Husband and I will be traveling to london from April 22nd - 29th then flying on the 29th to Amsterdam. Flying back to the states on May 3rd. Our passports expire on December the 20th. That's almost 8 months. Thoughts on if we have enough time on our passports or should we renew before we go? Thanks
Posted by
London
1037 posts
I believe you only need three months on your passport to enter Schengen (for the Netherlands), and I think the UK as well. In general as long as you have at least six months when you enter you should be ok for most countries. I've never seen a requirement for more than six months on entry.
For the UK, you can find more info here: https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk
Of course for the UK you also need to get an ETA first. There's info on how to get it at the link above as well.
Posted by
Preston UK
1750 posts
For the UK you only need your passport to be valid for the duration of your stay. For the Netherlands you need 3 months validity on your date of departure, so you're OK for the whole trip.
Posted by
Virginia
564 posts
The ETA is good for two years or the expiration of the passport it’s linked to, whichever comes first. So when you renew the passport (assuming you get the ETA on your current one) you will need to get another ETA if you wish to visit the UK again. But even with that, I would wait to renew until after this trip so as not to unnecessarily lose validity time you’ve paid for on your current one, as it’s fine for this trip and you wouldn’t have a big cushion of time to renew it before your departure.