British Passport Holders With Less Than Six Months Validity Left Have This Week To Renew And Avoid Being Stranded

UK passengers wishing to travel to many European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden after a No Deal Brexit will have to meet new rules to avoid being stranded.

If there is a No Deal break from the EU, passport validity rules will become tighter.

Firstly, UK passport holders who want to travel to Europe after a No Deal Brexit will have to make sure their identity document has at least six months validity left and as the process takes up to three weeks for a renewal, with the Brexit deadline just 22 days away, this week is the last week to apply to avoid being stranded.

The second rule applies to people who renewed their old passport before it expired and they were given ‘extra months’ of validity as a result. 

In that case, any ‘extra months’ on a passport over 10 years old will likely not be allowed to count towards the six months needed under the first rule

The Home Secretary Priti Patel announced last month that the government was sending out one million text messages to remind people to check their passports.  

A No Deal Brexit effectively means UK travellers will have to play by the same rules as visitors from non-EU countries. 

However, the new rules do not apply to people who are travelling from the UK to Ireland.