Passport Renewal Rules Changed

[-SharonA-]

And they're blaming brexit. The nine months in advance rule has been scrapped. So if you renew 9 months early you only get 6 months loaded on your new passport. What the bell has this got to do with Brexit????

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/09/passport-applicants-hit-out-after-being-given-shorter-than-expec/

[jno]

your link says what it has to do with Brexit. Scroll down to the bit about Schengen border rules.

[-SharonA-]

Unfair if you are not going to a schengen area.

[Old_Geezer]

Then holiday makers and businesses could ensure for themselves they are within the rules before they go; it's not government's place to blame Brexit or no-deal for stealing someone's paid passport period from them. Are folk supposed to let one run out completely first ? Useless excuse for a foolish decision.

[youngmafbog]

I wonder exactly how many are affected remembering the 6 month rule applies to most countries around the World anyway.

[New Judge]

"So if you renew 9 months early you only get 6 months loaded on your new passport."

No you don't. You don't get anything added on. The validity begins on the day it is issued and it lasts for ten years.

The government's explanation was that many countries (including those in the Schengen Area) do not accept passports that are valid for more than ten years. That is quite true, But many do accept them and are only concerned with its expiry date (with many countries insist on it having at least six months to run from your date of arrival).

The government is being somewhat economical with the truth. There is no reason why the existing arrangements (which I think were brought in in 1993) could not have remained in place and it actually has nothing to do with Brexit arrangements. . It should be left up to individuals to check the passport requirements for the individual countries they intend to visit. Some might need to renew early, some might not. But then, of course, some people might get the full ten years that they have paid for and not be forced to renew earlier than necessary (sound effects: the"kerching" of the government's large till).

[New Judge]

"I wonder exactly how many are affected remembering the 6 month rule applies to most countries around the World anyway."

It will affect them as well, youngmaf.

Until this change you could apply for renewal up to nine months in advance and lose no validity. So, if your passport expired in December and you were planning a trip to a "six month" country you could travel on it until June. If you wanted to travel later than that you would have to renew. Under the old arrangements you could do so in March and the your new passport would expire on the tenth anniversary of the expiry date of the old one. Now if you wanted to travel in, say, August, you would have to apply for a new passport in July at the latest (to be sure of receiving it in time) and it would expire in July or August (depending on when the new one was issued) ten years hence. So, fully four or five months lost. For people travelling frequently the situation is even more tricky as they will have to fit in their renewal between trips and not have the flexibility they had until now.

I don't know of many countries which do not accept passports with >10 years validity and the government's explanation that they "did not want to see travellers stranded" is disingenuous. I don't think too many have been stranded so far when presenting a passport with more than ten years validity. Instead this is simply an exercise to screw even more cash out of travellers and it is being introduced on false pretences.

[237SJ]

Personally, I don't see the problem. There are not many countries in the world where you have to have 6 months validity on your passport.

[New Judge]

"Personally, I don't see the problem. There are not many countries in the world where you have to have 6 months validity on your passport."


There are quite a few outside Europe, 237. But in any case that is not the point. This change has been brought about under false pretences. It is suggested it is so that people don't get "caught out" when travelling to Europe post-Brexit. It is up to individuals to check the passport requirements of countries they are visiting. More than that, considering the government has made virtually no changes to cope with a "no deal" Brexit it seems strange that they have managed to implement this one on that premise.