Is it okay to use a US passport now if it expires in June?
March 27, 2019 10:57 PM Subscribe
Does anyone know if the US passport expires before the technical expiration date, like some countries? My relative's US passport expires in June and she will be traveling to her native country early April-mid May. She will be using her native passport (that is not expiring soon) to enter and leave that country but will be using the US passport to leave and reenter the US. Will there be a problem?
It depends on the country she's flying to/from- some countries require your passport to be valid for 1/3/6 months from the date of entry. If her native country has a policy like this, they won't her leave with a US passport that expires before that.
Check https://travel.state.gov to see what, if any, passport validity restrictions are in place for her native country.
She should probably get her passport renewed anyway though- given the current political situation and depending on her country of origin, I'd be keen to avoid any possible complications on return.
posted by Dwardles at 2:20 AM on March 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
Check https://travel.state.gov to see what, if any, passport validity restrictions are in place for her native country.
She should probably get her passport renewed anyway though- given the current political situation and depending on her country of origin, I'd be keen to avoid any possible complications on return.
posted by Dwardles at 2:20 AM on March 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
A US friend attempted to travel to Switzerland on a US passport that was a few months away from expiring, and he wasn’t allowed to board the plane to leave the US. That makes me think the plan you have articulated (present the soon-to-expire US passport to the gate agents upon departure from the US) will not work.
posted by eirias at 2:30 AM on March 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by eirias at 2:30 AM on March 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Dual citizen here. When I was in a similar situation, I did not risk it. The stakes were too high. She should get her US passport renewed ASAP. As individuals, we have zero control over the airlines or TSA or any other legal thing. The only thing we have control over is making sure our passports are up-to-date.
posted by Bella Donna at 3:34 AM on March 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 3:34 AM on March 28, 2019 [13 favorites]
Many countries require that the passports of people entering have a certain minimum validity period. That usually doesn't apply to re-entering your own country but it is ultimately up to the airline and they will be risk-averse because they are penalised for transporting people who are later turned away at the border.
Legally your friend can re-enter the US on a US passport which is about to expire (you have the legal right to re-enter even with an expired passport but not sure if there's a penalty for doing that) but the airline may not let them fly with it.
posted by atrazine at 4:01 AM on March 28, 2019
Legally your friend can re-enter the US on a US passport which is about to expire (you have the legal right to re-enter even with an expired passport but not sure if there's a penalty for doing that) but the airline may not let them fly with it.
posted by atrazine at 4:01 AM on March 28, 2019
People run into trouble travelling when US passports are within 6 months of the expiration date. She should absolutely get it renewed before traveling.
posted by DoubleLune at 4:15 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by DoubleLune at 4:15 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
As others have said it will be fine as she's using passport b for country B. But either way there is plenty of time to renew. So why not just renew? I renewed mine urgently over the holidays last year and it was back to me in like 9 days or something (I paid the $45 expedited.)
posted by chasles at 4:25 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by chasles at 4:25 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Here you go, right now they don't even need expedited.
posted by chasles at 4:27 AM on March 28, 2019
posted by chasles at 4:27 AM on March 28, 2019
It's probably OK, though it would make me nervous.
Whenever you board an international flight, the airline is supposed to verify that you have the documentation necessary to be admitted to the country. They use a system called Timatic for this, which takes in the passenger's nationality(s), passports, residence permits, and dates of expiration, and figures out whether or not a given passenger is likely to be admitted on arrival. The airline wants to get this right because if a passenger isn't admitted, the destination country will hold the airline responsible for returning that passenger home, and will possibly fine the airline as well.
The guidelines here from Travel StackExchange on how to travel with two passports are probably on point. Assuming that the your relative's native country is OK with dual citizenship, she'll need to convince the airline to let her board on her outbound flight by showing them both her US and foreign passports, and then use her foreign passport for entry to her native country. On return, she'll show (at least) her US passport to the airline when she checks in; use her native passport for any exit controls in her native country; and then use her US passport to re-enter the US.
