Day of Horrors- Traveling Overseas

[seandepagnier]

I arrived in the philippines with less than a month before the passport expired and had not problems. I think the issue is that you are trying to fly in a plane which is a bad idea for many reasons.

I thought the horror you were taking about is what you will find once you actually get here. Yes it is horrible in many ways.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

I arrived in the philippines with less than a month before the passport expired and had not problems. I think the issue is that you are trying to fly in a plane which is a bad idea for many reasons.

I thought the horror you were taking about is what you will find once you actually get here. Yes it is horrible in many ways.

No, it's just the bureaucracy BS. I would think the only really reason to renew any official ID is just to update the picture or addresses. Which in today's technology can all be done electronically.
Just by scanning ones PP now days they have half of your life in the system. I think it's just another source of revenue for gov's.

[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.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I think it's just another source of revenue for gov's.

Ding, ding, a winner! These silly rules keep a lot of otherwise unemployable people, employed

[mottseng]

Originally Posted by azsailor12

The 6 month limit applies in most countries and is to ensure that your passport doesn't expire while you are there.

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 !!!!

[Bud man]

I know I'll be sending Expedia a nasty gram let them know what it cost me for their lack of diligence.

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

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by mottseng

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

Lol - judging by the cf threads on avoiding getting taxed quite a few .

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 !!!!

Because it is like being pregnant - you either have a valid passport or you don't. Why 6 months? Probably because it prevents 99 % of those who arrive with a valid passport and try to leave with no valid passport.........that costs to deal with. Imo quite right to adopt a user pays approach, including for those "not my fault " problems stemming from wilful ignorance.

[alex_sauvage]

Originally Posted by mottseng

I don't understand if there is and expiration date on a passport that it becomes useless 6 months before the expiration date. Why not have two dates. One being the official expiration date and the other being the pre-expiration date? Stupid government rules.

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.

[David_Old_Jersey]

But you may find that whilst a country has a 3 month rule, an airline has 6 months.....standardising rules makes life easier - for them.

[Richard5]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

No, it's just the bureaucracy BS. I would think the only really reason to renew any official ID is just to update the picture or addresses. Which in today's technology can all be done electronically.
Just by scanning ones PP now days they have half of your life in the system. I think it's just another source of revenue for gov's.

Funny thing that, my renewed PP has the same picture as the previous PP. This even though I supplied them with two new photos.

As far as the need to renew at an embassy when overseas, I've not experienced that so I don't know. As far as being denied to expedite, I've long thought it had something to do with my occupation and the type of employment position. Pilots (non-airline) are terrorists or generally up to no good or so they'd have you believe.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by nhschneider

On a related subject: A friend of mine was flying into Bali where the local Immigration officials refused her entry into the country because they said she didn't have enough room in her passport for additional stamps. She was able to persuade them that she did have enough room by slipping the agent a US$20.

--

we ran out of pages when we hit europe -- went to embassy and they put more pages put in -- cost us 112usd for them -- ouch --

[alex_sauvage]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

But you may find that whilst a country has a 3 month rule, an airline has 6 months.....standardising rules makes life easier - for them.

I don't believe airline can have any "rules" regarding your passport validity (or acceptance in different countries). They only care that you will be let in to the country you are flying to, so they don't have to fly you back if you are not admitted (since it is their responsibility in this case). Since the longest cut-off time is 6 months (as far as I am aware) , airlines trying to make their life easier and go with 6 months (apparently, I never seen it myself on any airline website).
But I don't think they have any "legal" reason to deny you boarding if you comply with the immigration rules of your destination country.
I had a case, when I booked my flight without checking my passport and it turned out that it will expire in 4 months after my trip. So I called French and Swiss embassies to check their rules and both said that it was fine with them. Airline also had no issues with my passport, but I printed webpages from embassies websites just in case. Hope it helps.

[StuM]

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.

Another "due diligence rule" ignored? Many countries requie evidence of your ongoing travel. As a minimum, you often need a letter from the vessel owner stating that you are joining the crew and giving the planned departure date. For many countries, it needs to have a "ship's stamp"and/or be notarized/a statutory declaration.

IMNSHO, it behoves anyone traveling internationally to make themselves aware of the entry requirements of any country they intend/may visit (including anywhere you may have to divert to in an emergency - such as a recent thread about crewing from Australia to Malaysia. It is important in that case to know the Indonesian rules)

[alex_sauvage]

Out of curiosity I checked Philippines embassy website and it does in fact state:
"Applicant’s national passport, valid for at least six (6) months or more from date of departure from the Philippines or completion of trip"

So even if OP would be allowed to board the plane, he would be denied entrance into the country. So I don't think it is Expedia or airline fault: it is an immigration rule. Might be stupid, but nevertheless it is their rule and one you cannot argue with.

[seandepagnier]

At the US consulate in cebu, I was told you have up to 6 months _after_ the passport expires to renew it. Then again, the people working there have proven to be complete idiots, so who knows really.