Desirees

My 5 yr old's passport expires in September, and we are going to Greece end of March. Do you know id there will be a problem with him entering Greece and UK? I know that some countries need US passports to be more than 6 months away from their expiry date and am not sure where to look if Greece or UK is one of them.

Any ideas, anyone? Would appreciate pointers,

D.

Telfes

This DL-offered site is a great one for finding details of passport & visa requirements. And it will tell you that for a US citizen, the passport must be valid at least 3 months longer than the end of your intended stay.
@:-) Great site to bookmark!

nako

The State Department also maintains a list of entry requirements for US citizens:

http://travel.state.gov

Mike

oldpenny16

2 very good links. Thanks!

Desirees

Thank you so much for the links...I have bookmarked them and appreciate you posting them here.

D.

747LWW

Just to be sure due to frequent and advance unknown foreign country travel, I assume 6 months is required from date of US departure. Just my personal strategy.

My motto is better safe than sorry if one wishes to avoid last minute susprises and fees.

Telfes

Happy to be able to help. I agree with 474LWW's 6 month cushion -- it is a safe one & a good idea.

747LWW

Prof. Tefles, what a pleasure to happen to post on the same thread as you. You are such a vauable travel resourse! I take your advice often, and know you are such a delightful person. I think of you often and consider myself and others so fortunate to have met you on one of your Mileage Runs to the Far East!!!

Desirees

Hello, I also checked the Greece embassy website where they have listed the three month rule. We were initially planning to go ahead and renew his passport anyway and not take a chance, but then, I am hearing the long delay it is taking to get anything done with passports, even if they are being expedited and am feeling nervous sending it off since we are less than 6 weeks away from departure.

D.

iwebslinger

See if there is a passport office in your city. Take your itinerary and picture of your daughter(passport approved) and then call and make an appointment. You will get it that day. I believe you have to be within two weeks or something like that but call them and see if they can make an exception.

haniboo

i do not think it is that simple anymore. check the state department's website, and do try to speak with someone at a passport office, if you live near one. but i think today you need to take, in addition to the photos and cash and old passport, your spouse (or notarized signature from him/her--you can download the form on the state department's site,) yours and spouses ID's, and your child.

747LWW

With the additional regulations/requirements s this not reason to plan FAR ahead for most people?

I know it makes me nervous for myself...just one more stress point.

Cheers

haniboo

you are right. it happened to me. was takiing kids to fla to go on cruise with my mother. she asked months before the trip if our pps were all to date, and i said sure. but when i finally looked, about 1 week before fly time, darling 5 year olds were expired. there was nothing i could do, unless it was "a matter of life or death". i tried explaining that it WAS--"my mother will KILL me if we don't get there..." but they wouldn't bite. to make matters slightly worse, mr. haniboo was in the carribeean himself and he needed to get notarized copies of his pp sent to me etcetc. a very big hassle.

but now i sorta suffer from post passport traumatic stress disorder--i check our passports constantly, just to be sure i didn't miss one that is expiring soon.

my advice: get new passports long before the old one expires.

mjet_cz

Precisely. I just pretend that my passport is valid for 8 years rather than 10 and renew early. That leaves nothing to chance.