The Foreign Office has issued an update for 33 countries after UK holidaymakers have been caught out by post Brexit rules affecting hotspots such as Spain, Portugal, France, Croatia and more.
Countries in the Schengen Area require your passport to be no more than 10 years old from the point of issue - but most EU countries also require your passport to be valid for at least three months after your date of travel.
The rules can feel quite confusing, and some Brits have found themselves caught out and unable to board flights because their documents don't meet all of the necessary criteria.
As a result the Foreign Office has issued a clarification of the passport validity rules, updating its advice for 33 countries (you can see the full list below).
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The new advice reads: "If you are planning to travel to an EU country (except Ireland), or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City, you must follow the Schengen area passport requirements.
"Your passport must be:
- issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
- valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)
"You must check your passport meets these requirements before you travel. If your passport was issued before 1 October 2018, extra months may have been added to its expiry date.
"Contact the embassy of the country you are visiting if you think that your passport does not meet both these requirements. Renew your passport if you need to."
Checking your passport's validity is just one of 4 key passport checks that Brits should be making before booking a holiday.
It's not just about meeting your chosen destination's requirements either; you'll want to leave yourself plenty of time if you need to get your document renewed.
Earlier this year the Home Office warned renewals could be delayed by up to 10 weeks due to a backlog caused by the Covid pandemic.
Thanks to travel bans and Covid restrictions, it's estimated that millions of UK travellers delayed their passport applications in 2020 and 2021.
We've got a guide on how to renew your passport to give you a helping hand.
Countries with updated travel advice
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
Always check the latest Foreign Office travel advice for a destination before booking or going a trip, as this includes plenty more important information including Covid entry requirements and local rules you need to know.
You can also find out more about passport rules in Europe on gov.uk/guidance/passport-rules-for-travel-to-europe.
Do you find the passport rules confusing? Let us know in the comments below.
