I am leaving for Italy on the 23rd of March. My Passport expires at the end of November. I read everywhere that Passports must be valid at least 6 months from the time of your visit. I am cutting it close, but, should be fine, from everything I have read. Its just not something I want to be wrong about, so, if anyone has any insight, as to whether or not I will have any problems, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks
Brian
I've encountered this and so have many of my Crewmembers...
While they frown upon anything less than 6 months to expiry, they shouldn't give you too much grief over it, if you are within the general time frame.
I've travelled to Ireland once with three months to expiry and had no problem. Another time was to Portugal and had 4 months to expiry. Both instances were post 9/11. (Cdn Passports expire every 5 years where as US Passports expire every ten...)
Just be prepared for them to ask you an additional question or two. They will want to know that you are going home within that time frame. They may ask to see your return ticket. You may get an additional stamp of expiry from Customs to flag the fact that your Passport is about to expire within six months of entry.
If in further doubt, contact your Passport Office or Consulate. They will have the cold hard facts.
Brian,
You should be within the timeframe limitation.
Greg
I had this problem back in 2006 right before a trip through Europe I discovered my passport only had 5 months validity left. After checking the websites/calling the embassies for all the countries I was traveling through, I discovered that for most all countries in Western Europe your passport needs to have only 3 months validity; Germany has no rule--passport just needs to be valid during your stay. In practice though this is rarely enforced and immigration officials have a lot of discretion in applying even the 3 month rule; especially if your from a "rich" country like the US or Canada.
Rules have been tightened in the last year. I would anticipate needing 6 months on your passport. The best thing is to check with the Italian consulate closest to you in order to be absolutely sure it will be OK.
Kate
