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Passports

Holiday Ideas & Foreign Travel
dspp
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Re: Passports

#120262

Postby dspp » February 25th, 2018, 9:41 am

not a problem within the eu ....... for so long as we are in ............

Lootman
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Re: Passports

#120268

Postby Lootman » February 25th, 2018, 10:07 am

My rule is 3 months. There may be some more restrictive nations that want to see 6 months, but they are probably places i would not want to visit anyway. However, if you need a visa to visit a country then the visa cannot extend beyond the expiry date of the passport.

I actually have 2 passports, as does my wife, so in practice we don't have to worry about this so much.

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Re: Passports

#120293

Postby Slarti » February 25th, 2018, 12:09 pm

It was (is?) USA that insisted on 6 months life on the passport, after date of return.

EU has no such restriction for UK and never did so, before we joined.

Some airlines wish to apply stricter rules, but if youv'e checked yours, ten I see no problem.

As an aside, we renewed Mrs S passport at the beginning of the month.

8th Feb had the photo taken and did the online application, 14th Feb the new passport dropped through the door.

Slarti

dspp
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Re: Passports

#120359

Postby dspp » February 25th, 2018, 6:50 pm

It is not just USA that requires 6 months. So too does India and China. There may be others, but not EU - for a while at least.

regards, dspp

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Re: Passports

#120367

Postby Lootman » February 25th, 2018, 7:07 pm

dspp wrote:It is not just USA that requires 6 months. So too does India and China. There may be others, but not EU - for a while at least.

For the US, isn't that only for visa waiver pax? If you get a visa then it can be less, I believe, although of course that is a PITA.

Does China still require visas? It did when I went. In which case, again, the passport expiry date should not matter as long as the visa expiration happens before.

dspp
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Re: Passports

#120372

Postby dspp » February 25th, 2018, 7:14 pm

Both China and India require passport validity of at least 6m. This is so even if they are granting a 2y visa. I have had both fairly recently - and a new passport to suit !

regards, dspp

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Re: Passports

#120432

Postby Watis » February 25th, 2018, 10:21 pm

Slarti wrote:It was (is?) USA that insisted on 6 months life on the passport, after date of return.

EU has no such restriction for UK and never did so, before we joined.

Some airlines wish to apply stricter rules, but if youv'e checked yours, ten I see no problem.

As an aside, we renewed Mrs S passport at the beginning of the month.

8th Feb had the photo taken and did the online application, 14th Feb the new passport dropped through the door.

Slarti


Mrs Watis & I have just renewed our passports online.

Are readers aware that, with an online renewal, you can take the photos on your smartphone and upload them with your application? The website provides clear guidance on how to take an acceptable photo. Photos are checked and accepted or rejected by the software on the website so you know immediately whether or not the photo is acceptable. If it's not, you just upload another one Some of mine were rejected as 'too ugly', or something like that, before one was accepted.

And of course, when you take the photo on your phone there's a saving of about £5 per person, or whatever photo booths charge these days.

HTH,

Watis

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Re: Passports

#120435

Postby staffordian » February 25th, 2018, 11:05 pm

Watis wrote:Mrs Watis & I have just renewed our passports online.

Are readers aware that, with an online renewal, you can take the photos on your smartphone and upload them with your application? The website provides clear guidance on how to take an acceptable photo. Photos are checked and accepted or rejected by the software on the website so you know immediately whether or not the photo is acceptable. If it's not, you just upload another one Some of mine were rejected as 'too ugly', or something like that, before one was accepted.

And of course, when you take the photo on your phone there's a saving of about £5 per person, or whatever photo booths charge these days.

HTH,

Watis


Mrs S and I did similar recently.

Just to elaborate on the self taken photo; the software which initially vets the uploaded picture isn't perfect, and can reject a photo which is fine. The application process allows you to proceed with the picture if you are confident that it meets the guidelines, though, of course, there is a chance it may be rejected when a human checks it if they don't agree with you!

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Re: Passports

#120514

Postby Slarti » February 26th, 2018, 12:25 pm

If you go the alternate route of a modern photo booth, or a photo shop then they upload the photos for you and all you have to do is, during the application, type in the reference that they give you and the photo will appear.

