Will your passport be valid after Brexit?

Brexit, as you may have noticed, is a subject where simplistic language often prevails over complex reality.

“There is no downside to Brexit,” David Davis assured us in 2016 while secretary of state for exiting the European Union, “only a considerable upside.” Meanwhile the opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, promises: “Labour is ready to bring Leave and Remain voters together to rebuild Britain for the many not the few.”

While politicians posture and Theresa May reacquaints herself with Brussels, the clock ticks: not just the inexorable countdown to the UK’s departure on 29 March 2019, but the timer in your passport.

Perhaps you are one of the five million or so adults who renewed their passport during 2009? If so, pay attention to the detail of what awaits should Britain leave the EU without a deal. It involves lots of dates and numbers, but has the virtue of being true.

Two passport policies that happily coexist while the UK is part of the European Union will collide from 30 March 2019 with potentially unpleasant and expensive consequences for many British travellers.

Policy one: while the global standard for passport validity is 10 years, until 2018 the UK had the welcome policy of crediting new passports with up to nine months of unexpired time from the old one. My latest passport was issued on 23 May 2012, but does not expire until 23 February 2023. As an EU member, the UK can issue passports for as long as it likes.

Policy two: the rules for entry by third-country nationals into the Schengen area (which includes the vast majority of EU countries, as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and plucky Liechtenstein). Any passport that was issued more than 10 years ago is deemed to have expired.

Schengen also requires visitors to have at least three months’ validity (as defined by Europe) remaining on the day of departure from the EU. The British government added that stipulation to the maximum potential stay of up to 90 days, and is now saying that passports issued more than nine years and six months before the intended date of entry to the EU should be renewed.

Absurd as it may sound, a no-deal Brexit could mean a passport that expires in 14 months and 29 days is rejected due to insufficient validity.

It took two years from the referendum for this tangle of red tape to come to light. The Home Office hurriedly put an end to the 10-year-plus practice, and has now usefully set up an online passport checker. Tap in the date your passport was issued and when you depart to the EU, and it will calculate whether you are good to go.

I tested it for a passport issued on 29 September 2009 and expiring on 29 June 2020. A big red banner appeared, reading: “You should renew your passport for this trip.”

Around one million adults whose passports were issued in the first three months of 2009 could find their documents are regarded as out of date from the very first day of post-Brexit travel, 30 March 2019. Millions more UK passport holders may fall foul of the same rule later this year.

When I pointed out this “no-deal” inconvenience to travellers on social media, I didn’t expect to be thanked. Which was just as well, given the torrent of ripostes.

“Listen2Jonnie” used the hashtag #ProjectFear when he tweeted: “Another non-issue. You only have to worry if you’re in the last six months of your current passport, in which case, you’d probably be renewing anyway.” No, you might have to worry if you’re in the last 15 months of your current passport.

Here is “Assabuhutu” fondly believing: “OK, so you could travel within the EU on a passport that was three months from expiration, soon it will be six months.”

“Ynysllwyd” followed up with the interesting assertion: “It’s long been the case if there are less than six months left on one’s passport one can be turned away from flights.”

Certainly there are some destination countries where this rule applies to British passport holders: the UAE, Egypt and Singapore, for example. But not the US, Australia or, for as long as we are in it, the European Union: your passport is valid for travel up to and including the expiry date.

I welcome heckles. But, as with referendum campaigns, it helps if they are based on fact rather than wishful thinking.