When should I renew my passport?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

British travellers are trying to balance cost-savings with bureaucratic risks (Getty)

Q I am a British passport holder with an expiry date of November 2019. What is your opinion of possibly renewing the passport before the Brexit cut-off date of 29 March. Is it worth losing the remaining months? I do travel to the EU quite a lot.

Jeanette W

A Millions of British passport holders whose travel documents expire during 2019 are in a bit of a quandary as they try to balance cost-saving against the risk of bureaucratic problems caused by the UK leaving the European Union. When we leave, old certainties about travel documentation will be history as we hand back control of red tape and much else to Brussels.

One change has already taken effect, to the detriment of British travellers. In September the UK government abandoned the old policy of providing credit for unused validity on passports. Previously, you could have renewed your passport as early as February 2019 and it would have been valid until November 2029. But while that is fine for EU members, passports issued more than 10 years ago are not acceptable from “third-country nationals” as British travellers will become.

Therefore it is now rational to delay renewing your passport until the last possible moment, to avoid unnecessary expense. However, another old certainty that will disappear when the UK leaves: your passport will cease to be valid for travel anywhere in the European Union up to and including the date of expiry.

Instead, the government warns that in the event of no deal: “After 29 March 2019 you should have at least six months left on your passport from your date of arrival.”

I forecast that the reality will take a while to sink in for a lot of travellers, and that there will then be a surge of applications which could cause delays. So I suggest you make a resolution to renew as early as possible in the new year. This will mean you squander validity, but that is better than jeopardising a potential trip.

You will be issued with a 10-year passport with “European Union” embossed on the cover. After Brexit its EU powers will disappear, but it will remain as a British travel document until its expiry date.

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