Passport Expiry ?

[dancin Disney style]

Does anyone know if I would have any issues with traveling to the USA in March VIA a land crossing when my passport expires in May of the same year? I've done some Googling and can't find an answer. You often hear the passport must be valid for 6 months after your return date. I have no idea if that applies to the USA or just other countries.

 

[Nagle]

I just crossed over at the 1000 Islands crossing to catch a flight from Syracuse on August 23. My passport expires in November. The customs agent never gave it a second glance. We go over to Ogdensbug and or Watertown NY a couple of times a month. Have had no issues whatsoever and no comment from US customs about getting a new passport.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thanks...of course immediately after I posted I got a call from a friend who travels for business several times per month. I asked her if she knew anything and she said that as long as your passport is valid you can cross by land or air into the USA right up until the day of expiry. She is pretty sure she has the actual government info in her office and will send it to me tomorrow.

 

[ssmurphy28]

I just looked this up as we are headed down in January and my wife's passport expires In February. By the looks if it, you are good, as long as your return date is prior to the expiry date.

Just to be safe, she is going to renew it anyways, but the US allows Canadians to travel right up to the expiry date on their passport. Not all countries are like that.

 

[bankr63]

LOL,

My sister faced this a couple of months ago, with one of those red faced situations. She travels often for business, and hadn't given her own passport a glance for ages. The US agent simply said "you might want to get that renewed". It had been expired for a couple of months (and one other trip). He let her pass. The Canadian agent didn't mention it on the way back. So at least with land crossings, 3 out 4 agents didn't even check. They are probably more diligent about this at airports, but no issue at the land border.

I did ask last month at the US crossing because DW's passport expires a few weeks after a planned trip to Lake Placid. The agent there said that there is no "6-month" requirement for North American travel. It might be enforced by other countries outside the continent, and the US might enforce it for those from outside the Western Hemisphere.

 

[mort1331]

Yes, 6 months is for non-american travel. And anyone coming here. They and we want to make sure your not doing a one way trip. With the US, you can use right up to the expired date. Children can still use birth certs for land crossing, but must have passport for flying.

 

[Mama2girlz]

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...-required-for-canadian-citizens-/-residents-/

According to this the passport only needs to be valid for the period you are travelling, which is a good thing because we are going Oct. 14-20 and our passports expire Nov. 6th

 

[planningjollyholiday]

My parents just crossed the border with passports that had expired a month earlier. The oficer acknowledge that they were expired and kindly told them they should think about renewing them. Probably just depends on who you get crossing.

 

[TagsMissy]

Does anyone know if I would have any issues with traveling to the USA in March VIA a land crossing when my passport expires in May of the same year? I've done some Googling and can't find an answer. You often hear the passport must be valid for 6 months after your return date. I have no idea if that applies to the USA or just other countries.

nope you shouldn't as long as your return date is before your passport expires. I've done a flight with my passport ending within a month (i had completely forgotten it was expiring that year and I didn't notice until we were leaving for the airport!

 

[Lanie]

One of my friends was flying to Vegas and inquired about this on Expedia. She was told that your passport should have an expiry date more than 6 months out or she might not get on the flight. She called the airline (Air Transat if I remember correctly) and was told it was an airline policy and was at the discretion of the person checking you in.

 

[dis_guy]

As the PPs said the "6 month rule" doesn't apply for travel to the US on a Canadian passport. A few years ago, we did a last minute (as in book Friday, fly Saturday) trip and had less than a week left on our passports when we got home. There were no issues but plenty of reminders to get new ones as soon as we got home.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I am going to renew my DD's passport before we go because she turns 16 in March(her's also expires in May) and I can get her another child passport while she is still 15. As for my own, I'll wait until closer to the May expiry. Just for added insurance I'll be sure and take along my birth certificate but I really doubt I'll have any problems.

 

[roberthodgson]

Just to be safe renew all your passport now we went with the new 10 year version, why take a chance that may get an agent that will follow the 6 month rule.

