URGENT - check your passport validity- big problems!

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Flyinspanner

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BREXIT side effect.

Your passport ‘Expiry Date’ may well be incorrect.
UK govt used to add on any unspent time onto a new passport (like mots), which was fine when we were in the EU. - not anymore!

now for travel, it is based on 10 years since the ISSUE date.

and although the EU only requires 3 months validity for a 3rd country (UK), the uk govt is wrongly advising airlines that it is 6 month requirement, which is resulting in people being denied boarding.

The Independant newspaper is highlighting this overlooked problem.
currently there is no availability to get short notice replacements as there is a huge backlog of people caught up in this debacle.

currently at least a 10 week turnaround for passports.
no urgent ‘appointments’ until august......at the Belfast office....

if you have any travel planned later this year I suggest you check out your actual validity on the gov.uk website, or just base it on the ISSUE date of your passport +10years.
 
My wife is obscessive about passports. We change ours when they reach ~1 year remaining.

Reminded me of when I worked in Ivory Coast in the late 70’s. I had to send away for a new passport. The new passport duly arrived together with the old passport which had my work permit. Except for my work permit page, all the corners were cut off and a big red stamp across every page saying “CANCELLED”.

I travelled out and back into IC about half a dozen times (all fully stamped) on the old and expired passport as they refused to accept the new one without the work permit. Anyway it was all a farce as we always included a "service fee" in our passport when handing it over for processing.
 
You should enclose an explanatory letter to avoid this, then post it note on each page with a visa you need ‘undamaged’ and they don’t stamp it.
was doing that for 40 years when renewing passports, but still needing my USA work visas (flying) and an Indian Visa (holidays), and Chinese Border Guard visas (flying)
 
Well I suppose everybody has had a lot more on their minds other than passport dates,but most people make sure their passport has some months left we normally wait until there are about 4 months left and we always do when not planning a holiday , and those that do not well tough,bad news about the backlog,but again covid and this track and trace has caused the problem,but cannot wait for my change of passport to a new blue one.
 
I ordered a replacement passport online at the start of March this year - it took a week.

It's black, not blue!
 
My wife sent hers off for renewal a month ago and it was back in 10 days. Hopefully she will be able to use it soon!
 
BREXIT side effect.

Your passport ‘Expiry Date’ may well be incorrect.
UK govt used to add on any unspent time onto a new passport (like mots), which was fine when we were in the EU. - not anymore!

now for travel, it is based on 10 years since the ISSUE date.

and although the EU only requires 3 months validity for a 3rd country (UK), the uk govt is wrongly advising airlines that it is 6 month requirement, which is resulting in people being denied boarding.

Better to always treat your passport as needing at least 6 months validity before travel.

(This is an even bigger pain for those citizens of countries that issue passports with less than 5 years validity.

As regards 'UK govt wrongly advising airlines' - airlines generally look at the guidance of the destination countries - as it is the destination countries that will normally fine them should they deliver a passenger who is denied entry.
 
As usual, can’t see that this is a Brexit side effect.

I’ve always renewed the family passports at least six months in advance for travel to a Europe, the States, Far East and South Africa.

It eliminates the risk of forgetting / mistake but also hedges against the risk of an unintended extension.

Has Covid slowed down passport applications? Sounds unlikely but might have resulted in some hiccoughs here and there, in the same way that DVLA has been working to rule and slowing down processes to 2-3 weeks.

Being asked by the Passport Office to allow “up to 10 weeks” for manual passport applications - online applications being faster - is not the same as suggesting that it takes “at least ten weeks.”
 
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Better to always treat your passport as needing at least 6 months validity before travel.

(This is an even bigger pain for those citizens of countries that issue passports with less than 5 years validity.

As regards 'UK govt wrongly advising airlines' - airlines generally look at the guidance of the destination countries - as it is the destination countries that will normally fine them should they deliver a passenger who is denied entry.

Airlines (and other carriers) are required to transport rejected passengers back to their country of origin at the airline's cost.

This is one reason why airlines vigorously check passengers' eligibility to enter the destination country to the extent required of them.
 
Not just airlines, cruise companies also insist on 6 months.

My passport and my wife's were due for renewal sent them both off with relevant application on 27th April, mine came back within 2 weeks, still waiting for my wife's :(
 
Ive renewed three passports since Brexit and all have come back in under two weeks. If anything Brexit and Covid have improved the renewal process.
 
Me too. After reading stories of three month delays renewing passports in the media my wife sent hers off and got it back in 10 days.
 
You should enclose an explanatory letter to avoid this, then post it note on each page with a visa you need ‘undamaged’ and they don’t stamp it.
was doing that for 40 years when renewing passports, but still needing my USA work visas (flying) and an Indian Visa (holidays), and Chinese Border Guard visas (flying)
As stated in my post, they did not damage the visa/wp page and it was long before the days of “PostIt Notes”. ;)
 
I think my renewal took one week 🤷‍♂️
 
I think Covid has put restrictions on the postman driving from England to Wales.:)
 
Hi , my wife as I do have a type of citizenship in Portugal that allows us to enter the country with having our passports stamped , most of the time.On our last trip my wife's passport was stamped and we had to make sure her passport was stamped on the return journey.

Easier said than done , the police officer asked my wife why here passport had been stamped as she does not require a stamped entry !

After much going on he stamped her passport to balance up the stamps.
 
Lots of posts about how quick new passports are coming back.
I’ve been waiting since mid May for a new driving licence!!
Got your licence yet?

Renewed mine on 24/9 and it was returned 5/10.
Pretty quick service IMO.
 
Got your licence yet?

Renewed mine on 24/9 and it was returned 5/10.
Pretty quick service IMO.
Yes. Got it mid Oct.
 

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