Quick passport question?

[Tinker74]

Hi...just want to check with anyone who knows or has travelled recently with an old passport.
Is my dh ok to use his 9 year old passport in August?..he will have 9 months left on it when we travel.
Also because its 9 yrs old will this in itself cause problems?..We had no trouble with it last august..but just thought I'd check in case things have changed.
Thanks,:)

[Goofysmate]

all i know is that you must have 6 months left on your passport when you are returning back to uk.
Last year i had to renew mine early because on returning back in uk i would only have 4 months before it ran out. I don't think that side of thing have changed but i'm sure someone will correct this if i'm wrong.:confused3 (which is quite often but i do try to help when i can) .;)
To be safe check with passport office or who ever you have booked with.:)

[mikki.young]

If it is that old it is not likely to be machine readable which may be a problem. Definitely worth checking. Look at this from the Trailfinders website:

Visa free travellers entering the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) require individual machine readable passports.
It is important to note that families will require individual passports for each traveller should they wish to travel visa free, regardless of the fact that they may currently hold machine readable passports. Travellers not in possession of machine readable passports will require a visa. If your passport was issued after 26/10/05 and contains a non-digital photograph you will be excluded from the VWP. All UK passports issued after 26/10/05 will contain digital photographs so will be valid for the VWP as long as all other conditions are met.

It will probably be easier to get a new passport than a Visa!

[paulh]

if you get a new one the left over time will be added to new pasport
Paulh

[TraceyL]

all i know is that you must have 6 months left on your passport when you are returning back to uk.
Last year i had to renew mine early because on returning back in uk i would only have 4 months before it ran out. I don't think that side of thing have changed but i'm sure someone will correct this if i'm wrong.:confused3 (which is quite often but i do try to help when i can) .;)
To be safe check with passport office or who ever you have booked with.:)


No you don't have to. Under the VWP - US immigration does not require validity beyond your return date. However - your carrier (airline) might, so check with them :)

We had a guy in front of us at LGW last month refused his flight as his passport was not machine readable. It was Easter weekend and he had to wait til the Tues to go to the passport office before he could rejoin his family in Orlando

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Machine readable passports have at the bottommof the page with his photo on, information between two sets of chevrons i.e left pointing arrowe heads then tyhe info then right pointing arrow heads
if he has this then his passport is machine readable

[paulh]

machine readable will have something like
>>>>>16>>>>phaul>>>><<<<258>>>>>>>>><<<<<
Along the botom of photo page

[Claire L]

We got our new biometric passports back yesterday, took 11 days to get them and as mine didn't expire til next February I have the extra 9 months added :)

BTW Virgin Atlantic do not require the 6 months they work the same as the US, so long as the passport is valid for the length of stay it is ok.

Claire ;)

[luke]

Interesting reading here.
Mine and my gf's passports both expire in summer 08 and were going in July, so hopefully that should all be ok.

However hers is the slightly newer machine readable one, whereas mine is not, seriously hope this won't cause any problems

[TraceyL]

Interesting reading here.
Mine and my gf's passports both expire in summer 08 and were going in July, so hopefully that should all be ok.

However hers is the slightly newer machine readable one, whereas mine is not, seriously hope this won't cause any problems

Are you saying yours is an older, machine readable one - or a non-machine readable one? If it is the latter then you will not be able to travel to the US on the VWP.
I have an older machine readable one - where my picture is 'laminated' in place rather than a digital one - and it is fine :)

[luke]

Are you saying yours is an older, machine readable one - or a non-machine readable one? If it is the latter then you will not be able to travel to the US on the VWP.
I have an older machine readable one - where my picture is 'laminated' in place rather than a digital one - and it is fine :)

Oh god I have no idea now, whether mine is machine readable or not - just assumed it wouldn't be as it's the older style to my gf's despite them only being issued months apart.

How can i tell if it's machine readable or not (it was issued in May 1998)

[TraceyL]

machine readable will have something like
>>>>>16>>>>phaul>>>><<<<258>>>>>>>>><<<<<
Along the botom of photo page

There you go ;)

[luke]

There you go ;)

Ah i think mine has all that rubbish on it somewhere, just go check!

Thanks :)

[jen_uk]

I flew to the USA with only a couple of months on my passport and it was fine, I called both Virgin and the Embassy to check and they said it only had to be valid for length of stay. :goodvibes

[Pawpaws]

machine readable will have something like
>>>>>16>>>>phaul>>>><<<<258>>>>>>>>><<<<<
Along the botom of photo page

Our passports (we got them in March 2001) have only <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< None of the >>>>. I've looked on older threads but can't see anything that helps.

Last time we used them to go to America was December 2004 - Will the passports be OK for next month when we go?

Cheers

Paula

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Our passports (we got them in March 2001) have only <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< None of the >>>>. I've looked on older threads but can't see anything that helps.

Last time we used them to go to America was December 2004 - Will the passports be OK for next month when we go?

Cheers

Paula


Yes, that's OK. Mine and the wife's only have <<<<<<< and they are fine, as our Little'uns new Biometric passport also only has <<<<<<< on it

[Pawpaws]

Thanks very much, Obi-Wan! I was getting a bit worried then!!!!

[paulh]

did i say somthing like.wasent looking at pasports to check.As long as they have the <<<<<<<<<.Think its 2 lines there machine readable.The outher stuff is name and date of birth scrambled up i think
Paulh