From 1 January 2021 travel requirements changed to the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein (the Schengen Area).
British passport holders are considered a third country national under the Schengen Border Code. This includes passports issued `by the Jersey Passport Office. You need to comply with different rules to enter and travel around the Schengen Area.
Third country passports must:
- have been issued within the last 10 years on the date of arrival in a Schengen country
- have at least 3 months validity remaining on the date of intended departure from the last country visited in the Schengen Area. Because third country nationals can remain in the Schengen Area for 90 days, the actual check carried out could be that the passport has at least 6 months validity remaining on the date of arrival
If you travel to EU countries that are not in the Schengen area you need to check the entry requirements for that country before you travel.
Foreign travel advice
EU countries not in the Schengen Area include:
Travel to Ireland is subject to separate Common Travel Area arrangements.
Check your passport issue and expiry date
If you're planning to visit the Schengen Area you should check:
- the issue date of your adult passport and renew it in good time if it'll be older than 9 years and 6 months
- check your child’s passport has at least 6 months validity left before the expiry date on the day of travel
If your passport does not meet the criteria, you may be denied entry to any of the Schengen Area countries.
For more information see the
Schengen Border Code on European Union Law.
Passports with validity over 10 years
Since 2001, some adult British passports were issued with a validity longer than 10 years. This is because if you renewed your passport before it expired you were allowed to have the time left on your old passport added to your new passport. The maximum validity period possible was 10 years and 9 months. This means that you cannot use the expiry date to check if your adult passport will be valid under the new Schengen Border Rules.
From 10 September 2018 extra validity was no longer added to British passports and the maximum validity for a new adult British passport will be 10 years, and for a child passport it will be 5 years. This change has been made to follow recommendations set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and to help provide clarity about passport validity in the future.
Passport renewal date calculator
This calculator helps you work out if your British passport will be valid for travel to the Schengen countries. The calculator is only valid for British passports. If you have a passport or Visa issued from another country, contact the relative embassy to check if it will be valid.
Schengen area
Countries within the Schengen area includes:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
Renew your passport
You can renew a passport at any time. Do not wait until you need to travel.
Apply for a passport
gov.je