Lifestyle Trend: Red UK passport warning for travel to 111 countries You Should Know

Falling foul of the rules would see your holiday ruined

Holidaymakers still carrying the old red passport have been issued a travel alert.

If you’re plotting a trip this year, you may want to check your passport now, due to strict entry requirements in other nations. Many countries demand your passport remains valid for a further six months before you embark on international travel. This is referred to as the ‘six-month validity rule’, and many individuals still using old red passports from the pre-Brexit era may find their documents don’t have sufficient time remaining.

There are 70 countries that enforce the six-month passport rule, while another 41 implement the three-month passport validity rule. This means travellers can enter these nations if their passport remains valid for at least three more months.

If you’re still in possession of a red passport, which are no longer being issued following Brexit, it’s vital to verify its expiry date. Since Brexit, your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day you arrive in the EU, and its expiry date must be at least three months beyond your planned departure date from the EU.

Most people – understandably – presume that an adult passport lasts 10 years, but if your passport was issued before October 1, 2018, additional months may have been added to its expiry date if the previous passport was renewed before it had completely expired.

You can verify whether your passport will be valid for your journey on GOV.UK. You’ll need to look up the country you’re visiting and click on ‘entry requirements’.

70 countries that have a six-month passport rule:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain, Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Curacao, Cote D’Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Somaliland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

41 countries that have a three-month passport rule:

Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.