UK holidaymakers still using the old red passport have been issued a summer travel warning. If you’re planning a sunny getaway this year, make sure to check your passport before you jet off due to strict entry rules in other countries.
Many countries require your passport to be valid for another six months before you leave for international travel. This is known as the ‘six-month validity rule’, and many people still using old red passports from before Brexit may run a risk of their documents not having long enough left.
According to VisaGuide.World, there are 70 countries that follow the six-month passport rule, while another 41 apply the three-month passport validity rule. This means travellers can enter these countries if their passport is valid for at least three more months. If you still have a red passport, which are no longer being issued after Brexit, it’s crucial to check its expiry date. Since Brexit, your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day of arrival in the EU, and its expiry date should be at least three months after your intended departure date from the EU.
Most people – understandably – assume that an adult passport lasts 10 years, but if your passport was issued before 1 October 2018, extra months might have been added to its expiry date if the previous passport was renewed before it fully expired.
You can check if your passport will be valid for your trip on GOV.UK. You’ll need to search for the country you’re going to and click on ‘entry requirements’. You can also only stay for a maximum of 90 days within a six-month period. When the UK was in the European Union, you could have stayed as long as you liked.
70 countries that have a six-month passport rule :
Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain, Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Curacao, Cote D’Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana., Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Somaliland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe
41 countries that have a three-month passport rule:
Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein., Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Countries with other validity rules:
Bermuda (45 days upon entry), Eritrea (three months on arrival), Hong Kong (three months on arrival), Lebanon (three months on arrival), Macau (three months on arrival), Micronesia (four months on arrival), South Africa (three months on arrival), The Maldives (three months on arrival), and Zambia (four months on arrival).
