Three little known passport rules that could ruin your summer holiday

Summer is just around the corner and millions of Brits will be preparing to head for sunnier climes. Scottish and Northern Irish schools will finish up at the end of June while in England and Wales, pupils already have dates in mid July pencilled in.

Many people won’t even need to wait that long to get away with Scotland and England both in action at Euro 2024 in Germany. Tens of thousands of fans are expected to make the journey during the tournament, which kicks off on June 14 with Scotland’s match with the hosts.

It is vitally important to be organised for your holidays and that means making sure your passport is in order. And there are some lesser known rules that could put a major spanner in the works when you set off.

So make sure you don’t fall foul to these three rules when you get to the airport.

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Condition of your passport

You probably don’t give your passport much thought until you need it. But if it is damaged then that could stop you travelling.

Official advice is that you cannot get on a plane if your travel document is damaged to an extent its authenticity would be called into question. The UK Government warns you must replace your passport if:

• you cannot read any of your details
• any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing
• there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover
• the cover is coming away
• there are stains on the pages (for example, ink or water damage)

We’re not sure “the dog ate it” would suffice at passport control. So make sure yours is in good condition.

Too many stamps

It is always nice to see your passport filled with stamps of all the exotic places you have visited. But if you are a regular traveller, that could come back to bite you.

If there is no room for any more stamps on the pages, then you will not be able to use your passport. You can’t simply request more pages and would need a new one. Stamps are being phased out so this won’t be an issue for too much longer, but best to check there’s space before you head off.

The 10-year rule

If you’re heading to an EU country – like Germany for the Euros – then you’ll need to be aware of the 10-year rule. UK travellers to the EU were previously allowed to carry over up to nine months from an old passport onto a new one.

However, new Brexit rules mean those heading to all countries within the bloc must have a passport that was issued less than 10 years before their arrival date, apart from the Republic of Ireland. Additionally, it should be valid for three months from the final day of the trip.

The average wait for a new passport is three weeks but this can increase at busy times. For more information on how to renew, go to the UK Government website.