Rhiannon Ingle
If one of your New Year resolutions for 2025 was to travel more, listen up.
Now, ever since the UK left the EU in 2020, old-school red passports have been out of commission, with Brits renewing or replacing their passports with the new issued blue passports.
This means we can no longer use the EU border control gates when travelling between any of the 29 countries that form part of the Schengen area.
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FYI, these include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
And, anyone still in possession of a red passport has been issued an urgent warning on a rule which you really don't want to ignore.
But what does this rule mean and how can you make sure you're not met with a major disappointment the next time you book a holiday?
Well, since the UK bid farewell to the EU, passports must have been issued less than 10 years before the day you enter the Schengen Zone.
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And it’s very important to ensure your passport meets this criteria, as it could lead to you being denied entry to the country you’ve planned to visit.
So, what is the '10-year passport rule'?
It basically means that, in order to enter EU countries (aside from the exceptions listed above), your UK passport now needs to have been issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the EU country (or the 'date of issue'), and must also be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave (the 'date of expiry').
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To check, simply take a look at the date your passport was issued to see if it was issued before September 2018.
Also, make sure your passport has not passed its 10-year anniversary as you need your passport to have been issued less than 10 years before your departure date.
If you find your passport doesn't meet these requirements, it's best to act speedy and renew your document, as it can take several weeks to process in busy times.
You don't need to worry if you've got a UK passport that has been issued since 2018, as the cap of 10 years means you will not face any issues.
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So, in order to avoid a disaster at the airport, be sure to have a thorough check of your passport before you book any getaways this year...