Passport valid or not

[Fedupwtbs]

Hi

We are travelling to the Canaries during the week for one week. My daughters passport is valid until May this year.

Can anyone advise if this passport is acceptable. I understand sometimes that the passport needs to be valid for 3 months after the return date.

 

[vandriver]

From the UK FCO website Entry Requirements - Passport validity

Your passport must be valid for the proposed duration of your stay. No additional period of validity beyond this is required. However, it is always sensible to have a short period of extra validity on your passport in case of any unforeseen delays to your departure. You do not have to wait until your old passport expires to apply to renew it.

 

[Time]

It will be valid.

 

[Jim2007]

Hi

We are travelling to the Canaries during the week for one week. My daughters passport is valid until May this year.

Can anyone advise if this passport is acceptable. I understand sometimes that the passport needs to be valid for 3 months after the return date.

From an immigration point of view that should be fine, however you need to check what your carrier requires as well. Since the carrier is held responsible for carrying any illegal passengers they sometimes set stricter rules.

 

[Time]

The 3 month thing is a hangover from years ago but many travel agents preach it as gospel.

 

[Slim]

The 3 month thing is a hangover from years ago but many travel agents preach it as gospel.

Do some airlines not impose this at check in/boarding?

 

[delgirl]

OH travelled last week with Aer Lingus to Switzerland and back with a passport which expired 1 week after our return. We had no problems in Ireland or Switzerland, although they did point out to him that he needs to get a new passport.

 

[Jim2007]

OH travelled last week with Aer Lingus to Switzerland and back with a passport which expired 1 week after our return. We had no problems in Ireland or Switzerland, although they did point out to him that he needs to get a new passport.

It might be worth pointing out that at present Switzerland does not hold the airlines responsible for carrying passengers with incorrect landing documents This will change however next year when they will be fined 10,000 Euros for every passenger that arrives without valid landing documents!

As long as the passport is valid for the duration of the trip there is no legal reason why you should be refused entry in Europe, however airlines are free to impose their own additional requirements - Ryan Air being one of the worst I've seen - if you don't have an EU or CH passport you are required to always check in at the desk and pay 76 Euros for the privilege!

 

[Fedupwtbs]

Thanks for all the replies folks. Sounds like we will be ok.

 

[Sumatra]

On a different note to Fedupwtbs query, I was denied boarding once because my passport did not have any blank pages. The pages with 'VISA' written across the top are valid pages. The page or two that are just blank pages without the words 'Visa' can't be stamped on arrival / departure. I was going to S Africa and they required a half page to stamp you in and another half page to stamp you out. I was on a DUB-FRA-JNB trip and refused boarding in FRA. I had to travel to Berlin to get an emergency passport and contiunued the journey a day later but it was an expensive lesson.