The worst-case scenario is then one where your relative is delayed (by family obligations, illness, natural disaster, what have you) in her native country past the expiry date of her US passport. If that happens, the airline will likely not let her board a plane home, since she wouldn't have a valid document proving admissibility to the US. She would have to either renew her US passport at an embassy/consulate in her native country, or somehow get to Canada or Mexico and present herself at a land border. (In the latter case, the border agents would then detain her until her US citizenship can be verified; the stories I've heard say that this can take a few hours.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:58 AM on March 28, 2019
Whenever you board an international flight, the airline is supposed to verify that you have the documentation necessary to be admitted to the country. They use a system called Timatic for this, which takes in the passenger's nationality(s), passports, residence permits, and dates of expiration, and figures out whether or not a given passenger is likely to be admitted on arrival. The airline wants to get this right because if a passenger isn't admitted, the destination country will hold the airline responsible for returning that passenger home, and will possibly fine the airline as well.
The guidelines here from Travel StackExchange on how to travel with two passports are probably on point. Assuming that the your relative's native country is OK with dual citizenship, she'll need to convince the airline to let her board on her outbound flight by showing them both her US and foreign passports, and then use her foreign passport for entry to her native country. On return, she'll show (at least) her US passport to the airline when she checks in; use her native passport for any exit controls in her native country; and then use her US passport to re-enter the US.
The worst-case scenario is then one where your relative is delayed (by family obligations, illness, natural disaster, what have you) in her native country past the expiry date of her US passport. If that happens, the airline will likely not let her board a plane home, since she wouldn't have a valid document proving admissibility to the US. She would have to either renew her US passport at an embassy/consulate in her native country, or somehow get to Canada or Mexico and present herself at a land border. (In the latter case, the border agents would then detain her until her US citizenship can be verified; the stories I've heard say that this can take a few hours.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:58 AM on March 28, 2019
Yeah, she's got plenty of time to renew, and she should. I get that passport renewal can be expensive for a lot of folks, but it has the potential to be much more expensive if something should go wrong, so it is well worth the $100 or whatever it is up to now.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:15 AM on March 28, 2019
posted by Rock Steady at 5:15 AM on March 28, 2019
Do it now. Don't stop, don't hesitate, do it right now. A couple of reasons pop up:
First, politics aside, the staggering incompetence of this current Administration has touched every agency. The brain drain -- in terms of career staffers leaving government agencies -- is extremely real, particularly post-shutdown. That means that routine tasks take forever and a day, and that's if there's no complicating factors (which in your friend's case, dual citizenship would certainly be, even though it shouldn't). You'd think that getting a passport renewed wouldn't take a long time; you'd be surprised, particularly if you're not in a big city.
Second, specifically towards this issue -- to the degree that the Trump Administration cares about an issue, immigration is that issue. And I'm not just talking about immigration into the U.S.; I'm talking about entry into the country, proving your citizenship -- the whole shebang. Depending on what country your relative is from, she may or may not get hassled at the point of entry on return.
To give you an example: I'm a white-passing Puerto Rican, born in Puerto Rico, which makes me a native-born citizen. I don't have dual citizenship, my passport is current. On my last international trip (round-trip to Berlin), I got hassled at Newark Airport by the agent at the port of entry, and got pulled aside for questioning. I was allowed a phone call, which I used to call my cousin (an immigration lawyer, natch), and I refused to answer any questions beyond the bare minimum. Obviously, I was released; the point being, this shit is no joke.
If there's any kind of irregularity with your documentation, they will hassle you.
So, just get this done ASAP.
posted by arkhangel at 7:44 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
First, politics aside, the staggering incompetence of this current Administration has touched every agency. The brain drain -- in terms of career staffers leaving government agencies -- is extremely real, particularly post-shutdown. That means that routine tasks take forever and a day, and that's if there's no complicating factors (which in your friend's case, dual citizenship would certainly be, even though it shouldn't). You'd think that getting a passport renewed wouldn't take a long time; you'd be surprised, particularly if you're not in a big city.
