EU Passport Renewal question
June 24, 2022 11:57 AM Subscribe
My parents cannot get an appointment to get their Greek passports renewed at the Los Angeles consulate. How can I help?
Hoping that someone can help!
Their Greek passports are expiring in a month and they cannot get an appointment at the LA consulate. There are just no appointments available and it looks like they are just offering very few appointments in general. The only days with appointments listed (all full) are in July. My parents are old and have recently been ill. It is hard for them to drive long distances, wait around the consulate etc. The consulate is so far non-responsive. Is there anything I can do to help? Is it possible to travel to one's home country with an expired passport? They could certainly get the passports renewed there more quickly. It's not incredibly urgent, but apparently, the person (the one!) who does passport renewals will be gone for all of August. And September would be pretty late. They are not US citizens, don't have any other passport. I'm very grateful for any ideas.
Hoping that someone can help!
Their Greek passports are expiring in a month and they cannot get an appointment at the LA consulate. There are just no appointments available and it looks like they are just offering very few appointments in general. The only days with appointments listed (all full) are in July. My parents are old and have recently been ill. It is hard for them to drive long distances, wait around the consulate etc. The consulate is so far non-responsive. Is there anything I can do to help? Is it possible to travel to one's home country with an expired passport? They could certainly get the passports renewed there more quickly. It's not incredibly urgent, but apparently, the person (the one!) who does passport renewals will be gone for all of August. And September would be pretty late. They are not US citizens, don't have any other passport. I'm very grateful for any ideas.
This is what the EU has to say about travelling on an expired document.
This Ministry of Foreign Affairs page (Greek only) says that EU citizens cannot be forbidden entry to Greece, even without a travel document, as long as they can prove EU citizenship. There is also a provision for issuing temporary travel documents for repatriation, that might be useful - maybe the consulate can do that for you?
Also do they have Greek identity cards? This part (my bold) seems to imply a Greek ID card might be a valid travel document for entering the country:
This Ministry of Foreign Affairs page (Greek only) says that EU citizens cannot be forbidden entry to Greece, even without a travel document, as long as they can prove EU citizenship. There is also a provision for issuing temporary travel documents for repatriation, that might be useful - maybe the consulate can do that for you?
Also do they have Greek identity cards? This part (my bold) seems to imply a Greek ID card might be a valid travel document for entering the country:
Κατά την πραγματοποίηση intra/extra Schengen μετακινήσεων από και προς την ελληνική επικράτεια, απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση αποτελεί το επιδειχθέν ταξιδιωτικό έγγραφο (Δελτίο Ταυτότητας ή Διαβατήριο) να βρίσκεται σε ισχύ, ανεξαρτήτως αν πρόκειται για Έλληνες ή Ευρωπαίους πολίτες.posted by each day we work at 12:53 PM on June 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
The problem is probably not crossing the border with an expired passport but persuading an airline to let you travel with one.
The way for you to help would be to monitor the offered slots and make the appointment. This may entail figuring out when they release new slots and sitting there at midnight ready to go.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:04 PM on June 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
The way for you to help would be to monitor the offered slots and make the appointment. This may entail figuring out when they release new slots and sitting there at midnight ready to go.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:04 PM on June 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
Try the Greek consul at the embassy in DC? Will they do renewals if you Fed-ex (including return envelope) passports there?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:16 PM on June 24, 2022
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:16 PM on June 24, 2022
I am not sure about the specifics of this for Greece, but in a lot of countries an answer would be to contact the equivalent of your congressperson / member of parliament /representative etc and see whether they can grease the wheel for you.
posted by plonkee at 3:24 PM on June 24, 2022
posted by plonkee at 3:24 PM on June 24, 2022
You/your parents can try contacting the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs - they should a) have more people available to answer queries than the embassy, and b) give you direct information about getting back into the country.
posted by gakiko at 10:00 AM on June 25, 2022
posted by gakiko at 10:00 AM on June 25, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Liesl at 12:07 PM on June 24, 2022 [1 favorite]