6 month passport rule... again.

[walt4it]

My son had this issue with a school trip in June - the travel company insisted on 6 months due to Brexit - we got the new passport and then had to apply for a brand new ESTA too - decided to do this way in advance in order to ensure ESTA for our trip in the summer.
Carried forward months are at the end of his passport and so an Esta was needed for the new passport from the day it was received into our house.

[ChrisS]

A Brit pal living in Cape Coral, Fl copied me a panicked message from another pal, and asked for my input. Had her friend researched correctly she'd understand the Europe pp 6 month rule, if we leave on the 31st, but instead told my friend she wouldn't get back into the UK for their visit in December and they'd need to renew their UK pp's immediately as Brits are no longer allowed to travel on a pp holding the words European Union - if this woman had a brain she'd be dangerous! Luckily my pal doesn't panic but this woman will cause panic to some if she continues spreading inaccuracies . I explained, as a European situation, Brexit won't affect our membership of the US Six Month Club, it's currently bullocks about the EU wording on their pp's and, if necessary, an expired pp is a form of ID that grants a Brit UK entry.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by lizzie145

Not sure that makes a difference, if we cant travel to the EU after 31 October it doesn't matter how long is on the passport.

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We will still be able to travel to countries that are part of the EU after 31st October (or whenever we leave the EU).

It's just that the requirements to enter these countries might be different, depending on how we leave. That's all. If we leave without a deal then we'll need to have 6 months validity remaining on our passport.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

We will still be able to travel to countries that are part of the EU after 31st October (or whenever we leave the EU).

It's just that the requirements to enter these countries might be different, depending on how we leave. That's all. If we leave without a deal then we'll need to have 6 months validity remaining on our passport.

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For EU travel post no-deal only.

As above, it actually relates to how old your passport is not how many months left you have. This is because any "added months" that extend the passports validity beyond the 5 year (child) and 10 year (adult) max duration will be discounted.

If no deal Brexit, then your passport needs to be no older than 4.5 years (child) and 9.5 years (adult) at the point of entry

If in any doubt check against the .gov.uk passport checker.

gov.uk/check-a-passport-...avel-to-europe

This means that if all TA's are saying is "you need 6 months left" it could be unhelpful. It how OLD it is, not how much you have left on it.

No idea about the OPs circumstance however with an Irish passport.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Bellasmummy

Does anybody know if the carried forward months will still apply to kids passports? I thought the issue was that no passport should be over 10 years old but as kids get 5 years that wouldn’t be an issue.

Carried forward months will presumably still be valid for travel to the US?!?

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Nothing is changing with regards to travel to the US. If the child's passport is currently valid for trips to the US then it will continue to be valid after 31st October. Brexit won't change that.

It's only for trips to Europe where the rules might change (we don't yet know how we will leave the EU and therefore we don't know whether the rules will change or not). I'm not sure about your question regarding kids passports if we leave without a deal - I haven't read up on that. The government website (here) allows you to enter your passport details and check when you will need to update it when travelling to Europe.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by FamilyGWales

For EU travel post no-deal only.

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Yup. I think I mentioned that once or twice?

Originally Posted by FamilyGWales

As above, it actually relates to how old your passport is not how many months left you have. This is because any "added months" that extend the passports validity beyond the 5 year (child) and 10 year (adult) max duration will be discounted.

If no deal Brexit, then your passport needs to be no older than 4.5 years (child) and 9.5 years (adult) at the point of entry

If in any doubt check against the .gov.uk passport checker.

gov.uk/check-a-passport-...avel-to-europe

This means that if all TA's are saying is "you need 6 months left" it could be unhelpful. It how OLD it is, not how much you have left on it.

No idea about the OPs circumstance however with an Irish passport.

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Interestingly, it says the following on the government website:

"On the day you travel, you’ll need your passport to both:

have at least 6 months left
be less than 10 years old (even if it has 6 months or more left)"

I think the way the above gets translated - and the easiest way to understand it - is that an adult's passport needs to be no older than 9 years and 6 months old. That seems to be how the government's passport checker works as well. However, personally I would argue that isn't the same as the above statement from the government website (I'm clearly wrong though ).

As the government website says you need 6 months left then I can see why TAs are passing on the same information. It's not the TAs fault.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

A Brit pal living in Cape Coral, Fl copied me a panicked message from another pal, and asked for my input. Had her friend researched correctly she'd understand the Europe pp 6 month rule, if we leave on the 31st, but instead told my friend she wouldn't get back into the UK for their visit in December and they'd need to renew their UK pp's immediately as Brits are no longer allowed to travel on a pp holding the words European Union - if this woman had a brain she'd be dangerous!

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I know what you mean. I recently saw someone on Facebook incorrectly referring to their passport as an "EU passport" or "European passport". They were worried that it wouldn't be valid at all once we leave the EU and were querying whether they needed to get a new passport immediately after we leave, even if they still had many years of validity left on it.

Just because it happens to mention the EU, it's still actually a UK passport and will still be valid post-Brexit.

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. I’ve renewed it online & should be here in 10 days. School have said it has to do with brexit even though it’s an Irish passport, but I think it’s maybe to do with travelling from NI to France if brexit happens?

[novocastrian]

my daughter was on a school ski trip on the original brexit date, we got a letter from school travel company stating that all passports needed 6 months on as they had no idea what issues they may have at the border(s) post prexit. reasoning sensibly if one kid got refused for 6 months rule then the entire party would have to return

arguing the point & quoting guidelines wont help at the border

best to err on the side of caution imo

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by LOU LOU DISNEY

Thanks everyone for all your replies. I’ve renewed it online & should be here in 10 days. School have said it has to do with brexit even though it’s an Irish passport, but I think it’s maybe to do with travelling from NI to France if brexit happens?

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If your son had an Irish passport then I would've guessed it would still be fine when travelling to France. Ireland isn't leaving the EU.

However, as novocastrian says, arguing the point & quoting guidelines won't help - either at the border, with the school, or with someone booking the travel. Sometimes it's just easier to get a new passport.