View Full Version : passport
carolyne
24-02-2004, 13:18
A group of us going to Florida for 2 weeks in April. Can u experts please answer this question. My husbands passport needs renewed in August this year. Does his passport need to be valid for over 6 months to get in on holiday. I would rather get it sorted now than find out at the airport. Have called the passport office but they dont know. I am also presuming we dont need visa's for a 2 week holiday. Am I right? Please help.
hamptonlakes
24-02-2004, 13:25
Hi Carolyne,
Welcome to the forum[msnsmile2]
Yes your husband must have atleast 6 months on his passport to travel.
You will be asked to fill out Visa Wavier forms which are given to you when you check in at the airport.
carolyne
24-02-2004, 13:34
thanx for that. Better get on the case now to get his new passport on time. :)
Do we all have to apply for new passports to get into the states after October this year? Bit confused about what I have read and heard on news.
I can picture us all having to go to London to get our finger prints taken and new passports issued, which isnt appealing as far as the cost goes.
Hi Carolyne
Welcome to the forum.
I have a similar problem as your husband in so far as my passport expires just at the wrong time, between our 2 holidays.:(
It is my understanding that you can apply for a new passport up to 9 months before your existing one expires.
The forms can be obtained from any Major Post Office, also the Post Office offer a "free" checking service, whereby they will double check your forms before you send them, that way you avoid the chance of getting the forms sent back requiring amendments, which will delay matters.
Unless you are planning to visit the Passport Office yourself and get a new passport the same day, I would send it off very soon as they can take several weeks to come through and depending when in April your are planning to go, you might start to cut it a bit fine.
As far as the Visa Wavier Forms are concerned, these are handed out when you check in, they do require some concentration when filling them in, as you have to carefully write within the lines / boxes, otherwise when land in the US if there are any crossings out or mistakes then they give you new forms and send you to the back of the line.:(
I always find a quiet spot in the departure lounge and complete them over a coffee, that way they are "done and dusted" and if you do make a mistake, then you can get another form when you are on the plane.
No matter how many announcemnets are made during the 9 hour flight about completing the Visa Waiver Forms prior to landing, I am amazed at how many passengers start searching through their bags for a pen and their passports, whilst waiting in line, its very entertaining
[:o)]
Have a great time.
The changes in October have been a little confusing, but it is my understanding that providing you have an "electronically readable" passport before the 26th of October then you should be ok.
My passport is coming up to 10 years old and mine is ok, so you should be alright.
For any passports issued after the 26th, should have finger prints etc on them, however the British Government are still trying to get the US to relax this for British Citizens as the UK Passport Office won't have the equipment in place to issue the new passports until 2005 at the earliest.
At the moment it is also my understanding that if your passport is issued prior to the 26th then you won't need to get a new one until yours expires in the ususal way.
Hope this helps.
carolyne
24-02-2004, 13:54
Thanks DMC
Hubby plans to take a day off work to go to Glasgow (our nearest passport office) to get it sorted.
Good advice about filling the waiver forms in.
Looking forward to our Florida holiday as we last went 6 years ago. To make it even better we have our 5 year old son for his first visit. Dinosaur mad so looking forward to Universal Jurassic type thingy!!!
Thanks again [msnsmile2]
No problems Carolyne
If your son likes animals then a trip to Animal Kingdom is also a real must, there are plenty of things to see and do.
I'm sure you'll have great time :D
athurstance
24-02-2004, 14:15
Assuming your husband enters the US on the Visa Waiver scheme his passport only needs to be valid for 90 days from the date of entry not 6 months so he would be fine.
The following is a link to the US embassy website - the 90 day bit is about 3/4 of the way down the page.
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/visa/niv/vwp.htm
Here's a previous thread on passports which might help! http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7830
steph_goodrum
24-02-2004, 16:51
The other change that could affect you Carolyne is that as a result of having to have machine readable passports all children must have their own passport but I think if your son if 5 he will probably already have his own, I can't remember when they decided in the UK that all children should have their own passports.