The one for Mrs S was flagged as doubtful, because of colour, but I said that as far as I could see skin and hair tones were correct and carried on. It was accepted.

Given the fact that it is only once in 10 years and can also be used on the driving licence renewal (every 3 years) SWMBO decided that neither my son or myself were good enough to do it ;)

We decided against the photo booth as when S Jnr and I got ours renewed we both had difficulty getting far enough away from the screen to fit into the frame. Plus the seat was off centre.

Slarti

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Re: Passports

#120521

Postby Dod101 » February 26th, 2018, 12:40 pm

I am going to Melbourne shortly and Australia also requires at least 6 months left on your passport. As has been said no big deal as you can get a passport very quickly these days whether you apply inline or the old fashioned way via a paper application.

I suspect for Europe you may not even need a passport although you do need some way to prove your identity and residence. An Identity Card would be one way to do it and it would make things so much simpler for many situations where you need to prove such matters.

Dod

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Re: Passports

#120525

Postby PinkDalek » February 26th, 2018, 12:47 pm

Snorvey wrote:We're off to Amsterdam for a few days soon.

By the time we're due to leave there will be less than 6 months remaining on our passports and there is something in the back of my mind that I read this could be a problem?

I've checked the airline (KLM) and there's nothing mentioned there.

Maybe it's international (i.e. outside the EU) travel where I read it?


For the Netherlands specifically, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office include:

Passport validity

Your passport should be valid for the proposed duration of your stay; you don’t need any additional period of validity on your passport beyond this.
Before you travel, make sure your passport is in good condition. The Netherlands authorities often impound damaged passports and some travellers have had to get an emergency travel document to leave the country.


See also the section on children if of relevance.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic ... quirements

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Re: Passports

#120584

Postby Slarti » February 26th, 2018, 4:48 pm

Dod101 wrote:I suspect for Europe you may not even need a passport although you do need some way to prove your identity and residence. An Identity Card would be one way to do it and it would make things so much simpler for many situations where you need to prove such matters.


You need one to get onto international transport here in the UK.

The transport company may not require a passport, just and ID card, but border control does.

Though I am not sure of the situation with Northern Ireland as I haven't been there since 1970.

Slarti

Dod101
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Re: Passports

#120620

Postby Dod101 » February 26th, 2018, 8:11 pm

Slarti wrote:You need one to get onto international transport here in the UK.

The transport company may not require a passport, just and ID card, but border control does.

Though I am not sure of the situation with Northern Ireland as I haven't been there since 1970.


You are probably right but I am sure I have seen nationals from other EU countries travelling on an ID card, not a passport.

N Ireland is part of the UK and as a visitor there quite regularly (I have a son and his family living in County Antrim) I can assure you that you do not need any form of ID if you take the ferry from Cairn Ryan. I expect that applies from other ports as well. I have not flown for a long while and you may need some form of ID then. A passport is the obvious method. Once there you can drive over the border into Eire unhindered by any check (pro tem at any rate!)

Dod

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Re: Passports

#120633

Postby Alaric » February 26th, 2018, 11:09 pm

Dod101 wrote:You are probably right but I am sure I have seen nationals from other EU countries travelling on an ID card, not a passport.


You can travel within the EU, even outside Schengen with a national ID card. The UK rejected the notion of an ID card when the Brown government was defeated in 2010. They had a proposal that passports would be required for ferry services. This was intended for Irish Sea crossings, but they worded it so it could apply to any ferry. The proposal was treated with the derision it deserved. I'm not sure it was ever repealed though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Wight.html

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Re: Passports

#120920

Postby Clitheroekid » February 28th, 2018, 12:37 am

Alaric wrote:
Dod101 wrote:They had a proposal that passports would be required for ferry services. This was intended for Irish Sea crossings, but they worded it so it could apply to any ferry. The proposal was treated with the derision it deserved.

I had an irritating surprise when I was in Lanzarote recently. I went to get the ferry from Lanzarote to Fuerteventura (both just parts of Spain) and was told I needed my passport to buy a ticket!

