British travellers to Mallorca are being urged to check the validity of their passport after a British woman, bound for the island, was turned away at airport check-in. Under new rules, introduced since Brexit, the British passport must have at least three months validity beyond the day holidaymakers plan to travel to Majorca or elsewhere in the European Union.
“A woman recently lost £2,000 in accommodation, hotel and flights after she was turned away at a Ryanair check-in desk. She had to leave her family at the airport and was unable to go on holiday to Mallorca.
“This is an issue many holidaymakers have encountered this last year,” said a report in the Daily Express.
The reason for this is a Brexit rule which came into force after December 31, 2020.
According to the Foreign Office: “If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date.”
Britons are advised to check their passport validity carefully as under this rule, a valid passport can be rejected at the check-in desk when travelling to Europe. Also, non-residents in Spain can only remain in the country for a total of six months during the year as part of new legislation introduced following Britain´s exit from the European Union.
Passports must meet 2 requirements. They must be:
• less than 10 years old on the day you enter (check the ‘date of issue’)
• valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)
People should check both the issue date and the expiry date in their passport. If you renewed your passport early, extra months may have been added to its expiry date and could affect the requirement for your passport to be less than 10 years old.
You can find more information on all the entry requirements for Spain at
https://www.gov.uk/foreign.../spain/entry-requirements
If you are a UK National living in Spain and covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, you do not need any extra months on your passport to enter or exit EU countries.
Source: Brits in Spain.