Passport advice - what would you do?

[Nearlyamumoftwo]

Flying to Lanzarote a month today and realised my son's passport expires November 2026 - technically this is ok as we ar returning to the UK in July 2026 (rule is at least 3 month validity), but would your risk it??

if not - would you renew and risk the standard service which takes approx 3 weeks?

or do fast track? And if you do fast track does anyone know if the child has to accompany you??

Agreed! Don't cancel the cheque renew the passport, he's a child, with a valid passport, with no extra months!

I'm particularly rolling my eyes at the posters criticising people's reading comprehension in relation to the rules for adult, 10 year passports, when they have not read about 50 times that this is a child.

OP I hope you enjoy your holiday!

😂😂😂

Nope. All these people allegedly working in travel getting it completely wrong. Bizarre. It’s not that fucking difficult

ETA: Actually Yep. Now I’m reading it wrong 🤪😂

Honestly. This thread needs to go in the bin

Left on it compared to the expiry date or compared to the issue date plus 5 though?

Depends on age of child. A friend got turned away in UK very recently as her passport was issued more than ten years ago (despite having more than 3 months left). Not sure how that even comes about but the message is be careful - they absolutely will not let things slide.

the expiry date is 3 months and 1 week from the day we return - so technically I have a week of safety?

It depends on the issue date.

Irrelevant for a child’s passport

Not for a child’s

It’s a non issue, it’s fine. Unless you are travelling again within a few days of
returning
no need to renew, just do it in good time for next time you go abroad

A child can be any age up until 18 though?

Fair enough if that’s a blanket ruling.

For a current CHILD passport (valid for 5 years) the issue date will be exactly 5 years before the expiry date. This is because they stopped adding months onto passports more than 5 years ago.

All children have a 5 year child’s passport

While adult passports last 10 years, child passports are issued for a maximum of 5 years. The issue date determines when the passport is no longer valid, and many countries enforce strict rules regarding both the age of the passport and its expiration date.

Eu requires a passport to be less than 10 years old on date of entry. A child passport will ALWAYS meet this criteria as its only valid for 5 years. Extra months stopped being added in 2018 so all current child passports will only have validity of 5 years

Go onto the airline website and do the passport check

“I’ve heard sine horror stories” doesn’t negate the fact that this passport is perfectly valid for this holiday.

Validity Calculations: The 3-month buffer required for your departure is strictly calculated from the official expiry date printed on the passport, which was set exactly 5 years from the original issue date. 1]
Changing Appearances: If the passport was issued when your child was a baby and they are now 4 or 5 years old, border officials look at the issue date to judge if the photo is still a reasonable likeness. If the child is unrecognizable, you may face delays or refusal at the border.

What's your point here?
Op isn't talking about changed appearance

Three month buffer depends on when it was issued, no?

So my point is - as I said upthread - check the issue date.

No.

Why no?

And, as had been pointed out. It is a child’s passport so could not have possibly been issued more than 5 years ago. And the return date must be at least three months before the expiry date

No, its a 3 month buffer from the expiry date printed whether its a 5 or 10 year passport

Issue date comes into play for a 10 year passport as up until 2018 extra months could be added making it valid for up to 10y 9months.

Those extra months dont count for entry into the EU which is why you add 10 years to the issue date to see the latest you could travel to the EU.

You go by the printed expiry when calculating the 3 months remaining when leaving the EU