0

Suppose I live in Germany and hold both a US passport and a Hungarian passport. For a vacation, I travel to the US on the US passport, and after two or three weeks I return to my home in Germany on the Hungarian passport.

In either case, would I be subject to any "extended passport validity" rules? Would either passport need to be valid beyond the date of travel for a certain number of months, or can I travel with either passport right up to the day of expiration if I so choose?

Improve this question
12
  • All European countries have their own passport rules, with minimum validity rules set by the EU. I am not familiar with either the Hungarian rules or the USA ones.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jun 20 at 18:02
  • 1
    You can return to your country of citizenship even with an expired passport, or no passport at all. If the airline lets you board, that is.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jun 20 at 18:03
  • 1
    Does any country have extended passport validity rules for its own citizens? They don't make logical sense; the point of such rules is to make it easier to deport a foreigner who overstays.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Jun 20 at 20:25
  • 1
    I’m pretty sure this is a duplicate but I’m way too lazy at this time to look for it.
    – jcaron
    Commented Jun 20 at 21:03
  • 1
    @Relaxed, that is different from what I intended. Minimum standards by EU cover that, but being allowed to use a passport after the expire date printed in it can differ.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jun 21 at 3:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

Speaking of an “extended passport validity rule” may be confusing things. This is no separate rule, rather third-country citizens are required to hold a valid travel document to enter the Schengen area. This document must also meet two additional requirements:

  • its validity shall extend at least three months after the intended date of departure from the territory of the Member States. […]
  • it shall have been issued within the previous 10 years;

By contrast, EU citizens do not require a passport to enter or live in the EU, they can visit other EU countries with almost no restriction, and can reside indefinitely in another EU country (i.e. there is no “intended date of departure” to consider) so it's obvious that none of this does or could concern them.

The EU freedom of movement directive, which the Schengen Borders code explicitly references, also makes additional arbitrary restrictions illegal. EU citizens can indeed enter any other EU country as long as they hold a valid document.

Incidentally, as noted in a comment and detailed in Why do passport validity rules exist?, these rules exist to facilitate force returns, which are exceedingly rare and almost impossible for EU citizens residing in another EU country.

Improve this answer
6
  • 1
    EU citizens are expected to cooperate in showing proof that they are EU citizens. Usually that means a valid passport or national ID card, anything else is a special case which might introduce delay and hassle. And airlines might hesitate to transport people with unclear status.
    – o.m.
    Commented Jun 21 at 5:29
  • @o.m. Yes but what does that have to do with the question or answer? A valid passport obviously does all that and isn't even required since an ID card will be perfectly fine as well. As you yourself just implicitly acknowledged, freedom of movement rights do not depend on that and it should even be possible to enter without any valid document but this Q&A isn't going into all that.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jun 21 at 6:26
  • 1
    This was apropos your "By contrast" paragraph -- they do not require a passport, but they do require any one document from a lengthy list, and if it is expired that will complicate things.
    – o.m.
    Commented Jun 21 at 14:24
  • Yes but they do not require a passport, that's what I wrote, that's what I meant and that's what's relevant. The actual rules on what might be required within a country and what the consequences might be are a little more complicated than what you describe in your comments but I deliberately did not want to get into this topic. The important thing in this paragraph is that the rules and requirements applying to EU citizens are completely different and the fact that they don't even need a passport is an obvious example of that.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jun 21 at 15:35
  • 1
    My point is not to give a minimalist answer but also the other necessary considerations. Usually EU citizens do need some sort of identity paper, so "they need no passport" could get your readers into trouble with the authorities. Trouble they can resolve, being EU citizens, but still administraive hassles.
    – o.m.
    Commented Jun 21 at 16:19

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .