Passport Renewal

[BalooHoo]

My wife and I just renewed our passports. Hers took less than 3 weeks (mailed in Jan 2, received Jan 21). Mine took a little longer because they didn't accept my photo and I had to send in another one. Even with that delay, I got mine in 5 weeks (mailed in Jan 2, received Feb 6).

 

[ForMyBoys]

My brother just went on a trip with a group of friends. One friend had a passport that expired in a month and the airline would not let him on board as they had a policy that passport could not expire within 6 months. I personally would not risk it. The renewal process is not hard.

 

[diznymom]

My brother just went on a trip with a group of friends. One friend had a passport that expired in a month and the airline would not let him on board as they had a policy that passport could not expire within 6 months. I personally would not risk it. The renewal process is not hard.

Where did your brother and friends go???

 

[PrincessShmoo]

as they had a policy that passport could not expire within 6 months.

Who had that policy?

 

[adamki]

My brother just went on a trip with a group of friends. One friend had a passport that expired in a month and the airline would not let him on board as they had a policy that passport could not expire within 6 months. I personally would not risk it. The renewal process is not hard.

I'd also like to know the airline and the destination country. Most airlines use the IATA Timatic system to validate travel documents and visa requirements for a given itinerary. If an airline is deviating from the timatic database, that would be good information to have. It's also possible that the destination country actually levied the 6 month requirement or that an airline representative caused the issue.

FYI, if you want to check your airline itinerary and travel documents against the Timatic database, you can enter your travel information in the IATA Travel Centre here: https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm

 

[SuperDry]

why worry about it when you can just renew it before the cruise and not worry?

There are lots of reasons to not renew early. Others have already pointed out the cost reason: you lose the value of whatever time is remaining on your existing passport. Also, someone may be in a position where in order to get it renewed before an upcoming trip, they'd have to pay for expedited service, whereas if they renew after, they can use standard service.

There are also many situations where something related to another country is tied to the current passport. For example, in many cases, a visa attached to a passport is valid only in conjunction with that passport, such that if you renew early (which invalidates the current passport), this invalidates the visa as well (some countries will allow you to use a non-expired visa in an expired/cancelled passport, but some do not). In my case, I have automated immigration clearance in two other countries that is tied to my current passport. If I renew my passport early, I lose those privileges unless I re-apply for them. In all of those cases, it may be that there is an upcoming trip to a country within the validity period of the current passport, and where the visa or what not is not needed past then - in those cases, renewing early creates a lot of extra work and expense that wouldn't otherwise be needed at all.

airline would not let him on board as they had a policy that passport could not expire within 6 months

As others have stated, I'm skeptical that this was actually the case. What's much more likely is that the destination (or a transit) country had a 6-month validity rule, and the airline based its decision on that. Timatic gives airlines the current rules for each country - there's little reason for an airline to deny boarding to a person with valid travel documents.

 

[ForMyBoys]

Where did your brother and friends go???

Who had that policy?

I'd also like to know the airline and the destination country. Most airlines use the IATA Timatic system to validate travel documents and visa requirements for a given itinerary. If an airline is deviating from the timatic database, that would be good information to have. It's also possible that the destination country actually levied the 6 month requirement or that an airline representative caused the issue.

FYI, if you want to check your airline itinerary and travel documents against the Timatic database, you can enter your travel information in the IATA Travel Centre here: https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm

Hi All, sorry for the delay but I wanted to ask my brother before replying to ensure no misinformation. They were going to Cabo San Lucas and flying on American Airlines. They verified that entry into Mexico should have been ok but AA had a policy that they could not expire for 6 months. Maybe it was a rogue airline employee but my brother and friend were shown the policy on AA's website by the employee and his friend was not allowed to board. They all ended up going to Vegas instead.

 

[soniam]

Coincidentally just spoke to my parents not long before reading this and they shared they just renewed passports during the shutdown and it only took 4 weeks.

Yep, there are no issues with passports and the shutdown, thankfully. Global Entry interviews were affected though.

 

[adamki]

Hi All, sorry for the delay but I wanted to ask my brother before replying to ensure no misinformation. They were going to Cabo San Lucas and flying on American Airlines. They verified that entry into Mexico should have been ok but AA had a policy that they could not expire for 6 months. Maybe it was a rogue airline employee but my brother and friend were shown the policy on AA's website by the employee and his friend was not allowed to board. They all ended up going to Vegas instead.

Thank you.

That's a super lazy policy from AA (shocking, i know). Even stranger, aa.com directs you to the IATA website that i linked previously and then they pretty much say to ignore that information and because at AA passports must have 6 months of validity.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/international-travel/international-travel.jsp

A little googling resulted in a mixed bag of experiences from AA, of course.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi All, sorry for the delay but I wanted to ask my brother before replying to ensure no misinformation. They were going to Cabo San Lucas and flying on American Airlines. They verified that entry into Mexico should have been ok but AA had a policy that they could not expire for 6 months. Maybe it was a rogue airline employee but my brother and friend were shown the policy on AA's website by the employee and his friend was not allowed to board. They all ended up going to Vegas instead.

I imagine AA was following the recommendation from Mexico. I found this on the internet regarding what the requirements are:

Passport validity: The maximum period of time that a visitor may stay in Mexico without a formal visa is six months. Therefore we recommend that your passport, regardless of country of origin, should be valid for a minimum period of six months, however long you intend to stay to avoid any potential problems at the port of entry. Immigration authorities at the port of entry may allow or deny entry of any person into Mexico. If you have a passport that is valid for less than six months and you intend to stay in Mexico for a short period of time—perhaps a vacation—the Immigration Officer might allow you entry, especially if you can show a return air ticket. Notwithstanding this, we recommend that you and your family members hold passports valid for at least six months from the date you plan to enter Mexico.

It's not a Mexican requirement, but is recommended.

 

[diznymom]

Hi All, sorry for the delay but I wanted to ask my brother before replying to ensure no misinformation. They were going to Cabo San Lucas and flying on American Airlines. They verified that entry into Mexico should have been ok but AA had a policy that they could not expire for 6 months. Maybe it was a rogue airline employee but my brother and friend were shown the policy on AA's website by the employee and his friend was not allowed to board. They all ended up going to Vegas instead.

Your brother and friends had a scenario totally different from mine. But, thank your for the info on the 6=month rule.

 

[Dug720]

I imagine AA was following the recommendation from Mexico. I found this on the internet regarding what the requirements are:

Passport validity: The maximum period of time that a visitor may stay in Mexico without a formal visa is six months. Therefore we recommend that your passport, regardless of country of origin, should be valid for a minimum period of six months, however long you intend to stay to avoid any potential problems at the port of entry. Immigration authorities at the port of entry may allow or deny entry of any person into Mexico. If you have a passport that is valid for less than six months and you intend to stay in Mexico for a short period of time—perhaps a vacation—the Immigration Officer might allow you entry, especially if you can show a return air ticket. Notwithstanding this, we recommend that you and your family members hold passports valid for at least six months from the date you plan to enter Mexico.

It's not a Mexican requirement, but is recommended.

Excellent point. Plus it's probably easier on the employees to have the blanket 6-month rule for foreign travel rather than make them memorize or look up each country's requirements. 6 months is the general rule for those that have the beyond stay requirement, so it's probably easiest to just require 6 months period.