Passport date of expiry

[kambites]

I'm going away on Thursday and have just realised my passport expiry date is the exact day I'm flying back. Does anyone know whether the date listed on the passport is the first day you cannot use it or the last day you can? Google is curiously unhelpful.

[kambites]

Alex Z said:

Where are you flying to? Quite a few countries require you to have several months left on the passport.

Only Bulgaria, so inside the EU. Strictly speaking I don't need a passport to get back but I do need proof of nationality and the passport is the only thing I have. I guess it'll soon be a moot point but who thought it was a good idea not to offer EU ID cards in the UK.

ETA: The Thomas Cook website just says: "If you’re travelling within the EU your passport just needs to be valid for the duration of your stay and you don’t need any additional period of validity on your passport beyond this." so it sounds like I'm OK. I'll just have to hope the flght doesn't get cancelled.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 19th July 20:38

[kambites]

limpsfield said:

Croatia - I think I had about a month or so left - check in said I needed 6 months or something. Much googling and panic and it was resolved.

Was that before it was in the EU? Countries aren't allowed to enforce such restrictions within the EU because of the freedom of movement rules. I suppose travel agents/airlines still could, though.

[kambites]

Sheepshanks said:

Last day.

Thankyou for the concise answer by the way.

[kambites]

Sheepshanks said:

kambites said:

Thankyou for the concise answer by the way.

That isn't to say you won't have problems with arsy check-in staff. Who are you flying with? Even BA have form for getting it wrong and only admitted they messed up when the press get involved.

Coming back with Wizz Air, whose website just says to check with the embasy of the country in question.

[kambites]

Welshbeef said:

skinnyman said:

Always baffles me that, "here's an expiry date, but sometimes it 3-6mths earlier". Righto.....

What you should do is get your passport renewed 6 months before expiry— don’t think that you’ve lost 6 months no the expiry of the new passport will be 10 years from he expiry of he old one.

Nine months, but yes in hindsight I should have got it done. I don't have time now but it sounds like it wont be a problem. Worst that happens is I drive down to Sofia to get a temporary travel card things.

I don't have time to get a new one now. No way I can make it to Portsmouth (the nearest office) before I leave.

[kambites]

Welshbeef said:

Where abouts are you staying in Bulgaria?

Primarily Yambol but we always travel around a bit while we're there. Going and spending a long weekend or a week around Sofia area would be something to break the monotony if it turns out to be necessary.

[kambites]

Welshbeef said:

Have you been to the outside go kart track not too far from the rila monistary

I've never been karting in Bulgaria at all; are their kart tracks any smoother than their roads?

[kambites]

Pothole said:

kambites said:

I guess it'll soon be a moot point but who thought it was a good idea not to offer EU ID cards in the UK.

Me, for one. For a start our entrenched state bureaucracy wouldn't allow them to be just offered. Then there's the question of how much information is stored and how secure it is. Having dealt with some of the nasty, do anything for a quick quid, young, only just above minimum wage tossers at my local council and various job centres over the years I shudder at the thought of ID cards in this country.

Presumably you don't have a passport? Because I can't imagine what extra information they'd need about you for an ID card that they don't already have for a passport.