Passport Grrr

[greenie]

I am off to Indonesian in a week. I have just been told by the company organising the trip that my passport needs to be valid for over 6 months from the end of the holiday and its not!

Is this right? If so how do I organise this in less than a week. Does it mean a trip to the passport office in London?

Help!

[Krusty]

They're right.
You can use a courier company and sent it to the British consulate General. Or a day out shopping for Ali whilst you sit in the passport office

[greenie]

Thanks for the sympathy. Git.

Did I miss the memo that everyone else got about passport expiry dates being 6 months inaccurate!

And it will cost be £89 plus travel so the chances of me letting Ali loose in the West End are slim.

[Krusty]

I think it's only to do with countries outside the EU. Must admit that I find it a pain when it needs changing, especially as work visas need to be moved over as well.

[r988]

No but it probably means lightening your wallet a bit.

[trooperiziz]

It's not strictly true, but your passport needs to be valid for the length of your entry visa and 6 months is just the default value they give to be on the safe side. If your passport isn't valid for 6 months they may or may not let you in the country, dpending on who is on duty at the time, so best not to take the chance.

A passport renewal and the london passport office is very easy, costs about £70 but you MUST have an appointment, you can't just rock up on the day and get it sorted. It'll take about 45 minutes to get to the desk, 5 minutes for them to check all your forms and then they will send you away for 4 hours to go do some shopping while they make a new passport.

come back 4 hours later, pickup your new passport from the desk and away you go.