Day of Horrors- Traveling Overseas

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by mottseng

Why 6 months? Why not 2 months or 3 months? Who travels and stays in a country 6 months anyhow?

The passport should be good up to the expiry date. Why not give a 2 month grace period past the expiry instead of a denial 6 months before the expiry? Just plain stupid !!!!

The 6 month rule is due to most countries visa being 90 days, then you can usually ask/be granted one 90 day extension. They don't want your passport expiring while in their country and using that as an excuse to stay, they see you as a liability.

[Capt Phil]

Originally Posted by mottseng

Why 6 months? Why not 2 months or 3 months? Who travels and stays in a country 6 months anyhow?

The passport should be good up to the expiry date. Why not give a 2 month grace period past the expiry instead of a denial 6 months before the expiry? Just plain stupid !!!!

Most countries have a maximum stay of 6 months visas available unless you are planning on immigrating or working in the host country. The six month prior to passport expiration travel requirement is a result of trying to marry up the documentation maze worldwide by standardizing length of stay visas with your PP. Not sure how long this practice has been in place but it is some time now. If you don't travel often, I guess you can get trapped.
Of course, if you are traveling to the US, you normally plan to outstay both your visa and passport expiration anyway and just disappear into the underground. No forwarding address! Phil

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Wannadriveaboat

Get ready for another shocking expense when the ask you to produce an outbound ticket. I tried the " I'm leaving on a boat idea" but it did not work.

we have done the foreign country to usa and back a couple of times -- we always carry a copy of our boat papers and contract with the marina where the boat is --
never had an issue

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Bud man

Sorry for your troubles, but it doesn't seem that Expedia is the one who lacked due diligence.

I'm not a lawyer with a vast library at my disposal. Life is full of so many rules that even a lifetime of experience one can not know all the rules. The modern man can research to the fullest and still come up short. Just crossing the street in the wrong place can get you fined.
It's bad enough just trying to keep the boat up to USCG standards. But I'm here in Manina now so all is well.

[montenido]

DelmarRey, I feel your pain!
A couple of years ago I booked a 50' Cat in the BVIs. Now, I prepared for this trip for over 6 months, dealing with logistics for my family and guests, flights and stop-overs, etc. About three day before we were scheduled to leave, I noticed that BOTH of my sons' passports had just expired. I think it cost me about $500-600 PER passport to have them expedited, overnighted, stamped, shuffled, ad nauseum... Still, much better then showing up at the airport and finding out!

I feel you bro!

Cheers, Bill

[Finistere]

Originally Posted by alex_sauvage

Because there is no real "6 months rule". It is country dependent: some will allow you in (and out as long as you passport is valid during you visit (like France). Some want it to be valid for 3 months after your departure (like Swiss).. not that it makes any sense to me. Some, maybe majority, have 6 months "rule". The best way is to call an embassy or consulate and ask them. Or print out a their website page for the airline check-in with this information.

France requires 3 month plus the length of your stay, same for all Schengen Agreement countries. My daughter was refused boarding last summer since he passport expired within three months. Frances website indicates as long as the PP is valid, not so.

[BandB]

On every passport I've ever had, I've either walked it through Washington DC myself or used an expediter to do it. (I didn't live near a passport office). The problem has always been that I was traveling on business and could never afford to be without a passport for several weeks by returning old one with application.

I had a friend who lived in Miami and got frustrated by the length of the lines so put it off without looking at the actual expiration date. For some reason he thought it was the last day of the month of his birthday instead of his birthdate. Wrong. So he took off to Colombia and had no problem going but then when the secretary there was reconfirming his ticket out, she saw his passport had expired. So he had to get his new passport at the embassy in Bogota. For the next ten years he got pulled aside on entry more than anyone I've ever known. A US passport issued in Bogota gets you extra attention. We traveled together once and I had to wait two hours for him to clear immigration because they had a line backed up and were very busy arresting a lady with a baby in a baby carriage. I'm only guessing from all the attention and those involved (DEA joined in with Customs) she was found to be a mule.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by Finistere

France requires 3 month plus the length of your stay, same for all Schengen Agreement countries. My daughter was refused boarding last summer since he passport expired within three months. Frances website indicates as long as the PP is valid, not so.

