Red passport - help!

[plard]

I have a red passport.
issue date 17/06/2016
expiry 17/02/2027

im travelling to Greece 7th May to 14th May this year.

is my passport valid? I can’t find a definitive answer.

the rules as I understand them are your passport must be less than 10 years old on entry. Mine will be - just. And you must have at least 3 months left on your passport at time of exit.
I do if my actual expiry date is valid and isn’t reset to the 10 year point.

Correct, they are two different rules so your passport is valid, as you say, just!

No, it has to be issued in the last 10 years for Europe/schengen area. Depends where you are going?

At least you have realised in time, though I’d probably not trust a normal renewal at this stage. I’d do express. I hadn’t read the dates properly… sorry!

https://www.tui.co.uk/passport-checker

This does all the checks for you.

The passport has been issued in the last 10 years.

I put your details into a passport checker and it looks like you’re ok but if I were you I’d be checking and double checking on different sites

If you do decide on a new one, I did a renewal last week and got mine back within 4 days of them receiving my old passport. Old passport received by them Mon 20th, new one came in the post on Thurs 23rd. I guess it depends how relaxed you are!

No way would I risk that - get a new one even if it means queuing. Not least because the fact it’s so marginal means there’s a risk airline staff might deny you boarding even if technically you’re ok. Not worth the risk.

Here you go from the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece/entry-requirements

You are okay for this holiday.

issue date 17/06/2016
expiry 17/02/2027

10 years from issue date is 17/06/2026 so it will be under 10 years old when you enter Greece on 07/05/2026 ✅️

Expiry is 17/02/2027 so it will have at least 3 months remaining when you leave Greece on 14/05/2026 ✅️

Your passport is valid for your holiday

Based on the fcdo info you are correct (the three months don’t need to be within the 10 year period). But I’d check the Greek government website to make sure.

Why post like this? It's already been established that the OP's passport is good for her May holiday and all you're doing is sowing seeds of doubt unnecessarily.

Because that is exactly what I would do. It’s the Greek immigration authorities who decide whether her passport is good not the FCDO or randoms on the internet.

Yes and her passport meets those rules. Why so anxious? She didnt ask what paranoid travellers would do, she asked the rules and whether her passport met them. It does.

Yes your passport is fine. We had this with DHs passport last year. It needs to fulfil both conditions (be issued less than 10 years ago, have at least 3 months left) but they are separate rules, so the 3 months don't need to be within the 10 years.

You will be fine but need to renew after this holiday if you want to travel again.

Let's hope @Marmalade71 and @Thelondonone aren't passport officers or anything else similarly important.

OP your passport is valid for your trip and if it makes you feel any better the last time I used my old red passport to enter the EU it was 9 years 11.5 months old and it was fine.

I wouldn’t risk it I’ve heard of people being refused because it was less than 6 months in date. It should be fairly quick to do a replacement.

The passport is fine. Here is the actual text of the EU Regulation (2016/399) which determines validity. You may well use an e-gate, but if not, the passport official will have a copy of this exact document on their desk. And the UK airlines seem to have finally trained their staff correctly, as we don't hear stories of people being wrongly denied boarding any more, as opposed to 2-3 years ago.

OP has 6 months + remaining at the time of return - its fine

Can you show where I suggested I was a passport officer or similar?

54 years on this planet has taught me it’s better to be cautious and to have a back up plan if at all possible so travelling on a passport where there is even the slightest question on its validity is just the kind of stress inducing scenario I try to avoid. If you’ve never had to deal with a jobsworth cunt with authority far beyond their ability who swears blind that black is white, then you have been truly blessed.

Not quite sure why that lived experience deserved such condescension from you.

No one has said you said you were a passport officer, but maybe this interpretation of @Bjorkdidit's post goes some way to explaining why you suggested unnecessarily the OP needed to go and get and new passport.

What happened to you that means you have such a cautious approach?

I didn't suggest anyone was a passport officer. I said it was a good job you weren't seeing as you weren't able to interpret a clear and simple rule.

Is 7 May 2026 less than 10 years after 17 June 2016?

Yes, therefore the passport is valid as it also has way more than a year before expiry so also meets the 3 months test. It can meet the requirements by a single day and it's valid. It's really not a thing that someone's going to say 'this will be invalid next month so I'm not allowing you to travel today'.

There might have been some confusion from the airlines in very isolated cases at the very beginning of the new system but it's really unlikely to be an issue now so why worry about it? Like a PP says, you're unnecessarily sowing doubt in the OPs mind.

Comments like that only unsettle people asking the question and drown out real experiences like mine where I used a passport to enter the EU when it was 9 years, 11 months and about 20 days old.

In any case if in the one in a million chance that it did happen, you'd be entitled to substantial denied boarding compensation and travel on another flight and if you emailed Simon Calder he'd be publicly shaming the offending airline and telling the CEO to sort their operations out.