May 5th - Passport validity for Europe
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2022
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's all about passport validity for Europe. The only subject, it seems, in town. Sometimes it feels that I'm on my own in wanting to make sure people aren't wrongly deprived of their holidays. Just a quick reminder of what the rules are for Brits going to the EU: passport issued less than 10 years ago on day of entry, expiry date at least three months away on day of exit.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Simon Calder, welcoming you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest news on travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape or actually away and having the time of your life. |
| 0:13.7 | If you are abroad, of course, you will have needed to use a passport to get there, and I'm afraid that is pretty much 90% of my workload. Interestingly, |
| 0:26.0 | as well, it's also 99% of the Portuguese tourist board's workload at the moment. Their director |
| 0:33.4 | effectively said, well, normally people would be finding out and saying, well, what are the best |
| 0:38.4 | places to stop in a trip along the west coast of Portugal? But now they're just saying, |
| 0:43.5 | my passport was issued on this date, it expires on this date, can I come to Portugal? And really, |
| 0:50.8 | it is so sad that a subject which is fundamentally straightforward should be causing so much upset. |
| 1:00.2 | Let me just if I may tell you once again what the rules are. |
| 1:04.7 | If you want to go to the European Union after Brexit, then they want to know about your issue date for your passport |
| 1:14.8 | and your expiry date for your passport. That's all they need to know. Was it issued under 10 |
| 1:22.3 | years ago on the day you intend to enter the European Union. So, for example, if I was setting off |
| 1:31.6 | tomorrow, I would need to have a passport issued on the 6th, forgive me, 7th of May, 2012 or later. |
| 1:41.4 | Then, the expiry date. Are there at least three months left on the intended day of |
| 1:47.2 | departure from the European Union? Well, generally there will be. If you meet the first test, |
| 1:54.9 | then because many months have been added to an awful lot of passports, it's probably the case. |
| 1:59.6 | But those two rules entirely independent |
| 2:02.1 | of each other under 10 years old on the day of the entry at least three months on the day of |
| 2:08.0 | departure of course by any measure all children's passports meet the second condition |
| 2:16.2 | the one about 10 years or less on the day of entry, |
| 2:21.5 | except that Ryanair pretends quotes, I'm about to tell you something which is untrue, |
| 2:28.8 | but it's very, very, very much in quotation marks because this is what Ryanair is saying a child's passport |
| 2:36.8 | must not be more than five years old on the day of travel it is extraordinary that |
... |
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