I’ve had a number of enquiries about passports. There are significant delays with the Home Office due to new travelling restrictions and the peak summer travel period.

Considering the number of residents who have been in touch, I was surprised to hear Boris Johnson claim at PMQs that everyone was getting their passports within 4 – 6 weeks. A fact check confirms that the Prime Minister was wrong; there are thousands of passports not being returned within ten weeks.

The reality is that there is a big problem with the Home Office and processing passports right now that people need to be aware of so they can plan their travel properly. I hope the below guidance is useful for constituents.

Passport validity

If you are planning to travel to an EU country (except Ireland), or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City, you must follow the Schengen area passport requirements.

Your passport must be:

• Issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
• valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

For any country, you can check travel guidance and under ‘entry requirements’ to check further passport requirements.

Applying for a passport

The standard waiting time for a new passport is now 10 weeks.

You should not book travel until you have a valid passport – your new passport will not have the same passport number as your old one.

Get in touch

If you are facing delays with your passport, do get in touch with me at jeff.smith.mp@parliament.uk – we can try to push the Home Office to speed up your application if other routes haven’t worked. When contacting me, please include:

• Your full name
• Your address
• Your date of birth
• Your passport application number

For further information, check government guidance for passports