Three key Irish passport rules putting your holiday plans in jeopardy as the public rush to sort through documents

THERE are three key Irish passport rules that could result in your holiday being canceled if you don’t take care of them.

Holidaymakers will be rushing to sort their documents in time for the post-Covid lockdown summer holidays.

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The easiest way to apply for either a first-time or a renewed Irish passport is online as almost all Irish citizens can do so.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, this is the quickest way to get your document ready.

The current waiting time for easy online renewals is only 10 business days.

The waiting time for complex and child extensions is an estimated 15 working days, while first-time applicants have to wait 30 working days.

In the meantime, it will take An Post’s passport mail service about eight weeks to resolve the matter.

First of all, holidaymakers simply have to check the expiry date of their passport in advance.

This is especially important if you haven’t traveled abroad for a long time, as you will have to cancel your holiday once it’s up.

Irish passport holders can renew them from any country, but only if their passports are less than five years old.

If the document is out of date longer, you will be treated as a first-time applicant and will therefore have to wait 30 instead of 10 working days to receive it.

And if you live in Ireland but hold a passport from another country, you need to make sure your passport is valid for at least three months when traveling to a Schengen country.

The Schengen area includes about 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border controls at their common borders.

Although Ireland is part of the EU, it is not a Schengen country.

PASSPORT CONTROL

And passengers must take extra care to calculate the validity of their passport based on the date they plan to depart from a Schengen country, not the date they arrive.

However, the DFA also warned that some countries require your passport to be valid for several months after your departure.

Finally, tourists must ensure that their passports are not damaged in any way, otherwise they could be turned away at the departure gates.

The damage includes water, tears on the cover, scratches on the main page of the ID card and fading of the pages.

TRAVEL WARNING

The FDFA says: “If your passport has been damaged, you must return the damaged passport when you apply for a replacement.

“If your passport is damaged, don’t travel with it.”

In the meantime, passport renewals for Irish children need to be completed in time for the summer holidays.

Renewals of child passports are considered “complex renewals” because consent from all legal guardians must be verified.

According to the DFA, additional documents must also be sent in order for children to receive a new passport.

In Ireland, the school summer holidays usually run from 1 July to 31 August.

That means parents and guardians must renew their child’s passport online on or before June 10 if they plan to travel by July 1.