Travel to Europe: Current passport expiration rules

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Since Brexit, the rules on passport validity for British guests to the European Union have tightened.

Gone are the times when you may journey to the EU at any level earlier than your journey doc expired; the UK is now a “third country”, with rules to match.

Added confusion has come within the type of the UK’s personal HM Passport Office, which has continued to give out incorrect info relating to baby passport expiry dates.

These are the important thing questions and solutions primarily based on EU rules.

What’s modified?

While the UK was within the European Union, British passports have been legitimate up to and together with their expiry date for journey throughout the EU. But for the reason that finish of the Brexit transition section, British passport holders are handled as “third country nationals” with stipulations about passport challenge and expiry dates – along with limits on the size of keep nearly in all places in Europe.

For the avoidance of doubt, these are usually not “new EU rules” – they have been determined whereas the UK was within the European Union.

What is required for my passport to be legitimate?

The necessities for the Schengen Area – comprising most EU nations plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and a handful of micro-states – are crisply expressed on the Travel web page of the European Union’s Your Europe website: “If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel within the EU, you will need a passport:

(All youngsters’s passports meet this latter situation – see under.)

For the avoidance of doubt, there isn’t any downside travelling to Europe with a passport issued for over 10 years, as long as it’s below 10 years outdated on the date of departure to the EU and can have three months remaining on the date of return.

Why the road about ‘issued within the previous 10 years’?

For a few years, till September 2018, the UK had a beneficiant coverage of permitting credit score for “unspent” time when renewing a passport, issuing paperwork legitimate for up to 10 years and 9 months.

So a passport issued on 31 October 2012 might present an expiry date of 31 July 2023.

This was superb round Europe and the world for decade – till Brexit, whereupon a longstanding rule kicked in. For non-members of the EU hoping to enter the Schengen Area, a passport should have been issued up to now 10 years.

With a passport issued on 31 October 2012, whatever the expiry date, you’re not allowed to enter the EU post-1 November 2022.

Until September 2018 the federal government appeared unaware of the issue. Once the difficulty was recognized, the apply of giving up to 9 months’ grace ended abruptly.

Are the “issued less than 10 years ago” and “valid for three months” rules mixed?

No. There isn’t any want to have a passport issued lower than 9 years, 9 months in the past. The two situations are impartial of each other.

The Migration and Home Affairs Department of the European Commission in Brussels informed me: “Entry should be allowed to those travelling with passports issued within the previous 10 years at the moment of entry into the Schengen area.

“The condition that the passport must have been issued within the previous 10 years does not extend for the duration of the intended stay. It is enough if this condition is fulfilled at the moment of entry.

“To give a practical example, a non-EU traveller arriving on 1 December 2021 for a 20-days stay in the EU with a passport issued on 2 December 2011 and valid until 2 April 2022 will be allowed entry.”

If I get wrongly turned away, what are my rights?

For flights: you may declare denied boarding compensation (both £220 or £350, relying on the size of the flight) and related prices – for instance, reserving one other flight on a rival airline, or for wasted automobile rental and lodge bills that can not be reclaimed.

I’ve simply learn a report saying I would like six months remaining for Europe?

Some information shops, regrettably, proceed to publish incorrect info. Ignore it.

Does that 10-year-plus rule apply wherever else on this planet?

No so far as I’m conscious. The concern across the date of challenge is related just for journey to the European Union – not for the remainder of the world.

For locations outdoors EU, the one vital consideration is the expiry date. And for locations similar to Australia, the US and Canada, your passport is legitimate up to and together with this date.

So with that passport expiring on 31 July 2023, you may be in New York till that very day (although you would wish to get a daytime flight again to keep away from your passport operating out en route.

Read the Independent’s information to what number of months you want left in your passport to journey worldwide

What about youngsters?

Passports for under-16s are usually legitimate for 5 years (plus any additional credit score). A toddler’s passport issued for 5 years and 9 months is clearly throughout the 10-year restrict, and there’s no chance of breaching that situation.

(During 2021, the Home Office’s faulty passport checker stripped all additional credit score, which was each unsuitable and unhelpful. The on-line checker has now been switched off.)

But watch out for the three-months-remaining-on-exit rule, which youngsters are extra doubtless to fall foul of due to the shorter length of their passports.

What about this 90/180 day rule?

For journeys to the Schengen space (most EU nations plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and a few small nations) British passport holders can keep a most of 90 days in any 180. That’s roughly three months in six.

it’s tough to clarify, however I shall do my greatest. Imagine a calendar that stretches again nearly six months from right this moment. What occurred greater than 180 days in the past is irrelevant. What counts is the variety of days you have been both inside (I) or outdoors (O) the Schengen Area up to now 180 days.

You can simply preserve rely on a calendar your self, both printed or digital.

If “I” hits 90, you will need to depart that day and keep out for nearly three months, to accumulate 90 “Os” in a row. Then you may return in, for a most of 90 days.

During the course of a calendar 12 months, it might work like this (assuming no journey to the EU within the earlier six months).

For longer stays, some nations provide visas that permit British residents to stay for months on finish. If you get one in all these, then the time spent in that nation doesn’t rely in direction of the “90/180” rule – in different phrases, you may discover different EU nations with a contemporary calendar.

What about non-Schengen EU members?

For British guests to Ireland, there are not any limits on passport validity. Indeed, a passport isn’t legally necessary for British travellers to the republic, although some airways insist on it.

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania have similar rules to the Schengen Area: passport issued up to now 10 years, and with three months validity remaining on the day of leaving the nation. But time spent in any of those nations doesn’t contribute to the “90/180” day whole.

Help! My passport is filled with stamps and I’ve no area left. Will I be turned away?

No, although Eurostar warns British passport holders : “Check that you have a clear page in your passport as it will need to be stamped with your travel date when you’re travelling to and from the EU.”

The EU’s Practical Handbook for Border Guards is specific a few “document enabling a third-country national to cross the border [that] is no longer suitable for affixing a stamp, as there are no longer available pages”.

It says: “In such a case, the third-country national should be recommended to apply for a new passport, so that stamps can continue to be affixed there in the future.

“However, as an exception – and particularly in the case of regular cross-border commuters – a separate sheet can be used, to which further stamps can be affixed. The sheet must be given to the third-country national.

“In any case, the lack of empty pages in a passport is not, in itself, a valid and sufficient ground to refuse the entry of a person.”