The post office service costs around £4-£5 but they guarantee that if you do not have your passport back within 10 working days that fee will be refunded.
Apparently you can renew your passport at any time but 9 months is the maximum credit they will give you against a new one, so it would be valid for 10 years and 9 months. If you have a passport due to expire next year though it may well be worth doing now incase the passport office can't issue biometric ones next summer as they anticipate so you don't need to get a visa.
DMC I have never been given the green and white forms when checking in at the airport! I have had to contend with completing the pesky things on the flip down table on the plane. Should I ask at the check-in?
On a related issue I have found a brilliant site which shows you how to complete the forms with examples. It is from a similar forum to this with Disney as a primary focus. I am not sure whether the moderator would permit me to file the link though. T
The site also has incredible driving instructions for your departure from the airport with actual photographs of the landmarks and signs you will se on the way. These must be so useful to print off and have with you for when you leave the airport to your villa.
NigelM
Children can still travel to America on their parents passports until October this
year, or so all the websites tell you
Nigel
We always fly with Virgin and they automatically hand out the Forms at check-in.
Not sure if it is the same for all Airlines though.
kevinprewett
24-02-2004, 18:44
quote:Originally posted by carolyne
A group of us going to Florida for 2 weeks in April. Can u experts please answer this question. My husbands passport needs renewed in August this year. Does his passport need to be valid for over 6 months to get in on holiday. I would rather get it sorted now than find out at the airport. Have called the passport office but they dont know. I am also presuming we dont need visa's for a 2 week holiday. Am I right? Please help.
Caroline,
I think if you check you'll find you do NOT need to have 6 clear months left on a passport as seems to be commonly thought[msncool][msncool][msncool][msncool][msncool]
carolyne
24-02-2004, 18:46
yeh steph my son does have his own passport. Photo was taken at 14 months old so u can imagine he looks entirely different now being 5. They might not let him in. ha ha
carolyne
24-02-2004, 18:49
Having been to the American embassy site you need 90 days from date you enter country valid on the passport. will double check the date later on hubby's passport to see if we have enough time. Although as steph suggests it may be worth him getting new passport this year.
Thanks for your help y'all.[msnsmile2]
huckleberry house
24-02-2004, 20:04
You dont even need 90 days if travelling on visa waiver.The passport just has to be valid for your entire stay,so if you are staying two weeks then all you need is two weeks validity on the passport.
Lesley
carolyne
24-02-2004, 20:11
Thanks Lesley.
Great response from all the experts. I appreciate it.
carolyne
09-04-2004, 01:29
Hi all
Just to let u know that you need at least 6 months left on your passport to go to any country.
We have found out the hard way.
My husbands passport expires in August this year. We fly to Florida on Saturday. He called the Glasgow passport office on Wednesday who confirmed he must have at least 6 months valid.
Panic set in!!! They advised him to make an appointment with them as you cannot just walk in to the offices to renew it. He was then told they have no appointments before next week.
We live in Fife and the next nearest office is Durham. My husband got an appointment for 11 oclock today (Thursday). Left our house at 5 this morning. Arrived at half ten. Was given a new passport at 3 oclock and has just arrived home. Oh yeh...it cost 90 pounds for the super deluxe express service!!!!! And petrol money!
Better that than getting to the airport and not getting on your holiday eh?
Hampton lakes....u were right.
Am sure nothing else can go wrong before our holidays now!!
Only 2 sleeps.
Ray&Sarah
09-04-2004, 01:38
Carolyne,
That must have been a headache for you. Glad its all sorted out and you can now look forward to your holiday. Have a great time.[msnsmile]
This does seem to be one of the most confusing areas i've come across with international travel - I have been advised that the 90 day rule officially stands (as listed on the US immigration site).
Personally speaking I entered the US last November with less than 5 months on my passport and had no problems. In fact when I re-newed my passport it totally phased them the next time I arrived because they new that I regularly travelled but the passport number was different, and they suddenly had no record of me.... (thousand questions time)
Anyway, glad you got it sorted out, best of luck and have a great holiday.
:)