Return to Spain with TIEs

Have you applied for your new passports? We were told 11 to 14 weeks for renewal but they arrived back by courier in 3 weeks. We applied online.

Also note that the expiry date is no longer valid. Passports are valid for 10 years from date of issue only. The extra months or whatever are no longer taken into account. A child passport would be valid 5 years from date of issue only. Therefore it would have expired before you travel to UK.

 I think the airlines would check the validity and, if not valid, not allow you to board as they would be responsible for bringing you back if refused entry.

Hi dc45,

Since Brexit, additional months added to UK passports are no longer valid, so your daughter's passport expired on 23 April (5 years from the issue date) and yours expires on 15 August this year (10 years from the issue date).  To travel to the UK, your passports must be valid for the duration of your stay, so whilst your own passport would be valid to travel to the UK in July, your daughter will not be able to travel without renewing her passport.  Similarly, for returning to Spain, you do not need any additional validity on your passport beyond the dates on which you are travelling.

The procedures for renewing an adult and a child passport can be found at these links:

https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-child-passport/renew-a-child-passport

Kind regards,

Kim

From the British Embassy in Madrid.

"If you are a British national living in Spain and having rights under the withdrawal agreement the Embassy in Madrid has clarified that you can enter and exit Spain without any additional validity on your passport beyond the dates on which you are travelling"

So as long as your passports have not actually reached their expiry dates you can freely travel.

Basically it's in the WA Art. 14.1

And BTW, regardless of where you currently reside or passport expiry as a UK citizen you cannot be denied entry to the UK, you only need to be able to prove your identity to immigration which even an expired passport does.

Getting onto a plane or ferry without a valid passport is of course another question!

And the problem occurs because passports issued after 2018 will go for 10 years from the date of issue to the expiry date. For example, issued 3 July 2021 expiry date 3 July 2031.

Passports issued before 2018 would have an expiry date which could be months after the 10 years if you renewed it early. For example issued 3 July 2015 expiry 15 August 2025. 

The UK gov site, and plenty of others, now say that the maximum validity of the passport is 10 years after issue and extra months are not accepted. So that on issued 3 July 2015 will expire on 3 July 2025, not August like the expiry date shows. 

No, you don't need it to be valid for some time after your return (unlike USA where it has to have 6 months left after you leave) but the expiry dates are now different. 

Loads of people have been caught out by this and there have been many stories where people have been refused travel because of the non recognised extra months. And it's been known about and reported for the last 5 years. 

But the passport of the member's daughter has already expired!  

And whilst EU citizens can travel outside of Spain using their TIE as a valid travel document, this does not apply to UK citizens resident in Spain. 

You're talking about non resident, as I posted the 10 year maximum validity does not apply to WA beneficiaries.

According to the OP the daughters passport has an expiry date of 23 Jan 2024 and nowhere did I even suggest  that UK citizens resident in Spain could travel on a TIE!

No, the bit in the WA refers to not having to have 3 months left on the passport if you are resident in Spain. A non resident travelling to the EU must have 3 months left on their passport after leaving which, you are correct in saying, does not apply to those who are resident in Spain.

This does not apply, nor does the WA or the quote from the British consulate say, that the validity is affected. 10 years after issue date. 

You're incorrect.  The "validity" that you're referring to is the 3 months that UK passport holders must have remaining on their passport from the date of leaving Spain, which does not apply to those of us with Spanish residency, so long as our passports are valid at the time of re-entry to Spain.

The "validity" that I'm referring to is the length of the passport, i.e. 5 years for children and 10 years for adults.  Over the years, many of us have acquired additional months beyond the 10 years - it's those extra months that are no longer valid and why the UK Government went to great lengths to explain that we must ignore the expiry date on our passports and instead count forward 10 years (or 5 years) from the issue date.  Hence  the OP's daughter's passport has expired.

As for my comment about travelling on TIEs, that was for the benefit of the OP who asked that specific question.