Brexit and British Passport Renewals

As current circumstances stand, the United Kingdom will leave the EU on October 31, 2019, with or without a deal. If a deal is reached then in terms of immigration rules, the future of travel for British passport holders to the EU should remain more or less the same. On the other hand, if there is a No Deal Brexit, current reports suggest that those who have less than six months validity remaining on their passport could experience difficulties to travel in and around Europe.

As things stand at the moment and after the election of Boris Johnson as the new UK prime minister, there is still a major lack of certainty about what the future holds up until October 31, 2019, and after. If the UK does leave the EU without a deal, then as a British passport holder you could become subject to EU rules for third-country nationals.

Currently, if you are a British passport holder you are allowed to travel anywhere in Europe up until the date of expiry of your passport, however as a consequence of a No Deal Brexit, if the six-month rule is applied, it is worth thinking ahead and renewing your passport pre-emptively.

With regards to travelling to the Republic of Ireland which is governed under a common travel area agreement that overrides EU law, the six-month rule will not apply, but if you have plans to travel to countries within the Schengen area which are all EU countries besides Romania Bulgaria Croatia and Cyprus you will have to take into account the six-month validity rule and have a passport that is valid for more than 6 months.

The amount of time it takes to renew a British passport is around three weeks so take this into account if you have any travel plans coming up. The cost is £75.50 if you apply online or £85 if you fill out a paper application form. You can also use the one-week fast track service and make an appointment for an interview with at the passport office. If you choose to do this your passport will be delivered to your house within one week of your application and this costs £142 for an adult and £122 for a child. If you really need your passport urgently you can also use the one day service where you shall receive your passport on the same day of processing your application and the service cost for this is £177.

At this stage, it is very unclear what is going to happen on the day of Brexit in October, however, the best immigration solicitors London say that it is better to play it safe and assume the worst. This is because if the UK does leave without a deal if you have a holiday booked or a trip to Europe in your calendar not having a passport valid for a six month period could jeopardise your plans.

Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors are one of the most respected full-service law firms in London and we offer a one-stop-shop for all legal areas with a specialism on UK immigration. If you choose to not handle your British passport renewal yourself we will be happy to take care of this for you and you can contact our team of immigration lawyers London for more information.