Check reminder as people caught out 'every summer' by passport 'rule'

Дата публикации: 25-07-2026 15:00:51

This easy-to-miss detail is what's catching people out at the airport

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This easy-to-miss detail is what's catching people out at the airport

People could be in for a reality check at the boarding gate this summer. Brits jetting off to Spain, France, Turkey and loads of other European hotspots are being warned there’s one tiny detail on their passport that can ruin the whole trip before it even starts.

Many people who travel abroad will be familiar with taking a quick glance at their passport to check it hasn't expired - but for some, the issue date matters even more. If your passport is too old, then the staff won't let you fly into Europe and will send you home instead.

A travel expert has warned that this rule still catches people out every summer, and that they assume they’re safe. Kate Donnelly, from Liverpool (@Thedonnelleyedit), said: "Before you travel this summer, have you made this one important passport check?"

The problem is what many refer to as the '10-year rule'. It's not exactly new, but it still causes issues at the check in desks of UK airports every year.

Kate said: "If you are a UK passport holder and you are travelling to any country in the Schengen zone since Brexit, you have to have less than 10 years on your passport on the day that you arrive in the country."

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What should you be checking for?

Don’t just look at the expiry date, put the issue date next to it too. Because older passports may have extra months tacked on from a previous document, this can push the total validity beyond 10 years, and that’s where the airport heartbreak starts.

Kate said: "It's those who had your passport issued before 2018 that might have unused months from your previous one added on, meaning that your validity could be 10 years plus six months, 10 years plus nine months. And this is what's catching people out."

A quick giveaway is whether the issue month matches the expiry month. Kate said: "The issue month should be exactly the same as the expiry month. If it isn't, that is a way of knowing straight away that you have got additional months added on.

If those months don’t line up, you could be carrying one of the passports that looks fine — but tips over the 10-year limit and can cause problems when you try to travel. If you’re still unsure, there’s an official way to double-check.

Kate adds: "You need to make sure that you don't use it beyond 10 years. If you are unsure of any of the passport rules for the country that you are travelling to, then you can always check this on the Government website."

This is most likely to hit people who renewed years ago and forgot about it — especially if they renewed early and “gained” extra months. If you’ve had the same passport since before 2018, it’s worth checking today, not the night before you fly.

Before September 2018, the UK used to let you “roll over” up to nine unused months when you renewed early, meaning some passports could effectively run to 10 years plus extra time. That rollover policy was later scrapped to avoid confusion with the EU’s 10-year rule — but plenty of the older documents are still out there.

The last passports with carried-over months were issued in September 2018. And because those documents can run right up to their maximum lifespan, this whole “passport too old for Europe” headache shouldn’t fully disappear until around June 2029, when the older-style passports have finally worked their way out of circulation.

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