An essential companion for travelers, the passport has a limited validity period and must be renewed every 10 years. Despite its sentimental value, this document must be returned once it expires.
Nostalgia, when you hold us. Leafing through your passport is like remembering your stays outside the European Union in recent years. Even if fewer and fewer countries affix them, the stamps that fill the burgundy red booklet act like Proust’s madeleines, referring to your honeymoon, your vacations or business trips. But this identity document is not eternal. The French passport is valid for ten years for an adult on the date of application, a period reduced to five years for a minor even if they become an adult before the expiry date of the document.
Can we keep it as a souvenir after this period has passed? At the risk of disappointing the most nostalgic, the answer is no. When renewing, you must return the expired identity document. The reason? “The passport is the property of the French State. It is given personally to nationals of a country in order to allow them to travel outside the borders of that country.“, recalled the Ministry of the Interior in 2018.
Sentimental value
If you have to get rid of your expired passport, it is in particular in the name of the fight against identity theft.The obligation to return is justified by security reasonscontinues the Ministry of the Interior. […] It is therefore in the interest of users, in order to avoid any fraudulent use of their expired documents, to return them with a view to their destruction. With regard to the sentimental value attached to the passport, the user retains the possibility, before returning the document, of making personal copies of the pages containing the visas.»
The only reason you can keep your expired passport is if it contains a valid visa. If your passport has been stolen, you must report it to a police station or gendarmerie. If it has been lost, fill out this form before having it validated by the competent services. Be careful not to make a false declaration for the sole purpose of keeping your passport. Article 441-7 of the Penal Code punishes any false declaration to the authorities with one year of imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros.
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