nks267

My passport expires Oct 2005 and I'm scheduled to travel to China in June. The websites suggest that your passport be valid for 6 months from the time of arrival into the country...I havent applied for the visa yet but am wondering if my passport expiration date would pose a problem.

simpsonc510

I went through this same agony before my Australia/S. Pacific trip last August, with a passport expiring the following January.

RENEW the passport!!! Trust me... a passport that is valid for at least 6 months AFTER your trip is most probably required. It doesn't take long to renew.

Cicerone

I would definately get it renewed. The way I read the Chinese Embassy website page on visas is that they REQUIRE that you have AT LEAST six months validity. IMO you stand a good chance of being rejected for a visa application if you submit a passport with less than 6 months' validity.

Kathie

Virtually all Asian countries require that your passport be valid for at least six months in order for you to gain entry. As others have said, renew now.

marmot

Having a passport that's valid for at least six months after arrival is a must in Indonesia/Bali too. Because it's Indonesia usually "something can be worked out" (wink, wink)but it's a big aggravation.

I guess after 10 years I should give up trying to find the logic in Asian beauracracy but could some one please explain why this is necessary when they only allow you to stay for 30 days?

mrwunrfl

I've assumed that they wanted passport valid for 6 months because your stay in their country could be extended beyond 90 days. The concern may be that if you are sent home with an invalid passport that you might be refused entry and sent back. They want to be relatively sure that when you leave that you won't be sent back.

Reasons for which your stay might be extended would include hospitalization or imprisonment.

Am supposing that another reason might be to avoid having people renew their passports in the foreign country. Would end up with a valid visa in an invalidated passport and no visa in the valid passport. This situation would be too close to document chaos.

Guenmai

RENEW it !!! Mine is at the passport office right now being renewed.Plus why pay and put a visa in a passport that will expire soon...that is if it's the type of visa that's good for more than a year which many countries have.If you can, you might want to use the same visa on a future trip...like I did with my visa to Ghana. Happy Travels!

BillT

Go directly to the passport office, do not pass go , do not collect $200.

Kathie

Guenmai, Good point about the long-term visas, though I don't believe any Asian country offers that type of visa. I do know that some South American countries offer it, as well as your example of Ghana.

Patty

Kathie,
The longest visa you can currently obtain as a US passport holder for China is a 2 year multiple entry visa. India also offers multi year visas to US passport holders. Those are two that I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there must be others. These visas usually come with higher fees, so most visitors opt for the single entry.

Guenmai

My visa to Ghana was called"single entry", however, it was good for more than one year as I used it two years in a row. "Single entry" meant(regarding to my visa situation) that I could only enter one country..Ghana...and could not,for example, hop over to Ivory Coast or Benin and then re-enter Ghana. So always get the visa language interpreted. In Turkey, single entry meant just that...one time to enter the country so if you left,and say went over to Greece and wanted to go back to Turkey,then you had to get another visa...although it could be done as you entered Turkey. Happy Travels!

Kathie

And Brazil used to have a visa that could be reused for several years... Every country has it's own rules about visas!

Patty

Guenmai,
That wording on your Ghana visa is very strange. Normally a 'single entry' visa means just that - you're allowed one entry during the validity of the visa. Visas that allow you to enter a country more than once during the validity of the visa are almost always termed 'multiple entry'. How long ago was this? I looked at the Ghana Embassy in DC's website and it states that they offer a single entry visa valid for 3 months for $50 and a mulitple entry visa (no validity period specified but I'm guessing 2 years from what you stated) for $80.

http://www.ghana-embassy.org/v_req.htm

Guenmai

Patty...I was in Ghana Dec2003/Jan 2004 and also Dec 2004/Jan2005 and on the SAME visa...both trips. I had assumed that I would have to renew it and therefore sent all the paperwork/photos in to Travisa...visa service...the service that had originally done my paperwork back in 2003. I got a very friendly call from Travisa saying that my visa was still valid, but that they would make a notation on the visa to make it clear that it was still valid and I was told that they would send all my paperwork/photos back to me. My visa was a single entry visa. I had absolutely no trouble getting into Ghana. Travisa explained that I would not be able to cross over to Ivory Coast or Benin or go other places on my single entry visa as it was only good for Ghana.I got excellent service from them.Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Kathie...when I went to Brazil back in, summer of 2003, I went in person to apply for my visa at the Brazilian Consulate in L.A. and I'm almost sure that the visa was only good for one entry because I was a bit ticked to have to pay $100. I think it was. Well, it doesn't matter anymore since my passport is being renewed and everything has gone to null and void. Happy Travels!

Kathie

Guenmai, you are correct that Brazil changed its visa policy after the US changed their visa policy after 9/11. But prior to that, a Brazilian visa was valid for sveral yaers. They wanted to encourage repeat visitors.

mrwunrfl

I wonder if my visa for Brazil is still valid. It was issued in November 19, 2002. I did use it within 90 days of issuance. At the time that I got it, it was to be valid for 5 years. Difficult to read because it is a ink stamp, not a sticker. It does say "valid for multiple entries within x years". Almost looks like it says 6 years, but am 99% sure it is 5.

Anybody out there still using a 5 year visa?

rkkwan

Funny nobody mentioned this. But one of the most common longterm, multiple-entry visa is actually issued by US Consulates for foreigners to visit the US.

Not sure what they give out now, post 9/11, but in the past they often last as long as your passport - which is usually 10 years - and as many entries as you like.

Guenmai

Right Kathie...a close friend of mine has been vacationing in Brazil every other summer for about 15 years and I remember that she always had a visa that lasted for years...five I guess. Plus... now Americans have to be fingerprinted, I believe, when entering Brazil. I think that started shorly after I got back from Brazil. Happy Travels!