On the day you travel your passport will need to have at least six months left of validity.
It will also need to less than 10 months old.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, issued his travel advice today, commenting: “It is essential that anyone with overseas travel booked from January 1 checks their passport before they go, as UK passport holders will now need a minimum of six months left on their passports to travel to most countries in Europe. Some people may even need more than 15 months validity, depending on when they last renewed their passport.
“Travellers are responsible for meeting entry requirements, so you can’t claim a refund if your passport is not valid. But if you do find you need to renew your passport and can’t travel, you should be able to take advantage of any flexible booking policy that was part of your contract with your travel provider.
“Just be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get your passport renewed. The current wait time is three weeks for online applications, but there is a chance this could increase if the end of the transition period has caused a backlog.”
For now, holidaymakers can continue as before and there will be no fees to travel to Europe.
However, there are plans to introduce a visa waiver, similar to that of the US ESTA and Canadian eTA, called ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) for Britons in late 2022.
