The essential passport hacks you need to know before you book your next holiday

What’s the one travel essential you really can’t travel abroad without? It is, of course, your passport – the document you really can’t afford to leave at home. Enter passport hacks. The task of showing up with your document is so important (and evidently, often forgotten), that the hashtag #passporthack has 4.2 million views on TikTok. It turns out there’s a lot more to it than just remembering to pack yours.

So what do these videos offer? Well, just about everything. And we’ve gone through (what feels like) millions of clips and found the best of the bunch. Here are the passport hacks worth knowing, from ensuring it’s actually valid for your holiday to making sure you never lose it again.

Struggling to keep track of multiple passports? Try this rubber band hack

If you’re tasked with looking after your children’s passports (or even just the designated responsible adult when it comes to your relationship or friendship group), then using a different coloured rubber bands looped around the front page of each passport, which continue along the spine, can be a surefire method to make sure you know whose is whose – and avoid the hurdle of someone heading off with the wrong one.

If you need a visual, check out the below for inspirations.

How to get a fast-track passport appointment

Getting an urgent appointment for a passport is no simple feat – with many finding themselves endlessly refreshing the government website to hope they land upon a coveted last-minute slot. That is, until a handy Twitter account, @ukpassportcheck, gets involved.

As the TikToker below explains, following this account in conjunction with setting up specific Twitter alerts on your phone could just be the magic formula for success.

How to ensure your passport’s the one thing you don’t lose

Few things are harder to replace than a passport – especially if you’re travelling in a foreign country. Meaning if there ever were a time to invest in an AirTag, this is it – in order to keep track of that all-important document. This TikToker has even figured out a way to do this without having to stick the AirTag directly to your passport (which can violate its validity at some very strict passport desks, apparently). Watch and learn.

Take a passport photo with your iPhone

Gone are the days of paying for a photo booth to get your passport photo taken. Now, finally, you’re able to take your own snap on your phone, and upload it digitally. But there are still a few hoops to jump through to get though the website requirements, as this TikToker demonstrates how to take the perfect shot.

Never leave your passport behind again

If you keep your passport in your hotel room’s safe while on holiday, there’s always a risk that you might leave it behind in a rush. Enter this TikTok user’s hack, which involves storing it in the safe next to one of the shoes you plan to wear the next day. That way, when you go to retrieve the shoe, you can check your passport is safe – and pack it in your bag before you leave.

Make sure your passport is actually valid for your entire trip

As this clever TikToker explains, the rules on passport validity varies from country to country, with some countries requiring 6 months’ validity left on your passport, with others requesting three. If your passport is nearing its expiry date, make sure to watch this video until the very end, to catch the extra issue date requirement that’s actually stopping people from going on holiday.