to be a passport. Before Brexit, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens could enter the UK on their national ID cards, which of course they would have anyway.

Now they have to have, and pay for, a passport in addition to their card - in Germany, for instance, this costs 70 euros.

Didn’t the UK still have to use a passport when we went to Europe when we were in EU anyway as we didn’t have ID cards

We are not special and need to follow the rules like the other non-EU countries.

Yes. But that's the point - UK citizens didn't have ID cards, so always had to have, and pay for, a passport.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who already had ID cards - which also cost money, e.g. 37 euros in Germany - didn't have to pay extra for the additional ID document to enter the UK before Brexit. Since Brexit, they do.

European travellers have to have a valid passport in order to travel to the UK. European countries don't add unspent months to passports in the way that the UK used to do, so there is no confusion about when a passport expires. The UK doesn't require the passport to be valid for 3 months after the traveller's leaving date.

In addition, visitors to the UK from Europe now need to have an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) which has to be applied for in advance and which costs £16.

Something similar is coming in 2026 for British travellers to the Schengen area, who will require a ETIAS visa waiver in advance of travelling - something that might prove to be a problem for the 12.5 million British residents who have a criminal record.

Yes I understand

Hadn’t thought about that as we tended to go to USA or stayed in UK