A woman from Great Britain had to cut her vacation short at passport control at the airport. The reason for this was a passport regulation that she had not taken into account when planning her trip.
A woman from Great Britain had to pay dearly for a mistake. As the Sun reports, the British woman missed several days of her trip to Greece due to a common but often unknown rule and had to bear additional costs.
In the case of the young British woman, it was the so-called “10-year rule,” writes the “Sun”. According to this rule, a passport must not be older than 10 years when entering an EU country. In addition, the passport should be valid for at least three months when the traveler returns to their home country. However, the young British woman’s passport was two days over the 10-year limit, which meant that she could not board her flight.
According to The Sun, the traveler first had to make an appointment at the London passport office, which cost her two more days of vacation and the start of her vacation. Instead of relaxing on a sunny beach in Greece, she found herself stuck in rush hour traffic in the British capital.
She also had to spend money again to successfully start her vacation: “So, 200 pounds for a new passport and 100 pounds for new flights, four days of my vacation and we arrived in Greece,” she said in a video she uploaded to TikTok.
In her video, she reported: “I was denied access to the plane because my passport was two days over the 10-year limit.” As The Sun reports, up to 100,000 holidaymakers are turned away at airports every year due to invalid travel documents.
The legal situation in Germany is similar. In principle, a passport is valid for ten years after it is issued. However, according to information from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, “it is not necessary to apply for a new passport early.”
However, when planning a vacation, the entry requirements of the respective destination country should be checked carefully, as most countries require “that the passport must be valid for up to six months beyond the end of the trip,” according to the ministry’s website.
If the identity document is lost during the trip, this should be reported immediately to the local police in the holiday country, as in such a case the presentation of a police report may be required when reapplying for the passport.
In addition, according to the Interior Ministry, if travelers lose their passport, they should contact the German diplomatic mission in the country they are traveling to in order to clarify the next steps for a smooth departure.
A few months ago, a family experienced a similar shock at the airport. An ink stain on a man’s passport meant that the airline refused to let him board. The man, who was on his way to Turkey with his family, had to cancel his 3,000 euro vacation.
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