Passport expiration

Yes, it can be a problem. Why risk it? Get the passport renewed now.

I have not experienced that myself but 6 months is recommended but not required if you are only going to the UK.

state department https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/united-kingdom.html

There are no UK government restrictions, so long as your passport is valid until the end of your trip. However, some airlines insist that you have 3 or 6 months beyond departure date, so check with your airline.

Some countries do have a 6 month rule - I presume you are just going to the UK?

I know of person who was turned away from the airport (here in US) b/c her passport was within 3 months of expiration. (Don't know which airline.) As mentioned above..........Don't take the chance........Renew! :)

The UK doesn't have a passport expiration rule. Your passport simply needs to be valid for the duration of your stay. So the January 2018 passport is kosher. From the UK border control site:

http://tinyurl.com/jzwaj38

I gather from all of your posts that technically the expiring passport should be okay but............. I'm guessing that it may depend on who is checking her thru that day. I'll recommend that she get it renewed now if we go in September. Don't know if she will have time to get it back if we go in June but she'll have her full six months then any way.

I don't know how this happened, but I went to Renew a Passport by Mail, printed off the form, filled it out in hardcopy, attached the picture and sent it in with my check and old passport on December 21st. I got my new one in the mail on January 5th. That is substantially less time than the "routine" 6 weeks. In fact it was a total of 15 days, more like the expedited 2-3 weeks. I was amazed.

My old passport was going to expire on January 10. The new one expires on January 2, 2027. I don't know if that had anything to do the the rapid turnaround or not. I didn't ask for it to be expedited or pay anything extra for that.

It is very important to do exactly what they say to do when filling out the form and mailing it. Also, pay attention to the new requirements for passport pictures. I had to get new ones to satisfy them. I got them at Costco. Not doing the pictures correctly is one of the major reasons applications are rejected. My biggest challenge was to have a "neutral" expression without looking like a total grump.

I know many Canadian Airlines will not allow you to fly if your passport expires within the 6 months from return so even if its ok with the border you need to get it done.

Better safe than sorry. Since they'll need their passport renewed anyway and there's plenty of time before the trip, play it safe and get it renewed.

Does anyone know why they have these rules? I mean if the passport has an expiration date, it should expire on that date, not six months before. And if that's the case, why not just issue passports for 4-1/2 years instead of the regular 5. I'm sure someone, somewhere is benefiting from this. Every 45 years, the government stands to make one extra set of passport fees, issuing 10 passports in that time except for the expected 9.

"Does anyone know why they have these rules?"

As said above, they don't want anyone to have a passport expire while the person is out of the country.

Of course, your point about the extra fees is also true. But I could easily see the following scenario: someone has a passport good for another month, and their trip is planned to be 3 weeks. For one reason or another, they extend - and then are stuck. The consulate has to get involved to get them an emergency passport (extra work for them), and the traveler is resentful at "how could this have been allowed to happen????", not to mention anger at the fees for a last minute passport replacement (and the delay in needing to get one before being allowed to leave).

I wouldn't be surprised if this happened a few too many times, leading to the current policies. So many rules are the result of problems.

I have read this is the reason they no longer allow more than one person on a passport. Formerly, married couples, or a mother and child, could be together on one passport. Since they were all traveling together, everything was fine, until one person got sick and had to stay behind, while the other had to return. After a few too many emergency passports, they decreed that each person, even a one day old child, needed his or her own passport.

I just renewed my US passport and I had it back in less than a month. Good luck!

No Warren, the passport expires on the date given. Your rant is a little off. If I am not traveling within a few months of the expiration date, then it is not a problem. It is only when travel and expiration overlaps. And that is a small price to pay.

I still have never seen a good explanation about why the requirement that a passport must be valid for 3 months past the intended date of departure, with some Schengen countries apparently making this a 6-month requirement by assuming the traveler will stay the allotted 90 days. I understand the reason for a requirement that the passport be valid past the date of intended departure, and based on the 90-day Schengen maximum, it would make sense to require that the passport be valid for 3 months after entry, but I don't see any basis for anything beyond that. If someone overstays their 90 day Schengen limit, they'll have a lot more than an expired passport to worry about.

You need to also check your airline's rules. American Airlines, for example, says: Passports must be: Valid for at least 6 months after the date you enter a foreign country.

Rant ????

I'll add to the "Wow, that was faster that I expected" passport renewal stories. It was 11 days from the time I dropped it at the post office until the new passport arrived in my home mailbox. This was without any expediting at all in mid January.

My passport was due to expire in April, but I flew with Air Canada to Ohio the end of Nov. and again the beginning of Dec. No questions asked. I did get it renewed the middle of Dec. and it took a week.

I think it has more to do with where you are going than anything else. I have permanent residency in Germany, but am an American citizen. So, they don't really care about me and how long I am staying there.