Passport Question

[Orion Nebula]

Ya if ANYONE is going to be traveling even a year out they should renew asap. I would expect things will calm down this fall once the travel rush is over. But due to getting in prior to the mad rush and still getting totally screwed over I wouldn't risk the stress.

 

[Meriweather]

DIL's has been sitting at the passport office since the end of April.
They finally opened it a couple of weeks ago. We'll see how long it takes now.

 

[bcla]

The State Department just shut down the online appointment system due to illegal reservations made for resale.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/passport-covid-19.html​

We are making this change to address the problem of third parties booking appointments online using automated programs, or bots, and then selling these appointments to customers with urgent travel needs. We are not affiliated with any third-party appointment booking services, and we do not charge a fee to make an appointment.
​

Third parties booked all available appointments within minutes of the appointments being posted online which prevented many of you from making urgent appointments, and made it difficult to determine whether your appointment was legitimate or fraudulent.​

 

[TLSnell1981]

Folks need to go back to work. This is beyond ridiculous. IMO

 

[mmouse37]

We are traveling with friends on the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise next May and his passport expires next August. He is worried that there is not six months validity on his passport from the end of our trip. I have read that Canada is more lenient and often allows only 3 months validity left on a passport but I told him to get it renewed now to be safe. It is crazy how long passports are taking. Passport offices in general should be a govt priority for staffing since they are so vital.

MJ

 

[Cadiewampus]

We are traveling with friends on the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise next May and his passport expires next August. He is worried that there is not six months validity on his passport from the end of our trip. I have read that Canada is more lenient and often allows only 3 months validity left on a passport but I told him to get it renewed now to be safe. It is crazy how long passports are taking. Passport offices in general should be a govt priority for staffing since they are so vital.

MJ

Yep they are taking a while. just to be safe I applied couple weeks ago for a feb 2022 trip. Didn't want to take any chances

 

[bcla]

We are traveling with friends on the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise next May and his passport expires next August. He is worried that there is not six months validity on his passport from the end of our trip. I have read that Canada is more lenient and often allows only 3 months validity left on a passport but I told him to get it renewed now to be safe. It is crazy how long passports are taking. Passport offices in general should be a govt priority for staffing since they are so vital.

MJ

Canada never had an extra expiration requirement for US nationals to enter. It’s possible to enter Canada on an open ended trip with a passport or other travel doc that expires the next day. Not sure about cruises, but if the scheduled trip is over before expiration it seems to be OK,

 

[mmouse37]

Canada never had an extra expiration requirement for US nationals to enter. It’s possible to enter Canada on an open ended trip with a passport or other travel doc that expires the next day. Not sure about cruises, but if the scheduled trip is over before expiration it seems to be OK,

Thank you. Seeing things like this made me worry:

Some countries are more relaxed about the 6-month validity passport rule. Canada and Mexico, for example, are the two most commonly traveled countries from the U.S. and require only 3 months validity to visit. Again, we recommend checking the U.S. Department of State website for your country's info.

MJ

 

[bcla]

Thank you. Seeing things like this made me worry:

Some countries are more relaxed about the 6-month validity passport rule. Canada and Mexico, for example, are the two most commonly traveled countries from the U.S. and require only 3 months validity to visit. Again, we recommend checking the U.S. Department of State website for your country's info.

MJ

This is what the State Dept says for US citizens visiting Canada. Of course it's the normal procedure and not what's necessarily the case with COVID-19 restrictions.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Canada.html​

PASSPORT VALIDITY:​

Valid at time of entry. If you are transiting Canada en route to Europe, your passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned date of departure from the Schengen area.​

Of course it wouldn't be that wise to enter Canada on a document that expires quickly, but they're not necessarily that concerned with whether or not the United States will take someone back. And even on an expired document, the US will probably chew out the returnee, but they're not going to deny entry if one can prove being a US citizen. Not sure if a permanent resident can get in deep trouble though.

There's also the issue of whether or not a border official decides to not allow someone in anyways for more or less arbitrary reasons. I guess they might consider someone mentioning what their trip is but only has a passport card that expires before the end of the trip might be an issue. However, I've had a passport card and passport on the same trip. I could use either to enter Canada or return to the United States. It would theoretically work if one expired quickly, but the other document was still valid at the time of reentry.

 

[starry_solo]

according to the news, there is a backlog of 1.8 million passports!

 

[GAN]

Folks need to go back to work. This is beyond ridiculous. IMO

Is that why there's a backlog? It's hard to imagine most people not being back to work at this point -I don't know one person who isn't working right now. Most government employees I know never even took time off. Unemployment is around 5% so someone's working! At 5% you're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel ....drunk at the interview -you're hired; never kept a job for 2-months -you're hired; failed drug test -you're hired.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Is that why there's a backlog? It's hard to imagine most people not being back to work at this point -I don't know one person who isn't working right now. Most government employees I know never even took time off. Unemployment is around 5% so someone's working! At 5% you're starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel ....drunk at the interview -you're hired; never kept a job for 2-months -you're hired; failed drug test -you're hired.

Yes. It is the reason given for the backlog. Many are still working from home and passports cannot be processed in that setting.