In general, both parents or legal guardians must appear in person with the child applying for a passport. But they couldn’t get an appointment at the post office for a few weeks.” “Then they realized they had to get their daughter a whole new passport and they had to apply in person at the post office. McLaughlin tells the cautionary tale of a couple who expedited their own passport renewals before a family trip overseas. But passports for children under 16 have only a five-year shelf life - and they can’t be renewed by mail. Planning an international trip with kids in tow can be complicated. Don’t Forget That Kids’ Passports Expire Sooner The most common reason for a processing delay is that the traveler submitted an unacceptable headshot, so it pays to review the photo requirements before sending in an application. If there is a problem, you’ll get a letter or email and the process will grind to a halt until the State Department receives your reply. Save the big dream trip for next summer.” Get Your Ducks in a RowĪpplications frequently get delayed due to missing or improper documentation. Virgin Islands or somewhere else that doesn’t require a passport. “If it’s just really, really tight,” says McLaughlin, “maybe I would suggest that this year you go to Puerto Rico or the U.S. Here's Your Summer On-Time Battle Plan By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher MORE FROM FORBES Flight Delays Are Up From Last Year. For travel to Hong Kong, the requirement is one month of validity beyond the trip. Among this group are Argentina, Australia, Dominican Republic, Japan and the United Kingdom. Consider traveling to one of a handful of countries that only require passports to be valid through the end of your stay. If your passport is approaching its expiration date, you have options. If you’re unsure what the rules are for your desired destination, check the country information pages on the U.S. (And if you’re planning to stay the maximum three months in the Schengen area, you’d need an additional three months of validity on your passport.) That means if you’re planning a weekend trip to Paris in September, your passport must be good at least through December. Heading to Europe? All 27 member countries of the European Union require passports to be valid at least three months beyond date of departure from the Schengen area. “A lot of countries require a passport to be valid six months after your trip ends.” Some popular destinations in this category include India, Kenya, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, Thailand, Turks and Caicos and Zimbabwe. “Your passport can’t expire two days after you get back from your trip,” McLaughlin says. Many countries require inbound tourists to have extra padding. Check Passport Requirements for Your Destinationįor travel outside of the U.S., it’s not enough that your passport is unexpired. The following tips can help travelers get their passport processed as quickly as possible and, should things go sideways, protect their investment. In the meantime, the best advice is to avoid landing in dire straits in the first place. “We estimate this would represent two-thirds of all renewals and roughly 25% of all applications received.” “Once fully launched, we expect five million customers to be eligible to use this platform each year to renew their passports,” the State Department official says. Since December 2021, when President Joe Biden signed an executive order called Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, the government has been working on an online passport portal that’s expected to open to the public by the end of 2023. MORE FROM FORBES To Check Or Not To Check A Bag For A Flight? Here's How To Gauge The Risk By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher issued a record-breaking 22 million passports, and the country is on track to top that number in 2023. “We are receiving approximately 400,000 applications each week, following higher-than-normal volumes in January through May 2023 that exceeded 500,000 applications a week,” the State Department official says. Unfortunately, the system strains when everyone has the same idea at the same time. “Revenge travel started last year and now everybody’s like, ‘Okay, this is it. “It definitely seems like things are getting worse,” McLaughlin says, noting that many of her clients who didn’t travel during the early years of the pandemic are eagerly making up for it now.
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