Built by travellers, for travellers. A free tool to cut through the confusion of passport validity rules.
Passport Check was born out of frustration. We are frequent travellers who have personally been caught out by passport validity rules, and we know how stressful and expensive it can be to discover at the airport that your passport is not accepted, even when it looks perfectly valid.
Since Brexit, the rules for UK passport holders travelling to Europe have become genuinely confusing. The 10-year rule catches people out constantly: your passport might show an expiry date months away, yet EU and Schengen countries will reject it because it was issued more than 10 years ago. Before September 2018, the UK Passport Office used to add unused months from an old passport onto a new one, meaning some passports had up to 10 years and 9 months of validity. Post-Brexit, those extra months are simply ignored by European border authorities.
Then there are the different validity requirements depending on where you are going. The EU and Schengen Area require at least 3 months of validity beyond your departure date, plus the 10-year issue date rule. Much of Asia, Africa, and the Americas require 6 months of validity from your date of arrival. Some countries have no minimum requirement at all. Trying to work all of this out by reading government websites and embassy pages is time-consuming and error-prone.
We built this tool to give you a clear, instant answer. Enter your passport details and your destination, and you will know immediately whether your passport is valid for that trip. No jargon, no ambiguity, no trawling through pages of government guidance.
Our passport validity checker uses a comprehensive database of country-specific entry requirements for UK passport holders. When you enter your passport issue date, expiry date, and destination country, the tool checks your passport against the specific rules for that country, including:
All passport data is processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to our servers, nothing is stored, and nothing is shared. Your passport details stay on your device and are never transmitted anywhere.
The tool also includes features for saving upcoming trips, setting renewal reminders, and tracking passport expiry dates for your whole family, all stored locally in your browser.
Passport Check is not a government service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to HM Passport Office, the UK government, or any embassy or consulate. This is an independent tool built to help travellers make sense of passport validity rules.
While we work hard to keep our country data accurate and up to date, entry requirements can change at short notice. We always recommend verifying requirements with official sources, such as the GOV.UK foreign travel advice pages, before booking or travelling.
This tool provides guidance only. It is not a guarantee of entry to any country. Border officials and airlines have the final say on whether your passport is accepted.
Ready to check your passport?
Use our free UK Passport Validity Checker →