Martin Lewis urges anyone with a passport to make two checks now | Personal Finance | Finance

Money expert Martin Lewis is urging anyone with a passport to make two checks now – especially if you plan to use it this summer. Martin returned with a Summer Special episode of his live financial advice programme, The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 on Tuesday night, where he broadcast from Bristol with a slew of summer holiday advice while standing in front of a Concorde jet.

Among his holiday hacks and travel tips, Martin urged his viewers to make two checks on their passport which he stressed were ‘really important’ as border control and flight checks have become much stricter worldwide. Martin Lewis told his live studio audience and ITV1 viewers: “I need to say something really important to everybody. Border control and flight checks are getting more stringent. Countries are getting stricter on who they let in, so you need to be more diligent with your checks.

“I’ve got three crucial alerts for you. First of all, two checks everybody needs to do on their passport.

“Now these are very important, this is about the day you will enter the country. So, the first check is on the day you entered the country, are there less than 6 months left on your passport, or if you’re going to the EU, less than three months left?

“If so, that’s a big problem.

“But, there’s another rule. Even if you had seven months left on your passport, if your passport is over 10 years old, many countries won’t let you in.

“Now how can it be over 10 years old?

“Well because it used to be that when you renewed, if you had any spare time on your old passport they could add that on top, so you might have 10 years 10 months, and that can bar you too. So you need to do both of those checks.

“Now if you have done those checks and it’s yes to either of those then the best thing to do is renew before you go, it takes three weeks typically to get a new passport and it’s cheaper to do it online.”

Martin then urged people to get a new passport anyway, even if they have some time left on it, just to be extra safe.

He added: “But let me be honest, I’m hearing so many cases like this, if I were seven, eight or nine months away I’d probably play safe and get a new passport anyway because it’s been so tricky. And very similar if you’re travelling to the USA or passing through the USA, you need to sort your ESTA now, there is heightened border security in the states…without one people are being denied entry, you need to be careful.”