By Heather Meliski
L Dust Off Your Passports
ike so many of us, you may be ready to travel outside of the United States for a much-needed getaway. International travel is in high demand – we’re now a year and a half into COVID and lots of people are ready to escape for a while. But before you book that next trip outside of the United States you need to make sure your passport isn’t expired or expiring.
Before you book your vacation, you want to make sure that your passport is going to be valid for travel and that you have enough time for either a new passport or a renewal if needed. Generally speaking, passports need to be valid for at least six months from the date you will reenter the United States and you need to have at least two blank pages in your passport (this allows enough room for stamps for your trip). It’s important to note that even if the country you are traveling to has a shorter requirement for validity, the airline that you are flying on may still have a six-month requirement. Often clients will ask me why there is a requirement to have six months remaining on your passport, which is a great question. Countries want you to have at least six months remaining to make sure your passport won’t expire while you are in travel if you have something happen that delays your return to the United States. Common delays include medical emergencies and natural disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc). You won’t be allowed to reenter the United States with an expired passport and the simplest way to avoid this is to have ample time remaining on your passport when you travel. It is important to note that passports for ages 16 and up are valid for ten years and passports for children ages 15 and under are valid for only five years. I often have clients who are ready to book a vacation only to realize that their child’s passport is expired because they weren’t aware of this. If your passport has expired or won’t have enough time remaining to take your vacation, or if you don’t yet have a passport, you will need to apply for a new or renewed passport. Currently, passport processing times are incredibly long – regular passport processing is taking up to 18 weeks, expedited processing is taking up to 12 weeks, and in-person appointments for same day processing are virtually impossible to get, even if you have a life-or-death emergency. Additional staff is being added to help clear the huge backlog of applications, but in the meantime, you need to plan for longer than usual processing times. I highly recommend choosing expedited service for all passport applications. You will also want to pay extra for expedited shipping of your application and for express delivery of your completed passport. By choosing these options you can possibly reduce the time it takes to receive your passport. There’s nothing worse than the feeling you have when you have your vacation booked only to realize that you have an expired passport so go check yours now!
Heather Meliski writes Our Town Travel keeping us in the “know”. Heather is a travel agent specializing in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, Australia, the South Pacific, cruises, theme parks, and more. She lives in Smyrna with her husband and two sons. Heather@yellowshoetravel.com FB @heatheryellowshoetravel IG @yellowshoetravelheather
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