Passport Rules Confusion

[BendingSpoons]

DH needs to travel to Spain in May and August this year. His passport expires in June 2024 but was renewed in Nov 2013, so will be 10 years old in Nov 2023. I understand when you travel, your passport needs to be less than 10 years old and have 6 months left. Do these 6 months need to be within the 10 years? So DH can't use his passport after May (and we need to renew soon). Or is it still OK because it meets both of the criteria but separately? Hope that makes sense!

Ignore the "extra" months. A passport expires 10 years after the issue date- so that would be the date used when calculating the 6 months.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. Better get the renewal sorted soon whilst things are quieter.

It's 3 months for EU countries and he would be ok travelling until 10 years from the date of issue.

From gov.uk travel to Spain page:

Your passport must be:

issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

Ah that's different then! It's so overly complicated!

Its three months for EU travel, six for some other places.
No, the three/six months don't have to be within the "ten years since issue" period, but some airlines etc were mistakenly insisting on this when the rules were introduced. Hopefully they're now no longer doing that.
So he should be fine.

So it expires on November 2023 for entry into Europe. He goes by the printed expiry for the 3 months remaining when you leave the EU country.

His passport should be fine for both trips.

Hmm so basically he should be fine, but I don't want to risk them applying the rules heavy handedly and not letting him go in August because the 10 years is up in less than 3 months (we travel back on 1st Sept). Although the EasyJet wording also suggests it should be fine...

I'll see what DH thinks and whether he wants to renew just for (my!) peace of mind.

Sadly our travel dates mean that when we return home on 1st Sept, there will be less than 3 months until the '10 years is up' date, causing my confusion. If only we had been less efficient in renewing it 10 years ago!

When you return, he'll still have around nine months left. In fact he'd be fine travelling until March 2024 if it's within the EU.

He goes by the printed expiry for his return to the UK. The 10 year expiry is for the day he enters Spain

Ignore my second sentence above. He'll be fine travelling until November this year as his passport will still meet EU criteria at that time.

He can only enter the EU up until November 2023 on his current passport.

Thanks all, feeling more confident now that his passport will be valid for EU entry this summer and we can renew next winter.

Yes, you're right. I realised my mistake and immediately corrected myself in my follow-up post above.

Sorry to unearth this old thread but just wondered if all was fine with your husband’s passport? I am in a similar position and keep finding conflicting advice. My passport was issued 22 Aug 2013 and expires 22 May 2024. I’m travelling on 5th Aug and returning a week later on 12th August so my passport is less than 10 years on the day I leave. Like you, I was concerned that the expiry date would be brought forward due to the extra months that were added on. From the answers in this thread it seems that the 3 months that are required to be left on the passport on my return will still be calculated from the printed expiry date. Fingers crossed!

We travelled fine in May/June (4.5m of original 10 years left) and plan to travel on it end Aug. My DH has told me it will be fine! I have since read other things that confirm the 2 rules are separate. Fingers crossed for August!

Thanks for coming back to the thread @BendingSpoons ! Good to hear that you didn’t have any problems in May.
I emailed the Spanish Embassy and got this reply.

Many thanks for contacting the Embassy of Spain in London.

Regarding your concerns, to enter Spain, British passports that are considered valid must have a minimum validity of three months after the expected date of departure from the Schengen territory and must have been issued within the ten years prior to the date of entry. This applies to the printed dates, nevermind the extra months.

Sounds as though it should be okay but wish they had just written “your passport will be fine”. My husband is telling me not to worry about it too but I’m still tempted to get a fast track renewal!

No he still needs 3 months so 3 months prior to nov 2023

Not so. The passport in question was issued in November 2013 and expires in June 2024. So entry into the EU is possible within ten years of the issue date as long as there are three months' validity remaining. In this case there'll be around seven months left. The ten-year part of the rules only applies to entering the EU: it doesn't cancel the extra months given on this passport.

Travel guru Simon Calder has written extensively about this. Some airlines were initially mistakenly applying different rules, i.e. ignoring the extra months for any purposes, which they shouldn't have been doing.

Thank you. This was my understanding after doing lots of reading. I hadn't seen Simon Calder's stuff but good to know he says the same.