Passport expiry dates when entering EU countries

"Official" websites have it that most EU countries allow entry for Canadians citizens (and citizens of other selected countries)who have** 3 full months** remaining on their passport following departure date. We will be travelling Italy, Malta and Switzerland from February into April, 2015, and have 4 full months remaining on our passports following departure from Geneva, with return flights to verify our departure. Our travel agent is telling us we may be refused entry into any one of those countries since we do not have 6 months from departure date to passport expiry date. Has anyone out there with a similar 3-month proviso on their passport expiry date experienced refusal for entry into those countries?

AFAIK you should have 3 months remaining at the time of departure, as stated in the official sources. Also, don't automatically assume that your travel agent has sufficient knowledge about entry requirements, I have seen plenty of examples here of travel agents providing incomplete or incorrect visa information - and then hide behind a disclaimer in their terms and conditions when their customer gets in trouble.

Have you asked your travel agent to provide written proof of what s/he told you? Or referred him/her to the official websites you mentioned?

P.S. technically speaking, your question is about the Schengen Area, which is not quite the same as the EU (Switzerland is not in the EU but has joined the Schengen Area a few years ago). If you feel like testing your travel agent's knowledge, perhaps you could ask him/her to explain the Schengen Area's entry requirements to you, and then verify them on this forum.

Refer to http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

Has anyone out there with a similar 3-month proviso on their passport expiry date experienced refusal for entry into those countries?

This is the wrong question to have asked. If nothing else, spot checks introduces a random element into the scenario. What's happened to one person in the past may not be especially relevant to what will happen to you in the future.

barkhouseduo, if you read your own post you will notice one obvious way in which you could have answered your own question. You begin with

most EU countries allow entry ..

and then you are more precise in saying

travelling Italy, Malta and Switzerland

for which the travel agent says

may be refused entry into any one of those countries [my emphasis]

The obvious solution is to check the requirements for the countries you are visiting. The previous poster has kindly provided a relevant link.

Added to specific immigration procedures, the 6 month limitation might be a condition of the carrier (the airline you are using). The above link also warns about this possibility, and the travel agent might have meant this as well, just as a heads-up precaution.

If you still want speculation: I'd figure that (i) with a return ticket in hand, (ii) being visa exempt anyway for the duration of your trip and (iii) (probably) not looking like a threat to national security, immigration will not make an issue of anything, and neither will the airline company.

I've never had issues because I always renew my passport once it gets down to 6 months remaining on its validity. You have time to get a new passport. If you figure on taking another trip in the next 5-10 years, you'll need a new passport anyway, so why not get a new one now? Ambiguities and potential difficulties resolved.

Thanks for both of your helpful replies. I had actually checked that website, as well as several others and referred my travel agent to them, as well as to the Schengen area vs. EU. It seemed clear to us that 3 months is acceptable in all 3 countries we are visiting. It was the travel agent who raised a cautionary note that while we are correct in interpreting the official stance, we could potentially be declined entrance if we encountered a (her words) cranky border official.

we could potentially be declined entrance if we encountered a (her words) cranky border official.

Yes, but that would be true even if your passport has 9 years of validity left . A passport official may "potentially" deny you entry for a lot of reasons and does not even have to give them to you.

Thanks for your kind reply. Had already checked the travel.gc.ca website, on which we rely before travelling. As we have never encountered difficulties based on their information, we were really wondering if this agent knew what she was talking about.

Yup, you are absolutely right. Thanks, Ben. I think we will be sticking with the "official" stance of 3 months and take a copy of the regulations with us!!!

Yup, you are absolutely right. Thanks, Ben. I think we will be sticking with the "official" stance of 3 months and take a copy of the regulations with us!!!

Showing, or even quoting regulations is an easy way to get a cranky border agent.

