UK travellers: could the new Brexit rules catch you out?
A couple heading off on holiday to Madeira were refused permission to board their plane on the grounds that the woman’s passport was not valid – even though it had another nine months left on it.
Pat Cerely, 79, and her 83-year-old husband, Peter, are the latest holidaymakers to be caught up in confusion over Brexit-related rules that mean many people with up to 12 months left on their passport could be stopped from travelling to a long list of EU countries.
Since January 2021 restrictions limiting how long non-EU citizens can spend in mainland Europe have meant that UK holidaymakers can only enter a country if they have at least three months left on their passport.
Rules that for non-EU citizens a passport must be within 10 years of its issue date when the holder arrives also apply.
In November, the couple were told they could not set off on their trip because Pat’s passport did not meet new rules.
The Cerelys arrived at Gatwick airport, checked in their luggage and then went through passport control with no problems.
“We duly went to get on the plane, and when the girl looked at my passport, she said I couldn’t board as it wasn’t valid,” Pat says. “There was another couple there experiencing the same problem. Although my passport didn’t expire until August 2022, she said it wasn’t valid.”
However, a close read of EU rules suggests the UK government, and some travel companies, are giving out incorrect information, and some people are being wrongly denied permission to travel.
The passport matter revolves around the date the document was issued.
According to the UK government and her airline, easyJet, Pat was correctly denied boarding but the EU regulations – as communicated to Guardian Money this week – would appear to show she
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