France didn't refuse your daughter entry, the airline refused her to board the airplane.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by chuckr

we have done the foreign country to usa and back a couple of times -- we always carry a copy of our boat papers and contract with the marina where the boat is --
never had an issue

Don' rely on that working all the time though. Ask the guys who were not allowed to board flights to Panama recently because they did not have onward plane ticket despite that they had a letter from Shelter Bay Marina. I am heading that way on Sunday, hence thatprompted me to check the immigration (not airline) rules, which confirmed that if you enter Panama by commercial plane as a tourist then you need onward plane or bus ticket to leave.

Fortunately Expedia is your friend and for most tickets they will issue full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of issuance. Problem solved!

C

[valhalla360]

I'm sure expedia has some fine print covering them. (admitted bias coming) This is a good reason to use a travel agent for some travel services especially as they become complicated or unusual. The misses does group travel and requires a photocopy of every passport before signing you up for the trip. Not saying you need an agent for a simple Chicago to Miami flight but when it gets more complicated a good agent will be there to help sort things out.

Lots of reasons for the 6 month rule. We've seen travelers have accidents or get ill and have to stay behind. One lady decided to join in the flaminco dancing, stepped backwards off a ledge and broke both legs. Due to concerns about blood clots, they kept her an additional 2 months in Spain.

[mottseng]

Mental note to self....get new passport one one year before the 5 year expiry date listed on passport? Great.

Just venting !!!!!!

[alex_sauvage]

Originally Posted by Finistere

France requires 3 month plus the length of your stay, same for all Schengen Agreement countries. My daughter was refused boarding last summer since he passport expired within three months. Frances website indicates as long as the PP is valid, not so.

It actually might depend on the country of your origin/passport your use: French embassy in GB says that as long as your British passport is valid you can travel to France, when French embassy in Canada requires it to be valid for 3 months after your proposed departure.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

Don' rely on that working all the time though. Ask the guys who were not allowed to board flights to Panama recently because they did not have onward plane ticket despite that they had a letter from Shelter Bay Marina. I am heading that way on Sunday, hence thatprompted me to check the immigration (not airline) rules, which confirmed that if you enter Panama by commercial plane as a tourist then you need onward plane or bus ticket to leave.

Fortunately Expedia is your friend and for most tickets they will issue full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of issuance. Problem solved!

C

OTOH, we left the boat in Shelter Bay and flew to and from Costa Rica for a wedding. On our return flight to Panama, not only did we have no problems, they gave us a card for free health care while we were in Panama.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

Don' rely on that working all the time though. Ask the guys who were not allowed to board flights to Panama recently because they did not have onward plane ticket despite that they had a letter from Shelter Bay Marina. I am heading that way on Sunday, hence thatprompted me to check the immigration (not airline) rules, which confirmed that if you enter Panama by commercial plane as a tourist then you need onward plane or bus ticket to leave.

Fortunately Expedia is your friend and for most tickets they will issue full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of issuance. Problem solved!

C

interesting but we flew from panama to the usa and back and with our boat papers and marina contract -- that was 2-3 years ago i think -- we never had an issue and brought back a ton of boat parts -- and they did not even open our bags to check them

yea and we got the free heath card too - our boat was in green something marina -- down towards portobelo

not sure why your friends had a problem but we did not

[rickf]

to the above poster, yes, you can get it thru the US embassy. we did in London. It was much faster than if we tried to expedite it here in the states. Also had pages added at the embassy in Grenada, and enquired about the same in Malta but the costs made us wait.
Rickf S/V Calaloo