Due to travel on Sunday, just found out 5 year old sons passport isn’t valid due to brexit HELP

[Shinebright21]

So due to travel to France and Italy via rail from this Sunday.

Mine, my husband and daughters passport are all valid. My sons expires on 31st July and I was under the impression you can travel, until the expiry date and we are back way before then.

Do we cancel and use our insurance to claim the money back, or just risk it and go and see what happens at the border?

Feeling utterly miserable

Needing excess time on your passport isn't a new thing - it is correct to say that the rules haven't actually changed. However, our status as British citizens has changed because we are no longer considered EU Nationals. Consequently, the old rules now apply to us whereas previously they didn't because EU Nationals can travel within the EU up until their passports expire.

Sorry OP

I have no clue how long remains on my kids passports

This can happen so easily

Hope you get sorted xxxxxx

I don't think you can go OP, its as simple as that.

If it helps (which it may not) even if you'd sent it away to get a new one it may have taken months. They've had my younger daughter's passport now since the middle of April and its moving nowhere at all on the system and still just documents received.

Sorry, its so shit after the last couple of years.

@mam0918 nope, you are wrong. its only 3 months now for most EU countries anyway not 6. All these snide people under rocks who don't understand the rules are properly tedious!

Nope, definitely Brexit
Both me and DH travelled in The EU Pre Brexit with much less than 6 or even 3 months on our passports. Once I travelled to Portugal on a passport that expired a week after we were due to arrive home

To other countries outside of the EU, yes it did apply before brexit (and continues to apply now). But not for countries within the EU before brexit - all you needed was a valid passport which had not expired. Now you need 3 months remaining (not 6).

The only way you'll be able to claim on insurance is if you come up with another reason.

Has that made you feel better?

OP, get an emergency appointment, do it now! Good luck.

Really hope this is sorted op

Gosh such a stress for you

Best wishes xxxxx

Happened to my friends - one of them flew to Belfast ( seems much less busy there as a lot of N.I. people also have Irish passports so there’s less getting caught out with an out to date passport!) where they got an appt for the same day service in the morning and was back home again that evening with a new passport in hand! The flight was about £70 return!
whichever office you go to make an appt first

‘Have you been living under a rock? There has been a 6 month expiry rule for as long as I can remember.’

yeah - that’s bullcrap though isn’t it? Because pre-Brexit U.K. passport holders could travel in Europe up until the exp date as long as they returned before that end date.

At the risk of being a mood hoover it is meant to be really hard to get fast track appointments.

Doubt op will come back on after all tue negative comments
Really hope you get sorted xxxx

I'm so sorry this has happened to you OP, and some of the comments on here are horrible. Mistakes happen, and it's easy to see why when you see the amount of incorrect information being given on this thread.

Good luck! I am really hopeful for you.

You have to stay on it and check and refresh the page every few minutes. They pop up. You have to grab them and be prepared to travel. Recommend having everything at the ready forms completed, photos verified. Be prepared to get in car at a moments notice and drive!

Don’t go to passport office without an appointment. Good luck, it might be riae. Friends application took two weeks.

No it hasn’t and no she shouldn’t. It has everything to do with Brexit. You should learn to check your facts.

Hope you manage to get an emergency appointment, OP.

Note to self check dates on all my passports jn the house

So so easily this can happen xx

didnt think you could fast track a childs passport but i hoe it works out at least if you split the holiday

Its not 'wrong' its ALWAYS been the general common knowledge advice by goverment and passport services.

Otherwise people would have to learn every indervidual countries rules, obviously people cant be trusted to look up indervidual rules when booking (hense posts like this) so six months (which is the maximum allowed on holiday visas) has ALWAYS been advised as the safety range.

People who think they are super clever, know better and make assumptions then cry later end up getting stranded at the airport with no holiday while those of us who follow the 6 month rule do not regardless of country.

@JangolinaPitt

Nothing to go with Brexit -has always been the rule -you should change your misleading thread title

No you should get your facts right, it was not always the rule, I see that popping up and it was an urban myth! It's been introduced as a direct result of Brexit.

A huge number of people in the UK have probably never travelled outside of the EU. Hence, pre-Brexit, it wouldn't have mattered what the rules were for travelling to non-EU countries, and they would never have had to even think about this stuff.

For those of us who travelled outside of the EU before Brexit, it obviously comes as no surprise to us that a certain period of excess time might be needed to travel to certain countries, and it might seem like common sense that our loss of "EU National" status is likely to impact on this. However, if your only previous trips have been to France, Spain, Italy and the like, there is absolutely no reason why you would have known this. There is really no need for the smuggery. The OP will be missing her holiday anyway and doesn't need a load of patronising comments on top.

I always thought it had to be six months (before Brexit) so needing excess time on your passport is not a new thing surely?

Not to an EU country. A couple of links - feel free to Google for any that prove me wrong. But it was a frequent news item that this was a new requirement.

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/passport-uk-how-long-months-travel-europe-brexit-rules-when-renew-explained-1131637

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-04-25/when-do-i-need-to-renew-my-passport-to-travel-to-europe

Pre Brexit you knew you could go anywhere in the EU and your passport just had to be valid for the duration.

Many countries still only require UK travellers’ passports to be valid for the duration of stay.

And yes, people should always check individual country requirements because they change (passport, visas and waivers). You might find that you now need a visa and not a waiver for instance.

Gosh so many replies - thanks for more tips and advice! 🥰 So I went to the passport office in Victoria, explained why I was there, and the gentlemen said to wait in the queue to speak to general enquiries. Waited two hours in the freezing cold with my 6 month old dd, only to be told there’s nothing we can do without an appointment. I mean at least, tell people that in the queue before making them wait so long. Appalling service.

One of the advisors there said check at 330pm for appointment slots. I don’t have much hope now, even for a split holiday.

if we can’t get an appointment (and I’ll keep trying) we will risk it on Sunday, and see what happens but deep down I know there’s a very high chance we will get turned away.

I think this thread should be kept, so no one else is in a similar situation again, and also to remind people that people DO make mistakes, and to ignore the negativity on here and comments like ‘own it’. No one is not owning it, re read the initial post. Whatever gives these posters a kick for 2 minutes in their life 🙄

I feel gutted for my son, he’s never been on holiday and he was so looking forward to swimming, and sandcastles on the beach, ice cream in the sun, and going to the country of spaghetti bolognaise as that’s his favourite food. He’s the reason we will try on Sunday!