Home Office urges people with less than six months on passport to get a new one ahead of Brexit

LONDON Sept 19: A million people will receive a text message from the Home Office encouraging them to renew their passports early ahead of Brexit.
New passport validity rules will apply for travel to most European countries if the UK goes ahead with a no-deal Brexit at the end of October.

The texts, part of the government’s ‘Get Ready for Brexit’ campaign, will be sent to those who provided their mobile number when they applied for their current passport.

But even if you don’t get a text, it’s worth checking your passport validity as there’s so much up in the air around leaving the European Union on October 31.

The first batch of texts have already been sent out, and the rest will be sent in clusters over the next few days.

Currently, UK passport holders can travel to EU countries right up to the point of your passport expiry date.

If we leave the EU with a deal, current arrangements will continue until the end of the transitional period – likely to be in 2020.

If we leave the EU with a no-deal, two new rules will apply:
Firstly, adults and children will need to have at least six months left on their passport to travel to most EU countries.

Secondly, any extra months on a passport over 10 years may not count towards the six months needed. A passport may have extra months if the holder renewed their previous passport before it expired.