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An estimated 32 million British passport holders may doubtlessly fall foul of post-Brexit rules on validity for travel to the European Union, the BBC has discovered.
In the Brexit deal, the UK negotiated for British travellers to change into “third-country nationals” – in keeping with residents from dozens of different nations comparable to Venezuela and Samoa.
European Union nations don’t permit such travellers to enter on a passport issued over 10 years in the past. The identical applies within the wider Schengen Area, together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. UK guests to Ireland usually are not topic to the restriction.
The Passport Office’s pre-Brexit coverage was to challenge British travel paperwork legitimate for as much as 10 years and 9 months, taking account of the unspent time on a earlier passport. That posed no drawback whereas the UK was a member of the EU, however because the Brexit settlement took impact tons of of 1000’s of persons are believed to have misplaced their holidays as a result of of inadvertently breaching the rules.
Airport sources contacted by The Independent point out that, on a typical day, 200 outbound travellers are prevented from departing as a result of of EU rules on challenge and expiry dates. The rejection usually occurs at test in or the departure gate.
The BBC cited the case of Nathan Barnes, a 31-year-old paramedic from Norwich, who was refused boarding on a flight to France.
He was on his strategy to Limoges together with his fiancé to go to household. Despite checking in for the flight on-line, he was stopped at the departure gate.
“My passport had been issued more than 10 years previously,” he mentioned. “They were very matter of fact about it, they just said ‘sorry you can’t board, off you pop’.”
“I was gutted, surprised really. We had checked in online and thought it was fine,” he added.
The BBC’s Marc Ashdown has analysed Home Office figures on passports issued as much as September 2018 that recommend 32 million individuals may doubtlessly fall foul of EU rules.
The Schengen Area additionally requires UK travellers to have at least three months remaining earlier than the expiry date on their passport on the day of departure from the European zone.
The Independent has requested all the most important airways if they might assist determine potential issues earlier by requesting passport information and assessing validity. Most say that the difficulty is simply too advanced, however Tui is engaged on an answer.
If a passenger is appropriately denied boarding, travel insurance coverage is not going to pay out to cowl consequent losses.
The EU and wider Schengen Area are the one areas with circumstances concerning the challenge date of your passport. Many different nations, such because the US, Canada and Australia, permit British passport holders to travel as much as and together with the expiry date of your passport – although some nations demand at least six months is remaining.
There is not any drawback 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 may have three months remaining on the date of return.
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