UK Passport validity since Brexit

Hi all,

Since Brexit, there has been an important change to the validity of UK passports. If you haven't applied for a new passport since 1 January 2021, there's every likelihood that you will have accrued additional months, in excess of the actual 10 years' validity period, which will no longer be valid for travel. This means that you can't rely on the expiry date of your UK passport if it's more than 10 years after the issue date. I recommend using this calculator on the UK government's website, which enables you to check when you should apply for your passport renewal:

https://check-passport-for-travel-to-europe.homeoffice.gov.uk?cookies=true

When I used the calculator, I discovered that although the expiry date in my passport is May 2026, there are two requirements we need to comply with to ensure our passports don't expire while travelling - they are:

- the minimum 3 months' validity required on the date that you enter Spain (and elsewhere in the EU),

- up to 90 days' visa-free travel (Schengen)

This is why Gov.UK recommends having 6 months left on your passport for travel to and from the EU, even though the EU only requires you to have 3 months remaining from your date of departure. Taking these into account, the calculator advises that I need to think about renewing my passport with effect from July 2025. It's important to note that the date offered is not the revised expiry date - that will be 10 years from the date of issue printed in your passport. My date of issue is January 2016, so my expiry date is January 2026, not the May 2026 date printed in my passport.

You can apply online to renew your UK passport here:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

In the meantime, I highly recommend that you check your passport expiry date as soon as possible, so that you don't get caught out.

Kind regards,

Kim

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Kimmy11

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Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:51pm

bpc223

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Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:51pm

Helpful as ever Kim, thank you. I have some friends who have fallen foul of this and are scrambling around to renew passports at the UK passport office. They are due to fly on 3rd September but could not get an in-person appointment in Liverpool until 4th September (today is 24th August). They live in Yorkshire and the earliest in-person appointment they can get is Tuesday 31st August in Glasgow ( a tidy 5 hour drive each way). The difficulty with getting an appointment is due to the volume of people who have been oblivious to the changes Kim has highlighted and are now trying to renew. Recent UK newspaper articles have quoted people who have been turned away at check-in at UK airports even though the airline has accepted their passport details when checking in online/providing Advanced Passenger Information. The moral of the story is CHECK YOUR PASSPORT NOW! My reading is that the expiry date stated on your passport is now irrelevant for EU travel. You need to look at the issue date and, taking into account the need to have 6 months validity at the time of travel (as UK Gvmt recommends), the time to renew is 9 years and 6 months from the issue date. Hopefully someone will confirm my thinking or correct me if I've got my knickers twisted!!

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:30am

eviedoll

Posts: 2

Location: Almoradí

Joined: 3 Jul 2019

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:30am

Kimmy11 wrote on Tue Aug 24, 2021 5:56pm:
Hi all,
Since Brexit, there has been an important change to the validity of UK passports. If you haven't applied for a new passport since 1 January 2021, there's every likelihood that you will have accrued additional months, in excess of the actual 10 years' validity period, which will no longer be...

Read more...

... valid for travel. This means that you can't rely on the expiry date of your UK passport if it's more than 10 years after the issue date. I recommend using this calculator on the UK government's website, which enables you to check when you should apply for your passport renewal:
https://check-passport-for-travel-to-europe.homeoffice.gov.uk?cookies=true
When I used the calculator, I discovered that although the expiry date in my passport is May 2026, there are two requirements we need to comply with to ensure our passports don't expire while travelling - they are:
- the minimum 3 months' validity required on the date that you enter Spain (and elsewhere in the EU),
- up to 90 days' visa-free travel (Schengen)
This is why Gov.UK recommends having 6 months left on your passport for travel to and from the EU, even though the EU only requires you to have 3 months remaining from your date of departure. Taking these into account, the calculator advises that I need to think about renewing my passport with effect from July 2025. It's important to note that the date offered is not the revised expiry date - that will be 10 years from the date of issue printed in your passport. My date of issue is January 2016, so my expiry date is January 2026, not the May 2026 date printed in my passport.
You can apply online to renew your UK passport here:
https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports
In the meantime, I highly recommend that you check your passport expiry date as soon as possible, so that you don't get caught out.
Kind regards,
Kim

Found this information very helpful but what if you are in Spain and want yo go to the U.K.? This link doesn't seem to allow you to check. Dies anyone know? Thank you

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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:28pm

Anne1939

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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:28pm

eviedoll wrote on Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:30am:
Found this information very helpful but what if you are in Spain and want yo go to the U.K.? This link doesn't seem to allow you to check. Dies anyone know? Thank you

Hi I’ve found this:

Do you need 6 months on your passport to travel to UK?There is no minimum validity requirement, other than "duration of intended stay". There are some countries that require six months validity (and some more that require three), but the UK isn't one of them. All you need is a valid passport.Anne Regards

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:49pm

eviedoll

Posts: 2

Location: Almoradí

Joined: 3 Jul 2019

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:49pm

Anne1939 wrote on Wed Aug 25, 2021 12:28pm:
Hi I’ve found this:
Do you need 6 months on your passport to travel to UK?There is no minimum validity requirement, other than "duration of intended stay". There are some countries that require six months validity (and some more that require three), but the UK isn't one of them. All you need is a valid passport.Anne...

Read more...

... Regards

Thank you so much

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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:26pm

Kimmy11

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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:26pm

Hi Anne,

That's correct, Gov.UK's 6 months' validity is a recommendation, not mandatory, but Spain's requirement to have 3 months' validity on the date of departure from the country is mandatory (as, I believe, is the case for all Schengen countries). I think Gov.UK have recommended 6 months because people could travel to Spain for as many as 90 days under Schengen rules, but would still need a further 3 months' validity beyond their intended departure date when they enter Spain.

My primary aim in posting this information is to ensure that people don't rely on the expiry date printed in their passport - they need to count 10 years from its issue date and, as bpc223 has suggested, think about renewing it at the 9 years and 6 months point.

Kind regards,

Kim

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:09am

Madcarew

Posts: 59

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Joined: 13 May 2021

Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:09am

Just remember that a passport doesn't belong to you as an individual, it belongs to the state that issued it. It is accepted as proof of your identity but it is not 'your identity'.

If you lose your passport you still exist and have the same rights as you did the day before you lost it.