Traveling to Ireland and France in April- mid May 2024. Do I need visas? Do I need to checkin with consulates etc???? First trip to Europe so have read conflicting things!
Yes US citizen. Yes passport expiration date is more than 6months.
Do you typically check in with Consulate or Embassy prior to traveling??
Assuming you are a US citizen, all you need is a valid passport. You don’t need to check in with any consulates.
Just also be certain passport has an expiration date at least three months after your arrival. It might be even six months I just can't remember but if not you will be denied entry.
If the passport has more than 6 months of validity left on your departure date, you're good. Less than that, check each countries requirements for validity. If it will have less than 3 months validity from your planned return date, you won't get on the airplane, so then you better get a new one on an expedited basis now.
All your questions will be answered here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel.html.
You can register online with the US STEP program. You would get text messages if there was a security concern and I think you tell the dates that you are in each country. It's not required but maybe that's what you are thinking of.
If you sign up for STEP https://step.state.gov/ you will receive email updates if there’s a demonstration, security issues, etc. I always enroll in STEP for every international trip so I can be informed and plan accordingly.
We register with STEP when we go so South America, but not usually when we go to Europe.