Post-Brexit passport rules prevent millions of Britons from entering the European Union, causing chaos this Easter holiday: with the 'escape' starting this Thursday, an estimated 2.4 million Britons have unusable documents. Travel to the European Union due to changing expiration requirements.
From Brexit, British passports must be valid for no less than 10 years from the date of departure for the EU, and must have at least three months remaining on their expiry date on the day they are scheduled to return. But millions of passports issued before September 2018 have long-term validity. According to British newspaper 'The Independent', there are around 200 people a day at UK airports and thousands more are expected to ruin their holidays.
The rule change followed Britain's Brexit deal with the EU, which put the UK in the “third country nationals” category, along with Venezuela and Samoa – with different expiry rules when they were a member state. This means Britain is being turned away from airports, ferries and trains to Europe, even if they have already traveled to the EU with the same document.
The 17-day Easter holidays are a very busy period for British travellers, with 6.4 million journeys from the UK to Europe – with 1.6 million over the long weekend alone.
Anyone with a passport issued before March 28, 2014, even though it still has months to expire, will be banned from traveling to Europe from today. This confusing rule affects everyone who was issued a passport before September 2018: around 32 million people.
Jane Austen is a writer and contributor covering culture, literature, lifestyle, and society. Her work focuses on thoughtful storytelling, social trends, and the issues shaping everyday life, delivering engaging and accessible content for readers across the United Kingdom.