I was scheduled to visit Germany/Austria/Czech Republic beginning on May 15. I printed my boarding pass from the Lufthansa website the night before I was to leave, inputting my passport's expiration date as required. My passport expires Aug. 2, 2014. I arrived at Chicago O'Hare, gave the gate agent my suitcase (which was sent on the conveyor belt to be checked by TSA/loaded on the plane), received a duplicate boarding pass, and then was asked to present my passport. The agent remarked that it expires on Aug 2, 2014. No problem, I thought. I thought wrong! The agent informed me that my passport was not valid for travel to Germany. I assumed she was joking. She was not joking. She tore up my boarding pass, and called for my suitcase to be retrieved. And then she cancelled my reservation. In order to travel to Germany, one's passport must be valid for three months BEYOND your last day of travel to Germany (and/or the "Schengen area"). I had no idea about this requirement! Is anyone on this forum aware of the requirement??? I am posting this in the hopes that this does not happen to anyone here. The link which I wish I had known about...... http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/go/schengen-fact-sheet.html From the link: Check the expiration date on your passport carefully before traveling to Europe this summer. Entry into any of the 26 European countries in the Schengen area for a short-term tourism or business trip requires that your passport be valid for at least 90 days beyond your intended date of departure. We recommend that your passport have at least six months of validity whenever you travel abroad to avoid unintended travel disruptions. You can find passport validity requirements for your destination country, along with other important information, on our Country Specific Information pages. To ensure that your travel plans are not disrupted, plan ahead to renew your passport before traveling. Visit ourpassport website for more information on applying for a new or renewal passport. The European countries that make up the Schengen area are enforcing the requirement that short-term tourism or business visitors’ passports be valid for at least 90 days beyond the intended date of departure from the Schengen area, though adherence varies from country to country. Some Schengen countries assume all travelers will stay the full 90 days allowed for visa-free visitors, meaning you may not be admitted unless your passport is valid for at least six months regardless of the duration of your stay. This requirement may apply if you are transiting a Schengen airport for several hours en route to a non-Schengen destination. If your passport does not meet the Schengen requirements you may be refused boarding by the airline at your point of origin or while transferring planes, or you could be denied entry when you arrive in the Schengen area.
Damn man that sucks! The information you gave is correct and for some countries outside the EU you need passport which expires six months after the visit. I believe Egypt is one of those countries...
Really sucks man But I thought this was common knowledge? Many places the requirement is 6 months. Were you able to reschedule?
Thanks for the warning, that definitely sucks -- you'd think that somewhere along the line that may have been something important to make clear to you.
Nothing really new though, as @digita7693 pointed out, some countries even require 6 months. On the other hand, don't get us people started over here on requirements and questions you have to pass in order to make it to the other side of the pond.
Wow. Never heard about anything like that, but I'll take that to heart. There's a shot we'll head back (or to Belgium) next summer and my passport expires later that summer, too.
Big time bummer, but as a corporate travel agent we always advise on a minimum of 6 months validity after the return travel date.... Hope you weren't stiffed on the airfare....
Sorry to hear about the trip getting messed up like that. You've just given me a new reason to continue using a travel agent to arrange my travel outside the US. Even though it costs me or someone an extra 40 bucks. Indeed, without my travel agent's help there's no way I'd have made my last trip to Australia without difficulty. They've made some really hard to understand, for me at least, changes in their Visa requirements for US citizens. And I can think of two trips outside the US that would have been similar disasters without my travel agent's specialized knowledge.
I am heading hopefully this Sept/Oct, I am aware that usually you need some month padding in your passport when traveling to certain places sometimes ideally. your passport actually expires earlier than indicated ironically... and I just checked mine, good for 2 more years! woot!
I didn't realize this. We're starting to plan a trip next June. We checked and we're good. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
When I went to live in Germany, the company had the passport renewed, IIRC, it was good through midway in the assignment, but they said you have to have 6+months left on the passport before traveling, so if there is a problem you have a time cushion. This is incase you are hospitalized, of other things that could keep you from traveling back to the US. So I am aware of this from previous travel.
Well, as an American you can stay up to 90 days without a visa so the people "guarding" the Schengen Area want to make sure you still have a valid passport and don't get stuck over here and cost us money. Many economic refugees try that and it's a big nuissance. Unfortunately the rules are for everyone, even those who aren't high risk of trying to stay. It's the same vice versa BTW, if I were to try to enter the States with a passport that expires during my potential travel time I wouldn't get on a plane here either.
There's actually a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Germany that extends passport validity by 6 months for the purpose of departure although apparently people who work at airports can be woefully unaware of this. The U.S. reference for this is 41.104 Notes in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (Volume 9). It also appears quite sketchy that person did that since the only people who are actually able to deny you at the POE are the local security people when you arrive. Of course, this issue can easily be avoided if you just get your passport extended in a timely fashion. Either way, if you ask me this issue was not handled adequately.
I just got back from a two week trip to Poland and Germany. Since I was part of a tour group for the first week (Poland), I knew from their literature that my passport needed to be valid for a full six months beyond my trip date. Otherwise, I would not have known. Very sorry that you had the experience that you did. Did the airline refund your money? I hope they did.
we always renew at the 1 year to go mark. why would you let it slide that long? Its sad you had to hard a hard lesson the hard way.
