Can You Travel To Europe?

After the United Kingdom’s Home Office took down a tool for checking passport validity for travelers, which had caused travel chaos for thousands of Brits due to a defect, VisaGuide.World has created a tool that enables every non-EU national to check whether his or her passport is valid for travel to the EU.

The checker has been developed by experts and offers correct information, completely based on the EU’s entry rules.

To use the checker, please insert the date on which your passport expires, the date when you plan to enter the EU, as well as the date when you plan to leave.

 

Why Travelling to EU With a Passport Valid Less Than Six Months Is Permitted But Not Recommended?

The border guards of different EU countries often ask travelers to have at least six months of validity in their passports.

The reason behind such a request is because border guards assert that travelers often stay in the EU for longer than they claim they will, as third-country travelers who can enter visa-free are entitled to stay in the block for a total of 90 uninterrupted days, within any 180-day period.

By asking travelers to have six months of validity in their passports, these authorities thus avoid having people with passports valid for less than three months staying in the EU.

That is why we advise you to avoid traveling to the EU with a passport that is valid for less than six months on the date of your trip to the EU.

What Happened to UK’s Passport Checker?

For over six months now, the UK Home Office’s passport checker has confused thousands of parents after it had wrongly told the same that their children’s passports were not valid for travel to the EU, when in fact they were valid.

Passports issued in the UK before Brexit sometimes are valid for a period of longer than ten years if they have been renewed before the previous passport expired. Children’s passports are all issued with a validity period of five years, but they also have extra months added if they were renewed before the previous passport expired.

According to the EU’s rules of entry on passports, only travelers whose passports have been issued within the last ten years can enter the country. When Home Office amended the checker, it removed the nine months from adults’ passports. Wrongly, it also removed the nine months from children’s passports, though the latter were valid as they were shorter than ten years valid in total.

After the glitch was reported by parents, the Home Office took down the same tool.

In addition, the same checker also causes confusion among other travelers as well, as it recommends to travelers planning to travel to the EU with passports valid for less than six months to refrain from doing so, but it does not explain why.