Renewing a Child's Passport - info sought

[JulieSharp]

Hi

Joshua's passport expires on 2nd Feb 2011. We are due to go to Florida on 22nd Aug 2010 - approx 5 months 14 days left. The question is can he use his passport for USA (I think I saw a time limit, somewhere!) or would it be wiser to renew in a few months time and add left over time onto new passport ?

 

[silver apple]

I'm pretty sure that you need to have a full 6 months on your passport for the US. We had the same issue for my ds last year, but iirc the time left on his previous passport was credited to his new one.

 

[PChef]

Not sure how much time is supposed to be left on a passport, but all the details will be on direct.gov.uk, very informative site. My son's will need renewing before we go as his expires in April.

 

[Muscateer]

Yes you need to have 6 months clear, we had to do this a couple years ago. Found it easier renewing the passport and the extra months is added on.

 

[jen_uk]

I know that for adults it only has to be valid for the length of stay, I suppose it is the same for children.

 

[wayneg]

Yes you need to have 6 months clear, we had to do this a couple years ago. Found it easier renewing the passport and the extra months is added on.

Depends who you are flying with.
Virgin and BA (plus others) only require you to have a passport valid for while you are there, this is set by US Passport and Border Control under the terms of the passport Visa Waiver agreement.
There is no requirement for 6 months for most UK travellers but check with the airline you are travelling with, they might insist on it even though not required.

Link here, states there is a 6 month rule but UK travellers using the Visa Waiver system are exempt.
https://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/custom...Xh0PXBhc3Nwb3J0IDYgbW9udGhz&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[Ann B]

I would be tempted to renew it before you go. They will add on upto 9 months of your old passport so you won't lose out by renewing it early.
HTH
Ann

 

[kristieuk]

Agree - technically it only needs to be valid for the length of your stay, but some airlines insist on the 6 months rule. You won't lose anything by renewing before you go as up to 9 months unexpired time will be rolled over onto the new passport, plus if the price goes up, you will have escaped the increase

 

[JulieSharp]

Thanks for all the info.
At the moment it looks like I am ok with the Visa Waiver System, but I need to check with Virgin.
I will probably get him a new passport and have the left over time added on. What with the body scan's coming in, you don't want anymore delays to your journey do you, it gives you peace of mind, one thing less to worry about.

Thanks again

 

[wayneg]

Julie, Virgin have the info online. You will have no problems at all with 5 months 14 days left on his passport, your choice if you want to renew early but not required.
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/passengerinformation/healthandvisainformation/index.jsp

Enter
Normal
UK
---
UK
USA
---
---

It then gives you this info
Passport required.
- Nationals of United Kingdom (Great Britain) may enter with
passports valid for period of intended stay.

 

[Disney again]

We went to WDW in August and returned 6th September, our passports expired between 28th October and 11th November. We flew in 2 groups, 2 of us with Continental and the rest of us with Virgin Atlantic. None of us had a problem.
I had printed out some info from various sources to show the airline staff in the event of a dispute, but I didn't need it.

 

[mackay_j]

100% you are fine to go - no need to renew. I have email from virgin and US embasy about this.

 

[cornish pixie]

Hi And Happy New Year
We are flying out on the 5th of feb and needed to sort out another 5 years on our girls passports.
You know when you know you have To do something , you keep reminding yourself that you have to do it then you get to the day before Christmas eve and think OMG PASSPORTS!!!
Anyway a quick trip to get pics ,filled in forms ( made mistakes so ended up filling in the spare ones ) then relief that we didn't need a counter signature or did we had they changed that much....well we can see they are the same but would the passport people see it...
Well you can imagine what it was like in our house anyway deep breath and we sent them off hoping that everything would be o.k.
All I can say is what service we have had the girls new passports in our hands as of New Years Eve .
Sent special delivery so thanks to Royal Mail and a huge thank you to those very nice people at Cardiff,
Lesson learnt though will not leave it so late.
We had to have 6 months at least on them and due to us cruiseing whilst we were out there we thought it was easier to get them sorted, so they just added xtra time on the new ones.
We have now filled all the Esta stuff as we had to have the girls passport numbers so I suppose after waffling so much I would say do it now.
Take Care
Tracey

 

[mackay_j]

You only need 6 months left to go to some countrires -USA is NOT one of those!!! Get an email confirmation from your airline incase you have problems at check in, you will NOT have any issues at passport control in US (unless you accidently cross any white line!). You may need 6months if you need a visa (I have not checked up on that)- but not if you are ok as long as your passport is in date and meets all of the requirements (machine readable chipped/ bio chipped etc dependent on date issued,for an esta type entry. I spent a long time on this before we went and conntacted embassy and airline to get all info in emails before we went- we had no issues on holiday.

 

[suzybear6]

Phew!!! That will save us a bit of money as mine and my two children's passports run out less than 6 months after we go on our holiday and I was thinking I would have to get all three renewed before we went

Now I'll leave getting them renewed until after the holiday so we'll have more money to spend while we are there

Luv Suzy

 

[mackay_j]

Phew!!! That will save us a bit of money as mine and my two children's passports run out less than 6 months after we go on our holiday and I was thinking I would have to get all three renewed before we went

Now I'll leave getting them renewed until after the holiday so we'll have more money to spend while we are there

Luv Suzy

suzy -who are you flying with? get an email from their customer service department before you go confirming that they agree that you can travel on your passports as they are, just in case you get someone at check in who is unaware of the correct rules- don't laugh, it happened to my sister in law. Virgin would not let her travel to destination, instisting that she needed a visa, she did not get to go, but later was compinsated as they were proved wrong, they did take her to another destination on the same day, but it did upset their holiday plans a lot!! Therefor go to the airport prepared taking emails from airlinr and print of rules from US embassy site as well.

 

[wayneg]

Suzy will be fine, she is going with Virgin, their rules are clear on their website.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2365443

 

[suzybear6]

Yep, Virgin I take it no one has had any problems flying with Virgin with less than 6 months left on their passports?

Luv Suzy

 

[mackay_j]

Yep, Virgin I take it no one has had any problems flying with Virgin with less than 6 months left on their passports?

Luv Suzy

should be fine with them

 

[daiseyirl]

Glad i came across this post, we go oct mid-term kids passports are out in feb. Will double check with airline to be sure