ARCHIVED - Brexit makes it advisable to renew UK passports 15 months before expiry date

Burgundy passports are on the way out as blue is the new black

While the UK officially left the European Union on 31^st January it has been repeated many times that the consequences for individual UK nationals have yet to become clear, and this is underlined by the latest information published by the British government this week regarding passport renewal and the right to travel.

For the time being the transition period means that travel rules between the UK and the EU (and within the EU for British passport holders) remain unaffected at least until the end of 2020, but after that the situation is far from certain pending the outcome of the negotiations which are to take place during the remainder of this year. The latest update information on the UK.gov website as of 12^th February 2020 reads as follows:

“Until 1 January 2021, you can continue to travel to Europe with your UK passport until it expires.

New rules will apply for travel to Europe from 1 January 2021.

If your passport is burgundy or has ‘European Union’ on the cover, you can continue to use it until it expires.

You’ll need to have at least 6 months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe (not including Ireland).

If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Any extra months on your passport over 10 years may not count towards the 6 months needed.

You’ll need to renew your passport before travelling if you do not have enough time left on your passport.

The new rules will apply for travel to and between most countries in Europe. These are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican City.

British Expats visiting the UK must ensure they have at least 6 months on their Passports for their return, while there may not be any problems travelling to or entering the UK returning to Spain or any of the other countries listed could prove problematic.”

At the same time, the British government has confirmed that the withdrawal from the EU will be marked by a change in the colour of passports from burgundy to blue, an alteration which in real terms has absolutely no consequences whatsoever but which has caused a surprising amount of heated reaction.

In addition, it is pointed out in The Independent that the latest government information quoted above leaves plenty of room for uncertainty regarding the travel situation of both British people and other UE nationals as of 1^st January 2021.

As things stand at present, and unless other rules are agreed over the next 10 months, as of next year British nationals “will need to have at least six months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe”, but the EU’s definition of this time period may differ significantly from the actual expiry date specified in the passport itself.

This is because many UK passports actually state a validity of more than 10 years, so a passport issued on 30^th June 2011 could have a stated expiry date of as late as 30^th March 2022. But the EU views the maximum validity period as being exactly 10 years, so that passport would be deemed valid only until 30^th June 2021: in other words, on 1^st January 2021 it would have just under 6 months left to run.

In effect, the holder of such a passport would be obliged to renew it a full 15 months before the stated expiry date in order to avoid being turned away at the airport!

As well as the EU, the rules also currently apply to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Vatican City, but not for the Republic of Ireland.

To sum up: to check whether you need to renew your UK passport, don’t look at the expiry date: look instead at the issue date and work out where you stand with regard to the 10-uyear validity period – and initiate the renewal process early to avoid problems!

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