Passport expiry date: It may not be what it seems.

[MikeyC]

This is a cautionary tale of how the Schengen area calculates the remaining validity of your passport.

Hampshire family fall foul of post-Brexit passport rule

Mum is told her passport is invalid for Portugal because it lasts longer than 10 years.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[henrythedog]

The UK passport authority have stopped adding-on unexpired months when you renew your passport so - stealth inflation alert - assuming you renew it before it expires (necessary because to enter Schengen one needs at least three months’ validity) - a ten year passport only lasts 9 years and 9 months.

 

[Terrri]

Interesting. In Canada they have never given any credit for renewing early. And we've always been warned that countries could deny us entry if our passport expires within six months of travel.

 

[Former member 92300]

True! For US to Schengen: "Spain is a party to the Schengen Agreement. This means that U.S. citizens may enter Spain for up to 90 days for tourism or business without a visa. Your passport should be valid for at least three months beyond the period of stay. You must have sufficient funds and a return airline ticket."

I do believe if you don't have a return ticket then your US passport must be good for 6 months (which would be 3 months beyond when you have to return to the US under a 90 da tourism agreement.

Spain International Travel Information

Spain international travel information and Travel Advisory

travel.state.gov

 

[Kathar1na]

The article, on a BBC webpage, is not quite accurate, and I'm not sure whether the lady at Bournemouth Airport had quite understood it. The Schengen Border Code states that a non-EU national when entering the EU/Schengen area must have a passport that:

• is valid at least three months after the intended date of departure from the territory of the EU
• has been issued within the previous 10 years.

The second point means that the passport must not be older than 10 years on the day of travelling. The Hampshire woman's passport fulfilled these conditions: It was issued on 29 May 2012 [currently not yet even ten years old] and it is valid until 28 February 2023.

The UK government states this in clear language for Portugal and so do the EU/Schengen countries themselves, for example the Spanish government. Pity that this article was not better researched.

 

[Kathar1na]

The level of ignorance of Schengen rules in some ... erm ... circles is breathtaking sometimes. I post this link only because it also concerns passports of British citizens travelling to Portugal, and it is very up to date, and there has been a very misleading and uninformed article in a major newspaper recently. No further comment necessary:

Fast-track Portugal? If only...

The Man Who Pays His Way: ‘Portugal to treat British travellers as EU citizens at borders.’ Really?

www.independent.co.uk

and

Confusion over e-gates for Britons travelling to Portugal as passport stamps still mandatory

British passport holders entering Portugal can now use the e-gates but must still wait in line to get their passports stamped

inews.co.uk

 

[Kathar1na]

In Canada they have never given any credit for renewing early. And we've always been warned that countries could deny us entry if our passport expires within six months of travel.

I think that this bonus business is a peculiarity of the UK passport issuing authority, and as @henrythedog has said they are no longer doing it but there will be of course, for years to come, still numerous UK nationals who have passports with a validity of more than 10 years.

 

[Kathar1na]

I had wondered to which airline the "the lady at Bournemouth Airport" belongs. It is Ryanair. Can the Hampshire family sue them?

The next day there was already a new article on the BBC website. Quote: "Entry should be allowed to those travelling with passports issued within the previous 10 years at the moment of entry into the Schengen Area, it added."

Airports wrong to turn away holidaymakers, EU says

Some UK travellers have not been allowed to board flights over a post-Brexit passport rule.

www.bbc.com

 

[Corned Beef]

You'll have to excuse the British press. They used to be obsessed by the weather or Lady Di.

This has now been replaced by anything European or EU - and usually it is well researched so they can print incorrect information. It's all about creating 'clickbait'

 

[Kathar1na]

I understand that the EU Schengen rules are new to British travellers although they have now been in force for them for one and a half year already. But they are not new to the EU and they are not new to numerous other non-EU travellers as members of this forum can testify . That they are new to Lord Frost, formerly known as David Frost, is mind boggling ... although, perhaps not so surprising, all things considered ...

And for any half talented journalist or editor they are easy to research from the comfort of their offices. For example the new e-gates that Portugal has installed in Lisbon and Porto: If you go on the Facebook page of the Portuguese Border Control service SEF or read their press release, you will immediately see that this has nothing to do with Brexit or Britons as such. The service is available to holders of biometric passports from the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore at least. It will speed up the process and reduce lines of arriving passengers but all of them will have to queue subsequently to get their Schengen entry stamp in their non-EU passports. Nothing special, business as usual.

 

[Kathar1na]

And for any half talented journalist or editor they are easy to research from the comfort of their offices.

It took me about 5 seconds to find the SEF press release thanks to Google:

The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) started this week the operation of four new generation e-gates at Lisbon Airport, ensuring a faster and more functional border control at arrivals for nationals of the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.​

​

These new e-gates have a faster and more functional operating system, which allows passports with biometric data to be read more quickly, and are part of a set of 50 that are in operation in all national airports.​

​

The RAPID system enables automated border control, supervised by SEF Inspectors. Automatically, and in less than 20 seconds, the system authenticates the travel document and, through a facial recognition system, compares in a moment the passenger's face with the photograph registered on the document's chip through a proprietary algorithm and a technological biometrics solution. After validation of the identification process, which includes a search in international databases, the passenger is authorised to continue his/her journey.​

 

[Kathar1na]

What is also ridiculous about this kind of reporting is the fact that this news story was presented as something unusual and as if Portugal is acting against EU Schengen rules while the exact opposite is the case. I'm posting this because it is part of the EU's future Entry-Exit System that is currently in its pilot phase and will be implemented eventually for all non-EU travellers, with the roll-out perhaps already starting by the end of 2022 in international EU airports. For info, below is a recent tweet by Frontex. I note that the photo was taken in a Spanish airport, and the logo of the National Spanish police can be seen.

Travellers may consider it useful to have a biometric passport.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1494668706563166212

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Oh the joys of biometric passports. Six years ago on returning from a Camino to Stansted airport in the UK my friend who did not have one went through the manual inspection channel. With my freshly issued biometric passport I queued for just over an hour only to be told that, as two machines had failed to read my passport, I had to join another queue for it to be inspected.
45 minutes later the border control agent asked me where I had just come from and my response "Queuing for an hour in the biometric section" did not go down well.
Speed things up? I doubt it.

 

[Molly Cassidy]

I never had any problem with the ones at Dublin airport.