Simon Calder's Holiday Helpdesk: What are the passport expiry rules for Tenerife?

Friday 26 July 2013 00:01 BST

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Q Do you know if I need six months on my son's passport when we travel to Tenerife? We are going in August and his passport runs out in October.

Deborah

A Relax. Even though Tenerife and the rest of the Canary Islands are, for customs' purposes, outside the European Union (which is why you can buy duty-free booze, and why there is a limit on the cigarettes you can bring back), for passport purposes they are firmly within the EU. And that means you can travel to the Canaries, or indeed any other part of any other member state, up to the last day of passport validity.

Having said that, some travellers on easyJet have been wrongly barred from boarding at Gatwick, so do print this out and bring it with you to the airport if you happen to be using that airport/airline combination.

When you return, you have a choice. You could to renew his passport immediately, which will reduce potential stress, since the autumn is low season for UK renewals and it will be handled quickly. But if you do not have an overseas trip planned imminently, you could simply wait rather than paying for validity that you will not use.

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