Passport Expiration
 

Leaving from the US for Ireland and London in mid-May for a 2 week stay and just noticed that passport expires in mid-August. Heard that in some places in Europe you need 6 months remaining on your passport? Does anyone know if I could have a problem in Ireland or London?

This has been discussed here quite often (try a search for experiences of lots of others).

But, you really need to contact official authorities in this regard for answers.

First, check with your airlines to see if they will even permit you to board the plane in both directions.

Then, check with the consulate/embassy for the countries you plan to visit.

The best bet, though, is renewing your passport forthwith. See http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...first_831.html

On our paper airline tickets, there is text on them that specifically that our passports must have 6 months left on them (these tickets are from Seattle to Madrid).

Do your tickets say anything similar? If they don't, I wouldn't assume you're in the clear - and you should contact the authorities in that case.

STLDon, Call your airlines immediately to ask this question. They will know. And I believe that you will have to have your passport renewed. Don't panic, it can be done.

Go the the government website which is: http://www.travel.state.gov/

From this website you can find the closest P.O. that handles passport renewals. You may have to pay the extra fee to have your renewal passport sent to you within a matter of days, but just look at that expense as the cost on one dinner, so to speak.

Best wishes to you, and have a grand trip!

This question does indeed come up often.

And it unfailingly produces spectacularly fat-headed answers. Among them the suggestion that you ask the American government.

Now I know Americans have a touching faith in their government's omnipotence. But who on earth would trust the American government to tell you, accurately, what British or Irish laws are on something as rapidly changing as immigration law?

Neither Britain nor Ireland impose any minimum validity requirement on ordinary visitors from non-visa countries (Britain DOES impose a minimum validity requirement on people who need visas in advance. That applies to virtualy no-one from a Western country coming on holiday or business).

If you enjoy worrying, phone your nearest British consulate. If they tell you different (for why should I, having unaccountably failed as a write-in candidate during the Conclave, be infallible?) come back to this site and tell us.

But intringuingly, although around 100 million people take international flights into and out of London's airports every year, no story has ever appeared, on the web or in the world's most sensation-hungry media, of a foreigner being turned away for having a passport with only three months left to run.

If you will be renewing your passport, you will need to use the expedited service to make sure that it is back in your hands in time for your trip. As others have said, you need to understand the requirements of the country you are visiting as well as the carrier's policy. While some countries require six months validity remaining, I believe that Ireland's requirement is for three months. (Like flanneruk, I was also inexplicably passed up for the recent Conclave. Perhaps we took up a sufficient number of each other's write-in votes to leave us both on the outside, looking in.) ;)

STLDon.....I'll give you the time line on my recent passport renewal.I printed the form off the website referenced above.I paid the extra $60 expedite fee.I FedEx'd my packet to the processing center in Pittsburgh,PA.The $60 was worth it to me, as it guarantees your application for renewal will be completed by the 3rd business day after receipt.The FedEx fee was $9.50.Had I sent it USMail, it would not have been much less.Apr 4 picked up at FedEx box.Apr 6,10.00am signed for in PIT.Apr 8,new passport issued.Apr 11, postmarked outgoing from New Hampshire processing facility.Apr 14, 2pm,reveived in my mail box 90068.Very well worth it to me.Sure there will be others who will tell you they got theirs back in 10 days, no expdeite fee.I heard it too and just didnt want to chance it.Best of luck....Stephen

I renewed with the non-expedited service in December 2004 and that took three weeks. There is NO WAY I would use anything BUT the expedited service if you need a renewal for a trip in May.

I received a message from a friend in London that said that the US and UK have a visa waiver program which only requires that your passport be valid for the length of your stay as a tourist. I will check with my airlines, American and Aer Lingus, but does that sound right to you all?

Please, plesae - do not listen to us - or to friends who think they saw something in the paper. Just contact the governments involved. It's perfectly simple - and then you know you have the right - and latest answer.

Thanks to all. I was able to email the British Embassy (and spoke to someone at the Irish Embassy) and was told that I was OK as long as my passport was effective while I was visiting their countries.