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My wife's passport expires in 3 months and she didn't know about the rule that you can't fly to Europe if it expires within 3 months. We shortened her stay by a few days to accommodate this. My question is, once we are there are we able to book a flight home later on even though the passport will expire in less than a few months? I know it's probably not technically allowed but once we're there can we get away with it?

phoog
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Jeremy Herr
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    What country are you flying to? What is your wife's nationality? – phoog Jun 06 '23 at 00:57
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    General rule is - if you are flying to your home country, you can enter upto day of expiry. True for many countries you are a resident of also. – Anish Sheela Jun 06 '23 at 01:20
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    Renew your passports if there is not time for this get the temporary emergency passport from your country. – Simson Jun 06 '23 at 08:25
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    "we know it's probably not allowed" so don't do it... Why are we bombarded with questions that boil down to "how do I get away with breaking the law"? – jwenting Jun 06 '23 at 09:18
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    Does this answer your question? What happens if your passport expires while you are visiting another country? – jwenting Jun 06 '23 at 09:19
  • @jwenting There's nothing illegal about an expiring passport. – lambshaanxy Jun 07 '23 at 11:37
  • @lambshaanxy not the passport expiring in itself, but the being in a country where you need to have a valid passport IS illegal with an expired passport – jwenting Jun 07 '23 at 14:56
  • @Simson wanting to extend your vacation is not a valid reason for getting an emergency passport. Certainly not for any country I'm familiar with. – jwenting Jun 07 '23 at 14:57
  • @jwenting my limited knowledge from Sweden is if you a few days before your travel realize your passport is expired a few friends of mine has got pink temporary passports. I don't know if they are only issued for important business travel or for anyone who asks for it. – Simson Jun 07 '23 at 23:26
  • @jwenting No, it is not "illegal" not to have a valid passport, they don't throw you in jail if your passport is stolen. But the 3-month validity rule is there specifically to avoid having people's passports expire during their stay. – lambshaanxy Jun 08 '23 at 21:19

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The passport expiring is not a problem in itself. The 3 month validity rule applies only at point of entry, so you can stay freely as long as the passport remains valid. Even if the passport expires, your wife can get a new one or possibly even fly back to your home country with an expired one (although this can be a hassle, so I don't recommend it).

What is a problem, though, is that Schengen has a 90-day rule: as a visitor you're not allowed to spend more than 90 days in any given 180-day period within Schengen. Your wife would exceed that if she stays there for longer than 3 months, and visa extensions are generally impossible without very strong reasons (eg. being hospitalized).

lambshaanxy
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  • "you can stay freely as long as the passport remains valid" yes, indeed. So NOT with an expired passport as that's a passport that's no longer valid. – jwenting Jun 07 '23 at 14:58
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    They won’t hunt you down if your passport expired, and they won’t stop you from going home (because they actually want to get rid of you) but they will take note and you’ll have problems the next time you want to enter the EU. – gnasher729 Jun 08 '23 at 17:34