A leading travel agency has issued an urgent warning to anyone planning to travel to with an 'old-style' red UK passport.
Plymouth Live reported that since the UK left the EU last year, a new blue passport design with the lettering 'BRITISH PASSPORT' was issued, replacing the red passport that referenced being a member of the EU.
If you renewed or applied for a new passport since mid-2020, you would have automatically been issued the blue one, nonetheless, thousands of people have still been able to use their red passports, as long as they're in date.
Read more:
However, changes in rules around expiry dates for passports mean they are now only valid for exactly 10 years, regardless of any additional months shown on the pre-Brexit red passports.
A statement from Hays Travel Plympton, a Plymouth branch of the UK's largest independent travel agent, explains: "Important passport update changes: due to changes in validity since leaving Europe, your passport is now only valid for 10 years from the issue date on your passport.
"If your passport was issued prior to the UK leaving the EU with additional months on, those extra months are no longer valid."
The statement, shared on social media, continues: "Example: passport issue date 21st Jun 2012, passport expiry date 21st Dec 2022.
"Your passport expiry date is now the 21st Jun 2022.
"Most countries in the EU require that your passport is valid for six months on the date of return from your holiday, some countries it’s three months, meaning the last date you could return on the above example would be the 21st Dec 2021."
What has the UK government said?
The government advises red passport holders to check the validity of their passports before they travel abroad.
The government's official website has an online questionnaire to help you check if you need to renew your passport before travelling to an EU country, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein- you can fill in the form here.
The government also advises that if you’re travelling to another country, you check the entry requirements of the country you’re visiting to find out if you need to renew your passport for that particular country.