My protestations were, not surprisingly, to no effect at all, so I had to get a taxi back to the hotel, pick up my passport and then take the taxi back to the ferry terminal.

I don't recall ever having had this issue before, and it seems completely barmy to require a passport to travel within a country. It's like requiring a passport to visit the Scilly Isles.

I've travelled between the Balearic islands and the Greek islands dozens of times and I've never once had to show a passport either to buy a ticket or get on the ship, so either this is some new rule in Spain / the EU or it's an existing rule that's ignored elsewhere. Either way, I won't make the same mistake again.

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Re: Passports

#120964

Postby UncleIan » February 28th, 2018, 9:11 am

Clitheroekid wrote:I don't recall ever having had this issue before, and it seems completely barmy to require a passport to travel within a country. It's like requiring a passport to visit the Scilly Isles.

I've travelled between the Balearic islands and the Greek islands dozens of times and I've never once had to show a passport either to buy a ticket or get on the ship, so either this is some new rule in Spain / the EU or it's an existing rule that's ignored elsewhere. Either way, I won't make the same mistake again.


We had to do that in the summer travelling between Gran Canaria and Tenerife. I guess it's so that they know who is on the ferry for security. They seem to love a bit of bureaucracy in spain. But then again, they barely actually look at the passport, they certainly don't scan it or anything to check you against a watchlist or something, so it does seem a bit pointless. I guess the Spanish only need to show their national ID card which they're probably supposed to have on them at all times, so for them it's not a burden.

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Re: Passports

#120971

Postby dspp » February 28th, 2018, 9:44 am

Clitheroekid wrote:I had an irritating surprise when I was in Lanzarote recently. I went to get the ferry from Lanzarote to Fuerteventura (both just parts of Spain) and was told I needed my passport to buy a ticket!

My protestations were, not surprisingly, to no effect at all, so I had to get a taxi back to the hotel, pick up my passport and then take the taxi back to the ferry terminal.

I don't recall ever having had this issue before, and it seems completely barmy to require a passport to travel within a country. It's like requiring a passport to visit the Scilly Isles.

I've travelled between the Balearic islands and the Greek islands dozens of times and I've never once had to show a passport either to buy a ticket or get on the ship, so either this is some new rule in Spain / the EU or it's an existing rule that's ignored elsewhere. Either way, I won't make the same mistake again.


It is not an EU rule, and I'm not sure which Spanish rule it might be. However a similar rule applies in the UK when travelling by air between the mainland and NI. In both cases a valid EU identity card* will suffice and it does not need to be a passport. I have a valid identity card and I have successfully used it in Belfast. Basically I refused to give the UK border official a passport and insisted that they accept my identity card. Since I was in compliance with the law they had to accept it, which they did grudgingly, and I got on the plane.

regards, dspp

* the EU does not issue identity cards, but it does have a rule as to what constitutes a valid identity card which (AFAIK) is the norm in most of the other EU countries, certainly the Schengen ones.

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Re: Passports

#121003

Postby Alaric » February 28th, 2018, 11:21 am

dspp wrote: However a similar rule applies in the UK when travelling by air between the mainland and NI.


I had the idea you needed photo id of some form to fly anywhere, even inside England. That can be a photo driving licence, although I don't know whether a pensioner's bus pass would qualify.

There was a plan in the latter days of the Blair/Brown governments, later dropped, to require photo id for British ferries.

Many European countries have laws requiring id to be carried, the extent to which they are enforced is unknown as is any appetite to harmonise them across Europe. The UK and presumably the Irish Republic would see that as a step too far.

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Re: Passports

#121010

Postby dspp » February 28th, 2018, 11:42 am

For internal UK travel (excepting mainland <> NI) my experience is that a driver's licence is enough. Bus passes have yet to appear in my life.

But to go into / out of the CTA with NI/Ireland the valid EU identity document can be a requirement. Passports meet this definition, as do the relevant national identity cards which comply (which I think they all do).

regards, dspp

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Re: Passports

#121017

Postby tea42 » February 28th, 2018, 12:04 pm

You can renew your passport up to 9 months before it expires. Recieved our renewed passports by courier this morning. Our applications went in on the 20th February. Thus it took just 8 days!

I'm impressed!


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