In the next few months as we head into the summer months, many Irish people will head abroad for their holidays but some of us could be caught out by little-known passport rules.
It's so important to make sure you have everything in order before you head off to avoid any issues at your boarding gate. For example, an Irish passport that appears to be valid could still put your holiday at risk should they fail to meet certain requirements.
From the number of blank pages to the condition of your passport, we have rounded up some little-known rules that could catch travellers out. Here's everything you need to know before going abroad.
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Blank passport pages
Cody Candee, CEO, and founder of luggage storage and travel company Bounce, says that only some people are aware of a rule relating to blank passport pages. He said: "If you run out of blank passport pages you will have to renew your passport sooner than your renewal date.
"Some countries, such as Italy, require a fully blank visa page for valid entry, while others, such as South Africa require at least two. Be sure to check the requirements of your chosen destination before travelling so that you don't get caught out," added Mr Candee.
Meanwhile, Irish passports in particular must have "enough blank pages to accommodate entry and exit immigration stamps for each country of travel,” according to CBIT visas. "At least one visa page in your passport is required for each visa.
"Most travel visas that are stamped into your passport require an entire blank visa page. A 'blank' visa page must be clean, clear, and not show ink or stains from any other pages in the passport”.
Date of passport
The date of your passport is very important, and if you haven't travelled in a while it's best to check that your passport still has a valid date before you go on holiday. If it has expired, you can can renew online from anywhere in the world, as long as your previous Irish passport is no more than 5 years out of date.
If it expired longer than five years ago, you must get in touch with the Irish Passport Office and you will be treated as a first-time applicant and will see your wait time jump from 10 to 35 working days. Meanwhile, if you're a resident in Ireland with an international passport, if you want to travel into a Schengen member country (i.e. countries without border control like Iceland and Norway) you must ensure that your passport is valid for at least three months.
This must be calculated from the date of departure from the Schengen member country.
Condition of passport
Before heading to the airport, it's highly important to check the condition of your official travel document before heading to the airport. According to citizens’ information, if your passport is in any way damaged, you can be turned away at the airport - this includes water damage, severe scratching on the identity card page, faded pages, loose binding, tearing on the cover, and so on.
It's also important to note that anything that can hinder identifying the passport as legitimate and belonging to the holder is considered enough damage to be turned away by airport staff.
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