Query re Passport Requirements - Austrian holiday

M

Manuel

Registered User
Messages
153
Hi all,
Hope someone can help put our minds at ease please ...

We are travelling to Austria in January, and while reading the small print in the booking email from the Travel Company we see:

"IMPORTANT INFORMATION
BEFORE YOU GO
PASSPORT
You'll need a valid passport to travel with TUI. It'll need to be valid for your entire trip and for at least 6 months after your return journey. This applies no matter what your nationality. EU nationals may use their National Identity Card to travel within the European Community, but we recommend you use a passport wherever possible. You'll need to use a passport if you're travelling outside of the EU.

If you're an Irish citizen, you need a full 10-year Irish passport and it must be valid for 6 months from the date of your return to Ireland. Visit the www.dfa.ie"


Our passports are all in date, but the kids' passports expire end of April. So now we have started to panic a little ...


On the phone today the Travel Company referred us to DFA. Trying to get through to DFA today was not fun. I won't elaborate as much as I'd like to :mad: ....

On the excellent Citizens Information website citizensinformation.ie it does say:

"Where can I travel on my Irish passport?
All EU citizens have the right to enter and live in another EU member state for up to 3 months. You just need a valid passport or national identity card. EU member states cannot set additional conditions concerning the minimum validity or duration of the identity card or passport. This means that your passport doesn't have to be valid for, say, 6 months before you are allowed enter another EU state."


This does reassure me .... but, while I will try DFA again tomorrow, if anyone knows from first-hand experience, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading.
/M.
 
Your issue is with TUI, they are allowed to have stricter policies than the EU minimum requirements. Best call them and ask, it might be a policy they don’t really enforce. I was going to suggest apply for a passport but then saw it was a child’s passport which does take longer than and adult (got mine recently in less than 48 hours).
 
Manuel said:
If you're an Irish citizen, you need a full 10-year Irish passport and it must be valid for 6 months from the date of your return to Ireland. Visit the www.dfa.ie"
Click to expand...
This doesn't make sense for under 18s given that child passports are only valid for 5 years.
 
Today is a public holiday in lieu of Christmas Day for Mon to Friday workers so you should be able to get them tomorrow. I used the chat feature a few months ago and found very good.
 
Passport is valid in the EU until it's last day. I bet they are making a blanket statement because some other destination have that requirement.
 
I doubt if anyone from TUI is going to check every passenger’s passport before they get on the plane.

To the extent that the Austrian authorities are concerned, the more relevant information is as you’ve observed on the Citizens Information website.

As jhegarty has suggested, it’s a company driven cover-all.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I got through to DFA instantly this morning. I was told over the phone to check online for the country of our destination, which wasn't very satisfactory frankly (he said that some countries such as Germany require 6 months - which I don't think is true!) ... I went back in later via the chat feature and was told (as @jhegarty said) "passport is valid in the EU until its last day". When I mentioned that I have seen references to 3 months etc, she then said some airlines have stricter policies ........

I got through to a TUI office in Dublin, which I think is just a booking office. She didn't think it would be a problem and proceeded to do her own google search while I was on the call ....

Oh look, I think we're ok. I agree that I think it's just a blanket statement in the booking email because that's the worst case scenario, so they're just covering themselves. We're not going to make an appointment for an in-person renewal for the kids. I don't think we need to.


Just for further reference, on tuiholidays.ie they just refer you to dfa.ie, while on tui.co.uk they are more prescriptive:

Important Information - Passports​

What sort of ID do I require for travelling International journeys?
Passengers must hold valid ID with a photograph i.e. International Passport or EU National ID. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a valid photo ID. British Citizens must hold a valid 10-year passport. EU National IDs must be valid for entry into the country of intended destination. Passports for British citizens are valid for travel to any EU country up to and including the passport expiry date. The government recommends that, on the day you travel, you have at least 6 months left on your passport. To travel to Europe, you must have a minimum of three months left on your passport from the day you’re planning to travel home. If your passport doesn’t meet these requirements, you may not be able to travel.


We at least have the 3 months, so I'm not going to worry about it any more. If we didn't have the 3 months, I might be tempted to pay up - and make the day long trip to Dublin - for an in-person renewal, which would be a real pain.

Thanks again for all your help.
/M.
 
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