 

[bankr63]

Just to be safe renew all your passport now we went with the new 10 year version, why take a chance that may get an agent that will follow the 6 month rule.

Because there is no 6 month rule, and renewing an expensive passport that early is a waste of money. Unlike your auto license, your passport is not getting extended for 6 months, it is being renewed for a 5 or 10 year period from the date of reissue. If you cut off say 8 months on a five year passport, that's a 13% loss of use (52 of 60 months), or an effective 15% increase in the price of your old passport (or really price/month). I don't want to pay our government any more than I absolutely have to.

However DDS is smart to grab the kids passport while her daughter is still 15. I did the same for my son who turned 16 last week and it saved a fair amount over renewing at the adult rate after his 16th.

 

[lisaviolet]

Because there is no 6 month rule, and renewing an expensive passport that early is a waste of money. Unlike your auto license, your passport is not getting extended for 6 months, it is being renewed for a 5 or 10 year period from the date of reissue. If you cut off say 8 months on a five year passport, that's a 13% loss of use (52 of 60 months), or an effective 15% increase in the price of your old passport (or really price/month). I don't want to pay our government any more than I absolutely have to.

However DDS is smart to grab the kids passport while her daughter is still 15. I did the same for my son who turned 16 last week and it saved a fair amount over renewing at the adult rate after his 16th.

This.

_____________________________________________

OP, I have travelled with days to expiry and travelled back in on the day of expiry. No issues. I certainly didn't set out to do that, just had that moment that I didn't realize it was about to expire and then when I did know I didn't have time to deal with it - last minute travel decision.

Now have a ten year and it's lovely not to even give it a thought. Appreciate the government bringing in that option.

 

[bankr63]

Now have a ten year and it's lovely not to even give it a thought. Appreciate the government bringing in that option.

It's funny but I am willing to bet that in about 9 years, as those new ten year passports start expiring, there will be HUGE problem with people travelling on expired passports. The problem being that with a 10 year passport, you start thinking "good pretty much forever" and stop worrying about the expiry date. It actually would be nice if Passport Canada started sending out notifications when your expiry was approaching...

 

[dancin Disney style]

It's funny but I am willing to bet that in about 9 years, as those new ten year passports start expiring, there will be HUGE problem with people travelling on expired passports. The problem being that with a 10 year passport, you start thinking "good pretty much forever" and stop worrying about the expiry date. It actually would be nice if Passport Canada started sending out notifications when your expiry was approaching...

I thought the same thing. However, just about every time I have mine in my hand I flip through the pages and look at the stamps and the expiry date. I think I'll be ok...I will probably worry more about it than with my 5yr one.

A client of mine just made me aware of a new problem with the 5yr VS 10yr passport. You can no longer have additional pages added or order a passport with extra pages. This client takes world cruises every second year and the 10yr passports don't have enough pages so they are stuck having to go with the 5yr version. They just got new ones and think that most likely they will need new ones before the 5yrs are up.

 

[SaraMc]

I travel a lot for work to the states, I cross usually by air, We are constantly warned that if there is less than 6 months on your passport the border guards have the right to not let you into the country.
While that's not happened to me I know of two people, one going on vacation that this happened to them and they were refused entry.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I travel a lot for work to the states, I cross usually by air, We are constantly warned that if there is less than 6 months on your passport the border guards have the right to not let you into the country.
While that's not happened to me I know of two people, one going on vacation that this happened to them and they were refused entry.

Warned by whom?

 

[bankr63]

I travel a lot for work to the states, I cross usually by air, We are constantly warned that if there is less than 6 months on your passport the border guards have the right to not let you into the country.
While that's not happened to me I know of two people, one going on vacation that this happened to them and they were refused entry.

Were they travelling on Canadian passports? This "rule" is not supposed to apply to North Americans travelling within North America. The rules by country can be viewed at CBSA site, for Canadians travelling to the US go to http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-states

The documentation requirements for air travel to the US are stated as:

- A passport, which must be valid until the date of expected departure from the U.S.; or

- A NEXUS card when used at kiosks in participating airports.