I'm in two minds about this one. It sounds ok but.......
I can't comment on the airline's stance and having a return ticket is no guarantee that you'll actually leave on that date. Anyone can change their airline ticket. Things can happen to delay you in one or other of the countries.The travel agent may be being over cautious but I'd agree with #4. Why not get a new passport now and save any anxiety?
I also agree with #9: waving the regulations in front of a border official here in Italy is likely to get you invited into an interview room for a little chat :) minimum!

Agree with #9, #10

Having copies of 'regulations' will not accomplish much other than prolong a delay. Immigration officers are not there to take legal advice from people they are evaluating. In fact, there is no regulation that takes immediate priority over an immigration officer's concerns. HIs/her first obligation is to satisfy his/her own doubts, if any exist. When in doubt, the superior officer will be consulted.

Just repeating what #11 said: It may seem anachronistic in the 21st century but even with valid passport, visa, medical papers and so on all in order it is no-one's God-given right to enter another country. It is always at the discretion of the immigration officials.
P.S. I assume your copy of the regulations would be in English. If so, more delays. For all the immigration officer knows it could be your Mum's recipe for shepherd's pie ;-)

Good grief, I was truly joking about waving regulations around. Having traveled the globe for the past 55 years, Lonely Planet in hand, we know better than that. And with all our grey hair, we forget our logins sometimes, too. Cheers.

Hello, Old Joe. Are YOU as old as us?!? In my previous response to Ben, I was truly just joking about waving regulations (or shepherd's pie recipes!) under the nose of an immigration officer. We have been backpacking around the globe, carry on only, for 55 years now and have always found that keeping a low, friendly profile is the best policy. For those wondering why we don't just bite the bullet and get new passports, if any of you are pushing 80 and have a few health issues surfacing, being in a rush to spend $300 bucks on passport expenses might give you pause. Unless of course, they start requiring documents at the Pearly Gates, where I doubt they will care much about passport expiry dates. Thanks for your interest, Joe; hope you can keep on travel' until they carry you out in a pine box.

See replies to Old Joe and Ben, re: potential encounters with immigration officers. Signed, the 79-year-old Barkhouse Duo who have been around the world a time or two. Clearly, in our advancing dementia, we overlooked the obvious, as per your initial advice........get new passports, you idiots!

I was truly just joking about waving regulations

OK. It's not always easy to know what someone's intentions are.

Unfortunately, the problem for us regulars on this forum is that we have, over the years, read many similar things from people who are not joking. Half the questions about visa-related issues on this forum are from people asking about tricks and other ways around the regulations, people wondering what the probability is that their overstay will be discovered, etc. Add to that list the posters who are genuinely ignorant of even the simplest immigration protocols because they have never traveled anywhere in their lives.

<< I think we will be sticking with the "official" stance of 3 months and take a copy of the regulations with us!!!>>
As #16 says, it's not always easy to spot a written joke on the internet. That sentence certainly didn't look like a joke to me. Those three exclamations gave me the impression that you thought it such an obvious thing to do. As in "doesn't everyone?".

For those wondering why we don't just bite the bullet and get new passports, if any of you are pushing 80 and have a few health issues surfacing, being in a rush to spend $300 bucks on passport expenses might give you pause. Unless of course, they start requiring documents at the Pearly Gates, where I doubt they will care much about passport expiry dates.

But on the other hand you'll also not have much use of your money when you reach the "Pearly Gate".

re; #14

For those wondering why we don't just bite the bullet and get new passports, if any of you are pushing 80 and have a few health issues surfacing ...

Again, this is all follow-up information. In my first post when I suggested getting a new passport, that suggestion was made in the context of the information in your original post. I realize it is not possible for someone to provide every detail that is potentially relevant to a situation. But at the same time I am not a mind-reader .. I can only go with the information that people provide. The details of your situation may be obvious to you, but they are not to others.

And, as is often the case with questions on this forum, the 'details' end up being the most important, shooting down any attempts at one-size-fits-all advice that the original questions sometimes as for.