@Stella I asked a passport person at an airport about validity towards the end of last year when passing with my CDS, she said the passport was valid for entry to France up till expiry because I had a CDS.
If you have no plans for travel, I don’t see why you can’t leave it until say the month before expiry, it is not likely to be busy in November?
Raises a slightly interesting question, what happens if one needs to go to the UK urgently and has sent one’s passport off to be renewed from France?
Although I am planning to quietly stay put in France, just in case my UK passport is required for any France bureacratic event I applied last month for a renewal. There were still six months until the expiry date but I abandoned them because that was an extension France, and other EU countries, do not recognise.
Took the UK passport office exactly 2 weeks and 4 days to send my new passport. Always better safe than sorry!
I can answer this one. The British Embassy can issue an “Emergency Travel Document”. You have to specify the journey you’re taking and the dates you’re travelling (where known), and it’s only valid for that journey.
It’s not cheap (think it costs approx €100) and it still takes them 2 or 3 days to process it, plus you have to either go to the Embassy in Paris or the Consulates in Bordeaux or Marseille.
More info… Travel urgently from abroad without your UK passport: Who can apply - GOV.UK
That is what I thought, so it will hopefully be confirmed when EU advice replies to George’s query.
If one has a valid passport (as in within date rather than this special “valid for travel across EU border”) I don’t see how you can be prevented from returning to your home in France. Even during Covid with all the travel restrictions we were never prevented from coming into France (whether there was a train that would get one there was another matter!)
I would never say never. There have been moments in our lives when one or other of us has had to travel at short notice. The last thing on earth I would want in such circumstances (often stressful) is the added stress of sorting out a passport that’s about to expire (or already has). Surely it’s really not a big deal to get it done in a timely manner?
No… it’s no big deal… just seems that these aren’t really 10-year passports if one has to ask for a renewal so far in advance.
Just because of the strikes! Last renewal OH did about 2 weeks before expiry and it came back in 10 days. Until proved wrong I remain convinced we don’t need 3 months before expiry to come back home.
How long before a uk passport expires can you apply for a replacement?
If you gave a WARP CdeS why or do you need a valid British passport to return to France.
I didn’t renew my passport for over ten months after it expired, no problems getting a replacement at all and they did not deduct the time lost either.
Not sure you really need an answer to that do you?! Since the UK is no longer in Europe even the French need to produce a passport to go to the UK. So if a national ID card won’t do, despite all the checks needed to be able to get one, then why should a WARP card? Especially since so many are based on no more than an electricity bill .
(And much to the dismay of school trip organisers as another reason why european trips have dropped off as manyFrench kids don’t havepassports)
The passport also doesn’t reach the 10 year expiry date if lots of travel fills up all the pages.
Most countries require your passport has at least 1 full empty page remaining upon entry. Some require more, i.e. Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany require 2 full empty pages. There are a few that require even more. Best to maintain at least 3 empty pages because some countries, eg. China require a full page in exclusivity for each entry visa acquired in advance of arrival (and no less than 6 months passport expiry.)
UK does not allow supplementary extra pages affixed to your passport but will attach an old passport with ongoing visa stamp to a new passport.
No stamps in my passport… and it runs out this year… just shows we haven’t been outside of Europe in the last 10 years… mind you, Europe is a big place 
Of course, everyone’s passport is their own choice but my thought is it that it isn’t a vital piece of ID until, perhaps suddenly, it is.
Living in France, I accept their requirement and renewed my UK passport last month, despite the expiry date being nearly nine months away. Abandoning a few months of validity seemed to me of far less concern than the chance of being caught with ‘incorrect documentation’ when/if required.
During the recent UK passport office strike my new passport arrived 2 weeks and 4 days after sending in the old one. I interpret the expediency as indication of the UK service’s appreciation of the importance of its citizen’s passport in their lives abroad.
I’m planning to apply 2 months from expiry date… which is what France requires for its own Passport Holders…
The website says to expect a delay of 11 weeks… up to you when you renew of course but, being a belt-and-braces type of person, I would allow at least that length of time. especially during the summer 
Does the UK actually have a summer ?? 
Mine took 15 last autumn for a very straightforward renewal involving delays and incompetence at all stages. Not an indication of the situation now obviously, but at the time I certainly took it as an…
Hilariously after making a complaint it was rejected with the reasoning “no valid grounds to complain” which was quite something to be told. I did what I imagine they were hoping at that point and just dropped it, but to say it was shocking was an understatement.
It’s the period when UK people get a passport to go elsewhere for a summer
That is extremely shocking - after 15 weeks too!
Yes, i thought in the end that i basically got a response that wasn’t really meant for me, the reply was a cut paste job that barely made sense, I’d imagine that the complainer/ end user should get something more flowery whereas what I had was the notes before the flowery version was written. From what I’ve read (largely via articles posted on here tbh) the passport office (and the company they outsourced customer service to) was rather a mess at the time, and perhaps still is, so I’d imagine as I say I probably shouldn’t have got that, worded like that. I considered complaining about the complaint just to make a point, but, well, we’re only here on earth for so long and i thought I probably had better things to do I with my time 