Passports and visas granted are dull subjects, especially in the exciting world of honeymoons, but if you don’t give them your full attention right now you may live to regret it later.
In order to prevent a nightmare situation from occurring, we have pulled together some basic travel information and advice that you really should pay attention to and is well worth a read. So if you want to look back at your honeymoon with fond memories rather than disappointment, get reading.
Passports
Assuming that you are planning to travel overseas, both partners will require a valid passport.
For those of you not changing your name (eyes on the Groom usually at this point!) then it is simply a matter of making sure that your passport is valid and will remain so for 6 months after the beginning of your honeymoon (certain destinations simply require a passport to be valid for the duration of your stay, but many countries these days are asking for the 6 month bit – if you are in any doubt seek advice from a Travel Agent, the foreign embassy of the country you are travelling to or the UK Passport Service).
For any partner where the marriage results in a change of name, a new/replacement passport will need to be issued using the new personal details. In the UK this can be done up to three months before the date of the Wedding by submitting the relevant forms (available online or from your local Post Office), the fee, a notice of intention to marry signed by your registrar/vicar and any current passport to the UK Passport Service. A new post-dated passport will be issued in due course and will be valid from the date of the Wedding.
Perhaps the most important point to note here is that no overseas travel is possible during the time you apply and the date of your marriage.
Visas
Here in the UK, security and immigration are issues right at the top of the political agenda, and it’s no different overseas. As a consequence, many nations are tightening their border security and in order to gain entrance you will need to produce a valid Visa.
A Visa is simply an official authorisation that is appended to your passport thus allowing you to travel to, and within, a particular country for a certain period of time. The rules are different for each and every country and are changing all the time, so it is better to be safe than sorry and check out the needs for the country you intend to travel to before hand. At the time of booking, either ask your travel agent or contact the Foreign Embassy for the destination country just to confirm things.
As a general rule of thumb, if it’s a popular tourist destination for UK travellers that you plan to go to, you are unlikely to need a Visa and if it’s somewhere a little of the beaten track then you will. That said, for the sake of five minutes confirming this at time of booking, you could ensure that your honeymoon gets further than the airport.
We never claimed that this article would be the most exciting one you’ve ever read, but hopefully it has been of some use!
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