If my passport doesn't run out till July, do I have to renew it before this date?

[eyeshade]

A friend said you need to renew it 6 months before the expiry date, is this correct? ES

[redcrx]

no you dont. You dont even need to renew it at all if you arent using it.
I think that you can renew it early and tag on a small period of time to expiry of new one though

[Cool_Dude88]

you dont need to renew it ever, if you left the country june 25th and didnt comeback tell december your fine

[eyeshade]

Thanks a lot

[chelle7272]

However if you are going to use your friend is correct in that most places won't accept a passport that has less than six months left.

[ummmm]

They do request that you renew it 6 months before it expires.

[ojread2]

who is 'they'?

There are very few countries who require 6 months on your passport

Eyeshade, search the travel section for your answer - I'll have a quick search beofre I need to leave for work

[ojread2]

http://www.theanswerb...l/Question691179.html
There are many more

You dont even need a passport for the EU, a citizen card is good to travel

[dzug]

<You dont even need a passport for the EU, a citizen card is good to travel >

Except that what the EU mean by a citizen card and what you mean by a citizen card are I suspect two different things.

Most people in the UK cannot get a ''citizen card' of the type required by the EU. Apart from a pilot scheme in one part of the country they are not issued here, and there is considerable political opposition to them.

[Buenchico]

(2 part post):

To tidy up a few of the answers above (as well as adding to them and correcting one or two at the same time):

You can renew a passport at any time. Any unexpired period on the old passport is added to the validity of the new one, subject to a maximum of nine months.

Passports are not required throughout most of the European Union, due to the implementation of the Schengen Agreement which abolished border controls. However the UK and Ireland are the only two EU countries which haven't fully signed up to the Schengen treaty. That means that anyone travelling from the UK to any other EU country (except Ireland) must be in possession of a valid passport or a valid national identity card (issued by an EU member country). At the present time British citizens (except certain airport staff) can only obtain a UK national identity card if they live or work in the northwest of England. So most people in the UK, travelling abroad, still require a passport.

[Buenchico]

A 'Citizen Card' (of the type used by young people to prove that they're old enough to buy age-restricted items) is not valid in place of a passport or national identity card. (However, some airlines might accept such a card as proof of identity, for security purposes only, for travel within the UK or for travel between the UK and Ireland).

Travel to a non-EU country always requires a passport.

The 'six month validity' rule is largely a myth. Only a few countries operate such a policy. (Even the USA, which has some of the strictest entry requirements in the world, exempts UK passport holders from their normal 6-month validity requirement). All EU passports (including those of the UK) are valid, throughout the whole of the EU, right up until the last second of their stated validity.

You can check on the entry requirements of any country (including whether you need a visa or whether you need a minimum period of validity on your passport), using the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website:
http://www.fco.gov.uk...el-advice-by-country/

Chris

[ABerrant]

Chris - It could be argued that the passport validity policy operated by the US is less stringent than many other countries. Under the VWP there is a default requirement for a machine-readable passport valid for 6 months beyond the period of intended stay, or essentially 9 months (90 days + 6 months) from time of entry, but this is counteracted by an agreement with 130 countries (including the UK) to automatically extend the period of validity of a foreign passport by 6 months.

Using the information provided by the FCO website, of the first 140 listed countries (at which point I got bored), 60 mention 6-month validity. It is also interesting to note that British Overseas Territories such as Ascencion Island, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St Helena, etc. require British Nationals to have a minimum 6-month passport validity at time of entry.

[dzug]

The FCO site is not always right though - until recently it said Belgium required 3 months validity, though that's now been corrected.

The government of the country you are visiting is a more reliable source of infomation than somewhere that has it at second hand