Spanish passport update after Brits were banned from flights over confusion

The UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Spain after confusing passport information led to Brits being banned from their flights.

Britons traveling to EU countries are subject to new rules that have been in place since Brexit.

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However, many holidaymakers may not be aware of the new rules enforced in 2020 as the pandemic discourages many from travelling.

The new rules require Brits to have at least three months left on their passport to travel to the EU.

A second rule no longer allows passports to be older than 10 years – previous rules allowed an age of up to 10 years and nine months.

Many holidaymakers have fallen victim to the confusing rules – and the Foreign Office has since updated guidance for Spain to make it clearer.

The website, updated yesterday, now states: “Your passport must:

• issued less than 10 years before your entry (check the “date of issue”)
• valid for at least 3 months after the day of your planned departure (check the ‘expiry date’)

“You must check that your passport meets these requirements before you travel.

“If your passport was issued before October 1, 2018, additional months may have been added to its expiration date.”

This is because the expiry date may not be accurate – and Brits will need to check the start date instead.

Last month, a woman was kicked off her flight to Tenerife because of confusing passport rules.

Although their expiration dates indicated that they would still be valid, since Ava’s expiration date was June 28, 2022, it had extra months that were no longer counted.

Another woman lost her dream holiday worth £2,600 due to a similar passport error.

And Britons who need a new passport are facing chaos as many have waited more than the 10 weeks to get them back due to major delays at the passport office.

It’s not the only way your passport could stop you from entering a country – one woman was banned from entering Spain for not having an exit stamp in her passport, leading her to believe they were overstaying their visit had.

Here’s everything you need to know now about traveling to Spain.

And make sure you take a mask with you – as you still have to wear it on flights to Spain.

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