Hi
My passport runs out June 2010 and I just need to know how long you need to have left on your passport to be able to travel.
I,ve found the website to phone up its 1.50 a minute for the phone call but  as  all you lovely people on here share free information could anyone answer my question please as I get so stressed out if I get put on hold and I don,t want to hang on the end of the phone waiting in a big queue.
Sharon

It depends on where you're travelling, outside the EU you need 6 months on your passport on day of return and the EU is 3 months. Or it was the last time i checked which was just over a year ago.

If you call the airline or tour operator they can clarify this for you, or even pop into your nearest travel agent.

The call should be free! Try Direct.gov.uk, that website should tell you everything you need to know

Vikki

How much are new passports now?

you need to have 6 months left on it on your return journey, hubby just had his re newed, depends on the service you want aswell as to price cheapest is seventy something, ranging right upto ninety something if you want the fastest service and they do and check everything etc

Makes me smile that they need 6 month left...surley it should be good till the day it runs out!!! Can you imagine having to renew your MOT for the car as you only had a couple of months left if you needed to drive it LOL !!!
Aileen

i know, how do they get away with that anyway, you pay for a 10 year passport but cant travel on it if it has less than 6 months on your return cos we are getting diddled on the price then really arent we !!!!

know, how do they get away with that anyway, you pay for a 10 year passport but cant travel on it if it has less than 6 months on your return cos we are getting diddled on the price then really arent we !!!!

I believe that when you renew a passport before it has actually expired the new passport will still expire at what would have been the original expiry date if you had renewed it once it had run out and you don't lose the months left on it as they are added on - or that is how it used to work :-)

Not put that very well but hope you get the gist of what I mean :-)

Hi, yes i get the idea of what you mean, but just seems silly that you have a 10 year passport and pay for a 10 year passport but cant travel on it if you return after the 6 months remaining on it ! i have a 10 year passport and to be honest think it needs renewing any time now but since we won't be doing an abroad holiday until at the very least next summer aint worrying about it yet. There again i will have the added expense of renewing my passport and the kids havent even got a passport of their own yet so there goes about another 300 quid ontop of the price of a holiday for a start !!! (hubby already renewed his for a golf holiday this year) !

It isn't the Passport Service who make this stipulation though - it is the countries you are travelling to who stipulate how long you must have left on your passport. Apparently the authorities in South Africa can turn you back if you have less than two blank pages left in your passport even if it has years left to run. You have to check the requirements for the country you plan to travel to and adhere to their rules.

6 months.

You can renew up to 9 months early and they add the 9 months on.