Passport gamble?

[davidd]

My son (20) has neglected to renew is passport which expires on sept 8th this year.

He has a trip a the beginning of may which will give him a month before LM to renew.

Does he..

Gamble that he can renew his UK passport between may 6th and june 7th (we travel on june 8th)

or Gamble that he will get through passport control with less than 3 months left on is passport

Cheers

D

[Truckosaurus]

or option C: his passport might have already expired as the Europeans now go on 10 years from the start date not the actual expiry date printed on the passport.

(Apologies if he already knows this)

Edit to add: You definitely need 90 days validity left as that's how long you can stay within the Schengen zone.

(I also assume the dates are checked via a machine reading the date coding on the passport not some French passport agent counting the days on his fingers after a long luncheon).

Edited by Truckosaurus on Thursday 13th April 16:23

[davidd]

Truckosaurus said:

or option C: his passport might have already expired as the Europeans now go on 10 years from the start date not the actual expiry date printed on the passport.

(Apologies if he already knows this)

Edit to add: You definitely need 90 days validity left as that's how long you can stay within the Schengen zone.

(I also assume the dates are checked via a machine reading the date coding on the passport not some French passport agent counting the days on his fingers after a long luncheon).

Edited by Truckosaurus on Thursday 13th April 16:23

Oh dear, it was issued on 8th apr 18, expires 8th sept 23. I suspect he might get a shock on eurostar in may!

[paulyv]

davidd said:

Oh dear, it was issued on 8th apr 18, expires 8th sept 23. I suspect he might get a shock on eurostar in may!

I fell foul of this '10 year' issue last year. I had 2 trips booked - one to France in May and one to Ibiza in June, both by plane. As it turns out my passport was not valid for either due to the 10-year rule, however I did through sheer luck get into France. At City Airport in June however my luck ran out and I was not allowed on the BA plane. I did not know about the rule until that second flight and indeed having then looked it up it is 'a thing'.

You mention his commenced in 2018 and expires in 2023...is that right or do you mean it commenced in 2013? Am I missing why it is not valid for 10 years in total? I may be missing something obvious regards that. If your dates above are accurate then the 10 year rule does not really apply as it is only 5 years since 2018 but yes the 90 days issue is not going to work for him.

You have 2 choices:

Risk it - you 'may' get over there as I did but I suspect this to be unlikely so I cannot recommend it
or
Try for the fast-track application which is the route I took. This involves booking an appointment, getting a form from the PO, and taking your documents and photos to that appointment. You should get your passport back within the week as I did.

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/1-week-...

That is entirely dependent upon appointments being available, you being able to get to it and the service doing what it says it should. I would very much recommend route 2 as it may be the strikes are not affecting all services.

Edited by paulyv on Thursday 13th April 16:58

[Mark B]

My son is in exactly the same position, so thank you for the post. Thankfully no trip in May, so he should be able to get it sorted.

[davidd]

paulyv said:

You mention his commenced in 2018 and expires in 2023...is that right or do you mean it commenced in 2013? Am I missing why it is not valid for 10 years in total? I may be missing something obvious regards that. If your dates above are accurate then the 10 year rule does not really apply as it is only 5 years since 2018 but yes the 90 days issue is not going to work for him.

Edited by paulyv on Thursday 13th April 16:58

Thanks, for some reason I only got them 5 year passports when I renewed them. Probably because they were child passports

I think as it was issued well less than 10 years ago he will be fine for his trip in may, needs to sort it for LM though.

Edited by davidd on Thursday 13th April 17:16

[paulyv]

I didn't know about the 5 year passports - you live and learn. However, yes the 10 year rule should not apply in that case.

I would get your appointment booked now if you can as I seem to recall I got lucky with my own appointment and it was the following week but at the time this was very uncommon.

[SixPotBelly]

I went to Petty France and paid for a same day renewal last time (because I needed to carry my passport every work day). Of course, that's easier done living near London than it would have been if I was in John O'Groats, but there may be regional offices if London's too far?

[davek_964]

I was unaware of the 10 year rule. Mine expires, 2025 but was issued July 2014 - guess I'll need to renew early next year.

[Monkeybrain1234]

I renewed mine in March and it took 2 weeks.

Would recommend get all forms done online before he goes away on holiday. Send him on holiday with the envelope ready, when he lands back home collect car drive to nearest post office send next day service guaranteed.
Then cross everything, they do send you tracking details of how it’s progressing rather than leaving you guessing application status.

I would rather try than take the gamble of a sleeping passport inspection officer. (They never look sleepy to me!)

Good luck 😉

[BigRobbo]

Don't forget the passport officials are holding industrial action to add to the hassle

[MRMNB]

Gamble on getting a new one, a relative of mine has just had a new passport returned after 6 days (!)

[davidd]

Well the gamble paid off;)

He had an appointment for one of the 7 day ones. Appointment at 9:45 on Wednesday 24th, passport was delivered yestday at about noon. 3 day turnaround..

Phew

[Aysedasi2]

davidd said:

Well the gamble paid off;)

He had an appointment for one of the 7 day ones. Appointment at 9:45 on Wednesday 24th, passport was delivered yestday at about noon. 3 day turnaround..

Phew

Nice work, well done!

[Monkeybrain1234]

davidd said:

Well the gamble paid off;)

He had an appointment for one of the 7 day ones. Appointment at 9:45 on Wednesday 24th, passport was delivered yestday at about noon. 3 day turnaround..

Phew

Win win win.