Will my passport still be valid when I fly in May?

Q We have booked a holiday in Kefalonia from 8 to 22 May this year. My passport expires on 13 October. Will it be valid?

Carole S

A How lovely to be going to Greece’s Ionian islands in mid-May – an ideal time to be there, before the heat and crowds of July and August arrive. But I am afraid no one knows if your passport will be accepted for travel. It depends on whether Brexit happens without an deal, with a deal or gets postponed. If a withdrawal agreement is signed and the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March, then until 31 December 2020 everything will continue as though Britain was still in the EU (only without any UK influence on decisions).

Some obvious inconveniences will pop up for British travellers: the possibility for mobile phone operators to reintroduce call and data roaming charges, and losing the right to use fast-track EU citizen lanes at passport control abroad. But your passport should continue to be valid for travel anywhere in the European Union up to and including the date of expiry.

If the UK crashes out of the EU, though, you are among millions of people whose passports will not be regarded as valid for travel to the European Union after Brexit. Your passport must have “at least six months validity remaining on the date of arrival”, according to the government.

You will have just over five months left. I imagine that Greek frontier officials would take a relaxed view of people in your position, with over three months remaining and firm plans to leave after a short visit. But it is entirely possible that you will not be able to test this thesis because you are denied boarding the outbound flight.

So you can either get a new passport now or wait and see what happens with Brexit. In your position I would do the latter – though bear in mind that a flood of applications for renewal in the event of a no-deal departure from the EU could cause delays at HM Passport Office.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder