To do my civic duty and say for the love of God check yours and your family’s passports weeks before you go on holiday

[iminmemamscar]

I’ve had 2 friends recently that couldn’t go on their booked holidays because of passport rules (e.g time left on passport), one of whom had got to the gate at the airport and only then was told. He thought he had 6 months left so would be fine, but if flying to the EU you need 10 years from the start date, and his passport was 10 years 6 months from the start date. Every year on MN there’s posts asking for help regarding issues like this - leading to huge amount of anxiety and, often, crushing disappointment
So please, check your passports and the passport rules of the country you’re visiting!

God this issue has been going for years. Passports are no longer issued with dates past 10 years that ended due to Brexit in 2016. So this year is the final year it will ever apply. So people can chill out even though there’s been warnings for a decade about it.

So long ago someone had say 8 mths on their passport but fearful of passport office delays/postal strike/alien attack they renew early for a new 10 year passport.
as a goodwill gesture the passport office would see the unused time on their current passport ( realise that the person has only had 9 yrs and 4mth of value from their 10 years paid passport) and carry over 6mths. Making their new passport 10 yrs and 6mths.

passport holder happy- people now more likely to renew early as you don’t lose time.

Then rules change and we now have to work through all those 10yrs + passports…

@IcouldbutIdontwantto me too. I’ve actually taken photos of them so I don’t have to go to the passport draw every time, I can just look at my phone!

Interestingly DP’s passport goes from 23rd March 2018 to 23rd April 2028. So should we essentially treat it as if it expires on 23rd March 2028?

Yes

Surely this only applies to people flying in the first 6 months or the last 6 months of such a passport and doesn't apply to anyone who didn't add extra time on?
When people are saying you need 'at least' 9 years 6 months' what does that mean? That sounds like you can only travel on your passport within the first 6 months of getting it!

Why 6 months though? For EU it’s 3 months validity at least on the day of departure from EU.

I thought it was 3 months too, and 6 for some countries.

In the past (until 2018) any remaining time (up to 9 months) on an old passport would be added to your new passport so it could be valid for up to 10y 9months. Since Brexit those extra months arent valid for entry into the EU.

• On the date of entry into the EU your passport needs to be under 10 years old :add 10 years to the issue date to get the expiry date

• On the date you leave the EU you need 3 months remaining on your passport :look at printed expiry date

The rules are separate requirements so you dont deduct the 3 months from the new expiry date you calculated

Any passports issued since September 2018ish will only be valid for 10 years but the issue will still rumble around until 2028 when the last of the passports will expire

Its 3 months remaining for the EU. Other countries may have different requirements

If it was issued after September 2018 it will only be valid for 10 years.

May I recommend that you check your young adult child's passport if they are going on holiday with others. Yes - dd20 just tried to check in her flight and found her passport expired in Jan. Dh will be making the run to Peterborough passport office...

This isn't exactly true.

The 3 (or 6, depending where) month rule is separate to the 10 year rule.

Your passport cannot be more than 10 years old from the issue date. But you need 3/6 months left on it to travel to the EU.

If your passport is 9 years and 11 months since issue, but you had extra months added on, as long as you're travelling in the next month and it doesn't expire for a further 3/6 months that's fine. The expiry date is still what you use to calculate the 3/6 month rule.

These threads are useful because our passports expired in October they would have been fine if not for the ten year rule. It’s not really something people hear about.

Two people in the queue at the gate were turned away on our flight to Corfu this week. It’s fair to say one of them was devastated, she was so upset.

I find it mad people still don’t know about the 10yr rule as there’s been so much in the media about it and HMPO have tried to text everyone with a passport with more than 10yrs, regularly.

It’s in the media so much, I am surprised anyone can say you don’t hear about it. Been 8yrs too of constant articles of people unable to travel.

I really have only seen it on here. I don’t really read articles anyway or watch the news, I have a news app and haven’t seen it there. It’s pretty much all radio and it’s rarely mentioned.

What media do you mean, what do you read or watch?

It's a good thing to do OP, but there is a story about someone being caught out by this at least once a week, so how people have still not cottoned on by now is a mystery.

Where are these stories? The DM? Not having a go at people who read it I just don’t see sob stories about travel.

Ive seen stories on fb

Yes, but....

The extra months thing has been SO widely mentioned on news, social media, holiday company websites, consumer websites (MSE), probably even airlines/cruise/rail companies too.

You don't even have to know the exact ins and outs - just "hmm, I remember seeing something about UK passports" as enough to spur you to check more thoroughly if you were in a position where you would, in fact, be using your UK passports.

At some point you have to wonder how some people move though life being so blissfully ignorant of the world around them even when they are up close and personal with a topic that directly affects them.

I’m not immune to all news obviously, I just choose to consume via radio and have no FB or X. You probably just look at more media.

We’re going to Italy in September, what’s the earliest start date on our passports that would be accepted???

Ha, I just checked with young adult DC and got a text back saying "9 years and 6 months left on it actually Mum, stop it I'm an adult"