Warning: European Travel now requires at least 3 months Passport validity

If you are travelling to Europe on a British passport, it must have at least three months* validity left and the passport must have been issued within the last 10 years.

Some British passports may have additional months meaning the passport is older than 10 years. However, these additional months do not count towards the minimum three months needed when travelling to Europe.

The passport office is currently advising that it may take up to 10 weeks for applications to be processed, so if your passport needs to be renewed we are strongly advising of the need to apply in good time.

This new European requirement is a result of Brexit and has already caught out a number of British skiers this winter, who were refused boarding on flights and the Eurostar.

*Some countries do require that you have more than 3 months on your passport when you travel, so please do check the rules for the country you are due to travel to.