UK holidaymakers who still carry an old red passport have been issued a summer travel warning. If you are planning a getaway this year, it is essential to examine your passport before jetting off due to strict entry requirements enforced by various countries.
The Six-Month Validity Rule
Many nations enforce a rule demanding that your passport remains valid for an extra six months prior to your departure for international travel. Known as the 'six-month validity rule', many travellers using pre-Brexit red passports may find their documents lack the necessary time left on them.
Three-Month Rule for Schengen Zone
Countless other destinations, including all those within the Schengen zone, operate a three-month passport validity requirement. UK travellers can therefore only enter these nations if their passport has at least three months' validity remaining.
If you are still in possession of a red passport, checking its expiry date is absolutely vital. Following Brexit, your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day you arrive in the EU, and its expiry date needs to be at least three months beyond your planned departure date from the EU.
Most individuals, quite reasonably, assume that an adult passport is valid for 10 years, but if yours was issued before October 1, 2018, additional months may have been tacked onto its expiry date if the previous passport was renewed before it had completely expired.
How to Check Your Passport
To find out whether your passport will remain valid for your trip, head to GOV.UK, look up your destination country and select 'entry requirements'. Bear in mind that you are only permitted to stay for a maximum of 90 days within any six-month period.
Among the countries that enforce a six-month passport validity rule are the USA, Australia, Thailand, China, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. If your passport does not have sufficient time remaining, you will be unable to travel as planned.
