Travel with Katie Butler: Passport rules for travel to the EU

As the summer seasons kicks in we are delighted to be seeing so many of our customers in-store collecting tickets and checking-in online.

This year is definitely the busiest summer we have had since our opening in 2013.

Of course with so many customers popping in to check-in online we are coming across the odd passport that we are finding not valid for travel due to the new rules now that we have left the EU.

A reminder on the passport rules for travel to the EU are as follows:

Your passport must be issued less than ten years before the date you enter the country (so check the 'date of issue')

Valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave (so check the 'date of expiry').

For example, if you are entering the EU on the 21st July 21 and are returning back to the UK on the 4th August 2023, your passport must:

Have been issued less than ten years before 21 July, 2023.

Be valid for at least three months after August 4, 2023.

If your current passport was issued before October 1 2018, you may have had extra months from your previous passport added to it's expiry date.

These extra months do count towards the required three months that you will need on your passport on the day you plan to leave, but it does mean that it is even more important to check your passport will also be less than ten years old on the date you enter the EU.

If you are travelling with children, don't forget that UK passports for under 16s are only valid for five years anyway meaning that of course they automatically meet the first rule of being issued less than ten years before entering the EU, so you just need to check the second rule – that it will be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave.

If you are travelling to Ireland, you can continue to use your passport as long as it's valid for the length of your stay.

The government website for passport renewals is still stating that up to ten weeks should be allowed, although we have heard of them coming back quicker, but we wouldn’t recommend leaving it late.

Thankfully, we have managed to book Fast Track appointments for the few expired passports we have come across.

But as we get further into the season I expect the appointments will be more difficult to get.

Please, if you are travelling this year and think your passport expires next year, don't take the risk and take a look at them now.

A slightly quieter week for new bookings but of course with this glorious weather, who wants to be sat in a travel agents when you can be in your garden enjoying the sunshine?

However, we are so busy with boarding passes that it is a welcome calm.

Turkey and Majorca were the top-selling destinations last week.

And 37 per cent of new bookings were late deals to travel in the next 12 weeks.

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