Passports

You can look up each country's rules for having a valid passport at the US State Department website. The main issue is the country of your initial arrival, which is likely to be the only place your passport is checked on that trip.

The reason some countries require a certain time of validity to enter, is that you are legally allowed to be in the Schengen zone (most EU countries) for 90 days. They don't want you to remain in their country without a valid passport (if it expired less than 90 days on your arrival).

Standing in the passport line at the post office I heard from a woman who was turned away from a Central American country -- and forced to fly home -- for just this reason. Expensive mistake!!

There was a posting a couple of years ago when someone's daughter had an expire passport on returning to the US. Don't return the outcome other than a lot of hassle that you really don't need. Basically the entering country doesn't want you there with an expired passport. There are other reasons besides the 90 day Schengen visa. You could be injured in an accident and have to remain longer in the country. Remember, it is the entering country that gets to set the rules - not you or the US. If that is what they required, then that is what is required. If the country does not uniformly enforce the requirement but this particular immigration officers decides today to enforce the requirement, what are you going to do? Scream that your American rights are being denied. The expiration date on your passport is set by the US for the US's convenience. It is not a big deal to get an update passport, just do it.

There was a trend by some EU countries to eliminate the passport expiration rule: UK, Germany, Belgium. But last year an EU-wide regulation was enacted which made the three month passport expiration rule uniform among all Schengen countries.

In addition the airlines are supposed to check for this before you board the plane, and you may not even make it out of the US, if you are under three months.

Having said all this, I traveled to Europe about three years ago with a passport with just one-month validity left and it was never an issue amongst Immigration (coming or going) or the airline. YMMV.

Also be aware of something.....you can be denied entry into any country even with a valid passport. While the Schengen agreement states that Americans can stay up to 90 days, it doesn't say they are guaranteed entry. The same is true for non-Schengen countries. There is only one country you can't be denied entry into and I'm sure you can guess which one that is.

Hello other Alex from Longmont. I would say that if you have more than 90 days before your passport expires upon entering the EU you should be okay. That being said you might want to email the consulate of the country you are going to first land in (Germany?) and get their take on it. If it seems like an issue then I would renew the passports so you won't be stressed.

Frank II of USA is correct that any country can deny anyone entry for any reason without giving a reason. For example, the USA not only denied Cat Stevens entry but diverted the flight to Bangor to remove him and deport him to England.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/22/usa

This is the same Cat Stevens who sings Peace Train: http://youtu.be/d_X9eqYa6CQ

"Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

"Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
OOh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

"Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home againh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Lesson is don't change your name to Yusuf and convert to Islam, then try to visit the USA.

So when do your passports expire and when are you going to Europe?

Thank you everyone - we will land in Germany in September and my husbands expires in February '15 and my daughter march '15

Your current passports are good to go. From the NYC German Consulate website:

"...US citizens in possession of a valid US passport (on the planned date of departure from Germany, your passport should have at least another three months validity) do not need a visa for airport transit, tourist or business trips (for stays up to 90 days)..." http://tinyurl.com/8az73bc

Thanks, Michael.