THERE’S enough going on this summer with EES checks and extreme heat – and your passport could cause problems as well.
Affecting millions, we’ve explained the two things you need to check before your next holiday.
Expiry Dates
You might think that expiry dates have been spoken about enough – but it is still catching people out.
Old rules let passports have more than 10 years on them, but these rules have since been scrapped.
To find the true expiry date, you need to check the start date rather than the expiry listed in the passport.
If your passport was issued in April 2016, but has an expiry of December 2026, your passport is out of date as it’s over 10 years old. The REAL expiry date is actually April 2026.
These rules especially affect those still with burgundy passports with the last of these expiring in 2030.
Figures have shown that up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
Make sure to check the rules of the country you’re travelling to as well.
Some places like Dubai and Thailand require at least six months left on your passport to enter..
Dual National Passport Holders
The change in new rules for dual national passport holders is thought to affect as many as 1.2million people.
Since February 25, those with dual nationality can no longer use their foreign passport to enter the UK.
Travellers must enter with a valid UK passport or a certificate of entitlement, which costs £589.
This affects anyone trying to enter the country by plane, ferry or train, and anyone without these is likely to be refused boarding.
There have been multiple cases where people have been caught out by the change in rule.
One British woman was stopped from boarding a flight from Copenhagen to Manchester with her two children because she didn’t have the right documents.
Colette Bjorn-Alderson has lived in the UK for 28 years, but was trying to return to the UK with her two young children – both of which only had Danish passports.
She told The Times that she felt “unwelcome in my own country” after being turned away from the flight.
She added that her only two options were getting a new UK passport from Denmark – which can take three months – or the certificates, which can take up to eight weeks.