Quick Passport Question
 

Just arrived in Frankfurt on UA 944 - at the immigration desk the officer told me that next time I will not be admitted to the EU because my passport needs two empty pages! I just got my new passport in September - and yes it is nearly full but ive never heard this rule before for the EU! Do I have to do this immediately or is the officer mistaken?

On a lighter note - in the Senator lounge now and omg what do they put in the eggs - they are amazing!

That's a new one. I have no answer, but thanks for the heads up.

The officer was not mistaken. The countries to which you travel can legally mandate how many blank pages you need to have remaining in your passport.

If you are from the U.S., this explains how to get more pages:
http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...ces/pages.html


However, I recall reading somewhere that the practice of adding pages to an existing passport is going to end. You may have to just replace yours with the 52-page book.

Anyone can use this web site to search for information on the countries they plan to visit.

http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...h/country.html

The search for Germany reveals the two blank pages requirement.

Great minds, Will Dearborn ;)

Thanks all - well at least I got 10 months use from this passport lol. Looks like I will be adding pages ASAP. I'm travelling to Tokyo after this - better read up on their requirements this morning!

EDIT - Thanks for the links all - guess I'm ok for Japan as they need only one page.... Thank goodness I am travelling on to Finland today - otherwise I might not be allowed in!

You can have 50 pages added pretty quickly and easily.

Why would anyone trust what a foreign government site has to say about entry requirements to Germany? I would have no faith that an American site would necessarily be up to date - check with the German consul/embassy.

Where did you see this??? I always max out the 3 added page sections limit after about 5 yrs, and when I have to change passports, I lose a bunch of difficult and expensive multiyear visas!

+1 - and this time I only made it 10 months on my first (~50 page) passport!

I have used passport expedite agencies in the past that can get it done in 24 hours - but have been told on this board multiple times I'm foolish to spend the money and do it - can you recommend an alternate process that can get this done fast for me? I'm usually only in the states for a few days at a time - when I get back from Finland this trip on Saturday I'm only home for 36 hours before heading to Tokyo....

Not sure where I read about it first. A mention appears in this article:

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1.../p2p-81424638/

The Points Guy, Thrillist, and Jaunted all had posts about it in March, according to a Google search. Those stories used the same source (a passport agency), so maybe the agency drafted a press release in March to drum up business?

There was also a notice posted in November 2014 on a web site promoting travel to Africa.

What Germany has to say on the subject:

:confused:

http://www.germany.info/visa

OP travels enough to obtain a second unrestricted passport, but they are valid only two years. My advice is to get a second passport. Have all the visas put in the ten year passport and all the stamps from non-visa countries in the two year passport. One who does this can always have one valid passport in hand, even while waiting for a visa, a new passport, or pages to be added.