Second, specifically towards this issue -- to the degree that the Trump Administration cares about an issue, immigration is that issue. And I'm not just talking about immigration into the U.S.; I'm talking about entry into the country, proving your citizenship -- the whole shebang. Depending on what country your relative is from, she may or may not get hassled at the point of entry on return.
To give you an example: I'm a white-passing Puerto Rican, born in Puerto Rico, which makes me a native-born citizen. I don't have dual citizenship, my passport is current. On my last international trip (round-trip to Berlin), I got hassled at Newark Airport by the agent at the port of entry, and got pulled aside for questioning. I was allowed a phone call, which I used to call my cousin (an immigration lawyer, natch), and I refused to answer any questions beyond the bare minimum. Obviously, I was released; the point being, this shit is no joke.
If there's any kind of irregularity with your documentation, they will hassle you.
So, just get this done ASAP.
posted by arkhangel at 7:44 AM on March 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm assuming that native country is neither Canada nor Mexico, because both of those are much laxer and would probably allow it, but ONE month before expiry seems like a massive risk. A passport is $170 for 10 years validity, if she's losing 3 months of validity by renewing now that's about $4 wasted. Totally worth it.
posted by jeather at 8:14 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by jeather at 8:14 AM on March 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I friend of mine was flying to I-forget-where in Caribbean. His passport was due to expire within the coming year. He was not allowed to board the plane and missed his vacation.
posted by slogger at 11:46 AM on March 28, 2019
posted by slogger at 11:46 AM on March 28, 2019
Get the US one renewed ASAP for all the reasons articulated above. As a white passing woman with a Hispanic name and border state birth, I got a raft of shit coming back with a brand new duffle bag full of used books and freaking tourist tee shirts for extended friends and family last summer.
posted by tilde at 9:37 AM on March 29, 2019
posted by tilde at 9:37 AM on March 29, 2019
Holgate and Johnny Assay are right, many other answers are wrong. I work in this field. The validity of the passport only matters when you’re entering a country (so the validity of the US passport won’t matter when she enters her home country with a different passport). The US will not deny entry, or even give somebody a hard time, for entering on a valid US passport even if it expired the following day. If, on the small chance the airline tried to give her a hard time (I say small chance because this is a pretty basic, fundamental concept that MAYBE a desk agent wouldn’t know but their supervisor certainly should), there is a phone number set up for exactly these situations that the airline reps should have taped to their computers.
For background - the reason why some countries have these passport validity requirements is that they want to know that, at the end of your authorized stay, you’ll be logistically able to leave and return to your country of citizenship and they won’t be stuck with somebody who can’t or refuses to get a passport to travel home. This obviously doesn’t apply if you’re a citizen of said country. In fact, even without a passport, if you are a US citizen and show up at a port of entry to the US they have to let you in (after the added scrutiny and hassle and whatever else of confirming you are who you say you are). There are a few examples when US citizens showed up without passports or birth certificates and were illegally denied entry, but they’re scandals, not everyday occurrences.
The concern about immigration policies in general of this administration are well founded, but the types of things the Trump administration is doing are not at all related to this particular situation. Folks here are taking their anxiety about one part of the immigration apparatus and incorrectly applying those worries to a totally different part of the machine.
posted by exutima at 6:50 PM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
For background - the reason why some countries have these passport validity requirements is that they want to know that, at the end of your authorized stay, you’ll be logistically able to leave and return to your country of citizenship and they won’t be stuck with somebody who can’t or refuses to get a passport to travel home. This obviously doesn’t apply if you’re a citizen of said country. In fact, even without a passport, if you are a US citizen and show up at a port of entry to the US they have to let you in (after the added scrutiny and hassle and whatever else of confirming you are who you say you are). There are a few examples when US citizens showed up without passports or birth certificates and were illegally denied entry, but they’re scandals, not everyday occurrences.
The concern about immigration policies in general of this administration are well founded, but the types of things the Trump administration is doing are not at all related to this particular situation. Folks here are taking their anxiety about one part of the immigration apparatus and incorrectly applying those worries to a totally different part of the machine.
posted by exutima at 6:50 PM on March 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by holgate at 11:07 PM on March 27, 2019 [5 favorites]