What is the 10-year rule?

The problem with British passports in the EU stems from the EU’s standard limit, which it imposes on the validity of any non-EU passport – and which applied to all British passports from January 2020. 

The EU requires all passport issue dates to be less than 10 years before your arrival date and to be valid for at least three months after your planned return date. So, in practice your passport ceases to be valid in the EU nine years and nine months after the date it was issued. Sounds straightforward given that British passports are generally valid for 10 years. 

However, in the years running up to 2020, if you renewed your passport before the old one expired, additional months were added to the expiry of the new one, making the total validity somewhat longer than 10 years. That didn’t matter when we were part of the EU, but it does now, because these extra months are not counted for passport holders of non-member states. 

A concrete example: a passport is stamped as valid from July 18 2015 and the expiry date is given as November 18 2025 (a total of 10 years, four months). If you looked only at the expiry date, then you would think that it is valid for travel in the EU’s Schengen zone until three months before that November date, which would be August 18 2025. But as far as the EU is concerned, it ceases to be valid nine years and nine months after it was issued, which gives us a date seven months earlier: April 18 2025.

What is the new Entry/Exit System?

It is also worth noting that two new systems are due to be introduced for entry into the Schengen area. A new Entry/Exit System comprises e-gates and the computerised system, which will automatically check UK passports (and many others) at the external borders of countries in the Schengen area. It will replace the system of manually stamping passports, and monitor how long you spend in the area.

There will also be a new visa waiver system – the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) – which must be used by tourists and business travellers. You will have to apply in advance of travel and pay a fee of €7 (£5.85). The introduction of both schemes has been delayed, however – for the latest news and more information, see our guide.

What about other countries?

Different countries have very different rules on passport validity. Nearly three-dozen countries, including, for example, Canada, Australia and Barbados, allow you to stay right up to the expiry date on your passport. Some require three months from your arrival date, others from your departure date. Still others require six months from one or other of those dates, while Turkey stipulates 150 days after arriving. Our new tool automatically checks the requirements for each.