Call for clearer rules on passports to avoid no entry at EU border

As British travellers continue to be caught out by Brexit red tape when entering Europe, campaigners have called for clearer rules to help cut down on the number of people being turned away at the border.

Since the UK left the EU, validity for British passports entering Europe’s Schengen area changed. There are now two new conditions: a passport must have been issued no more than 10 years before the date of entry, and a passport must have at least three months left before the expiry date on the date of return to the UK.

Many people are still unaware of these rules and thousands of British travellers have continued to be turned away by airlines and crossChannel transport providers due to their passports failing to meet EU requirements.

Crowd-sourced data platform Passport Waiting Time has launched a petition to print a “renew by” date inside British passports, which would clearly indicate the latest date by which a passport should be renewed to meet validity rules for other countries.

The site has also launched its own passport reminder service which sends a notification when those who have signed up should start preparing to renew their passport.

Andy Anderson, founder of Passport Waiting Time, said: “We launched our reminder service following many travellers being caught out with a soon-to-expire passport or one issued more than 10 years ago. “There have been many cases recently of individuals and families being turned away at the airport.”

British travellers will also face new hurdles at the European border later this year, when the EU’s Entry/Exit System comes into force, requiring a photograph and fingerprints to be taken on entry.