Passport Question

[Swampduck]

HI

I have just renewed my passport & now waiting for it to be returned, but some one has just thrown a spanner in the works and told me today that you need to have your passport 6 months before travel! I don't think this is correct, as I know you need to have 3 months left on passport if travelling. So does anyone know if this is true about the 6 months???

cheers

[Lsimon]

I've never heard of that one and I can't think of any reason you'd need a passport before travel unless you are traveling to a place where you need a visa and have to submit your passport with the application.

 

There are some countries which require you to have a passport that is valid for a period of time AFTER you enter the country but not before.

[Swampduck]

Thank you for such a quick response from the other side of the world...

 

Enjoy the rest of your day... it is our bed time...

 

cheers :)

[sredish]

I've heard the opposite...it can't be ready for expiration within 6 months of travel. But no, you don't need your passport for 6 months prior. If that were the case, nobody would pay the rush processing fees for them to get here in time for their vacations! :cool:

[ghstudio]

I agree with Larry....on our last trip (1/13), we got our (emergency) renewal passports a week before leaving for southeast asia. The requirement, and it's one that's put on by the airlines and foreign countries is that your passport must be good for at least 90 days (or is it six months) after your planned return home.

[ariawoman]

I've always been told it needs to be good for 6 months prior to the cruise (basically just in case you get stuck in a foreign land). You're fine for the up front part :-) I got mine in late july and my cruise was early oct so that would kill that 90 day theory, and that was for a mediterranean cruise back in 2009 hehe

[texkan]

The Issue Date of your passport can be found on the data page of your Passport Book or on the front of your Passport Card.

 

If possible, you should renew your passport approximately nine (9) months before it expires. Some countries require that your passport be valid at least six (6) months beyond the dates of your trip. Some airlines will not allow you to board if this requirement is not met.

 

**Found this info on Gov. Page about renewing Passport. I am getting ready to renew my passport.

[dln929]

Thank you for such a quick response from the other side of the world...

 

Enjoy the rest of your day... it is our bed time...

 

cheers :)

 

Swampduck, with all due respect, you shouldn't be going on anything you hear here. You need to contact the department that deals with passports in your country. If for some reason we give you the wrong advice no one is going to be sympathetic to your case if you say "but I was told on CC..."

 

That said, I agree with everyone in that I've never heard of a needing a passport before travel. That seems a bit ridiculous to me. Maybe what the person who told you that meant is that you can't do your Celebrity on-line check-in BEFORE travel if you don't have your passport, because obviously you wouldn't be able to provide that info until it's in your hands! Now that makes sense. ;)

[RickT]

1) I've been previously advised by Celebrity that all passports need to be valid for at least 6 mths past the end of the cruise due to immigration requirements of the various countries they travel to.

 

2) I've never heard of any requirement (Celebrity, other cruise lines, airlines) for a passport to have been issued 6 mths prior to travel dates... but who knows, it's a whole new world out there.

 

Regarding the requirement for passports to be valid for 6 mths past the end of the cruise, when I did a British Isles cruise my passport was only valid for 5 mths past the end date. I contacted the British Consulate and was advised that they had no such rule as it applied to Canadian travelers. When I contacted Celebrity to discuss this the rep started quoting Homeland Security and other US regulations even though I was never going to set foot in the US and the British Consulate confirmed it wasn't necessary. Rather than risk a problem trying to board the ship I renewed my passport early.

 

Ultimately, Celebrity sets many of the rules even if they exceed requirements of the countries they sail to.

[TomMMD]

HI

I have just renewed my passport & now waiting for it to be returned, but some one has just thrown a spanner in the works and told me today that you need to have your passport 6 months before travel! I don't think this is correct, as I know you need to have 3 months left on passport if travelling. So does anyone know if this is true about the 6 months???

cheers

 

I think you have it backwards.

 

My understanding is that you have to have a passport that still has 6 months left on it in order to enter many countries.

 

The reason is that you can theoretically you can stay there 6 months and they don't want folks there with expired passports.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[nothriver]

Entry/Exit requirements for specific countries can be found here:

http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_4965.html

 

The countries we will be traveling to all required passport to be valid for 90 days beyond the planned return date.

 

I've not heard anything about requirements for the passport to be valid before travel - for those that travel regularly, how would you ever get the passport renewed between trips with requirements for it to be valid 6 months before AND 6 months after!? And how about those traveling overseas with their babies? You can't apply for a passport until they are born - it would be very difficult to plan travel if you had to wait to travel until 6 months AFTER it was issued! Yikes!

[noblepa]

It seems to me that it depends entirely on what countries you will be visiting. Some countries require that you have up to six months left on the passport.

 

AFAIK, the US has no requirement that your passport has any time remaining on it to return to the US with a US passport. IOW, you can return from your cruise on the day your passport expires.

 

If, for example, you are taking a Caribbean cruise, it doesn't really matter, because none of the Caribbean countries require a passport for visitors, at least for US citizens. In that case, your only passport concern is that it will be accepted by US Immigration when you return.

 

If you're not a US citizen, or hold a non-US passport, then I really don't know what the rules are.

[Keith1010]

You are fine.

 

Keith

[varoo]

I agree with the others who say that some countries want you to have it valid for 6 months after the cruise.

 

That is just so you are covered in case you happen to be detained there for whatever reason.

 

This board is the only place where I have ever seen anyone claim that it needs to be good for 6 months prior to the cruise!

 

But Swampduck, I notice that you are from N. Ireland and most of us here who are giving you answers are from the USA.

So please check with the authorities in your own country in case their requirements may be different from ours.

 

For those of us here in the USA, our passports can be issued today and we are good to cruise or fly with them immediately.

[cafediem2]

Hi swampduck

 

A UK perspective. I have never heard of having to get a passport for a particular period of time before leaving the country - although you do generally need to put passport details into systems before you can fly, and before you can check in for your cruise.

 

As others have said, some countries have requirements for how long your passport must have left - if you paste the address below into a browser, choose a country then click on entry requirements, it should tell you what these are. These pages also tell you interesting things like whether you are required to carry id with you in that country (not something we in the UK tend to think about) and whether you need a visa. Eg in Croatia, you need only validity for the period of your visit, whereas if you visit South Africa you need a passport valid for at least 30 days after you leave South Africa, and you are advised to make sure you have 2 blank pages in your passport when you arrive.

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

 

 

Hope this helps, have a great cruise.

[cle-guy]

US Customs and Immigration will charge the Airline or cruise line a hefty fine (I think airlines its $10,000) for allowing someone to travel with improper documentation, and require the air/cruise to cover transport costs back if denied entry.

 

For this reason, many airlines and cruise lines implement their own internal controls and policies, one of which is that documents have 6 month validity, this ensures they have cushion if mistake is made later on, and in case passenger keeps changing their flights etc, airline has some cushion time built in.

 

Some countries require 6 months validity, others not. Some SUGGEST 6 months validity. So to keep it simple, I think all cruise and airlines just implement across the board "6 months validity" requirement for any international travel.