Important PASSPORT Question!!!

Boston_Harry

My flight is leaving to India on the 24th at 7:30 PM EST here in the USA. I have an american passport, which expires:

Date of Expiration/Date d'expiration
08 Dec / Dec 08

1. Is my passport still good to go to India?
2. I return on January 5th. Do I need to do anything when I'm in India for my passport?
3. How long will it take me to get a brand-new passport in Boston, where I live?

I JUST NOW FOUND OUT THAT MY PASSPORT IS EXPIRING SOON (UNLESS IT ALREADY HAS!). I'm not sure if it expires on December 31, 2008 or on Dec. 8th, 2008.

Liss

Dec 08 would suggest to me that it expires in December 2008, therefore, would already have done so.
I would say you need a valid passport to travel

Hal

You can possibly fast track it and get it in a day or two. Better get to the passport office tomorrow at 9am.
There are also services which will help you expedite a passport, often in 24 hours.

It expired on December 8th

/one other question - how did you get a visa on an expired passport? You do have a visa don't you?
I'm thinking you may need to postpone your trip. You'll need a new passport with an Indian visa in it. I can't see that happening in 2 days.

missRenu

wow! what are you gonna do...everything will be ok mate..if you need a friend im here for you mate...cud use a good emergency!!!

artisticanurag

how can you get a visa on a passport that is going to expire, someone was sleeping over their responsibility for sure ! i would recommend you to rush to the passport office and clarify this !

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machadinha

Why, because you just now looked at it?

Jesus Christ, and no, I have no pity. You've been keeping this board very busy with all your manifold trepidations, often multi-posted, and now this?

You were aware a passport is often required to be valid for an X period after you enter or even leave a given country?

Other than that, like the others said, most non-banana republics have a swift method for renewing a passport. It will normally cost you extra, of course. And I likewise don't see how you would have gotten a visa on an invalid passport.*

8 Dec. normally means 8 Dec. btw, I don't see where your 31 Dec. comes in. Nor how in either case you were planning to fly back on it on Jan. 5th.

* But like Hal said, you'll be unlikely to get the visa transferred to your new passport as swiftly. You may in fact well have to apply for an entirely new one.

Now one final thing: Don't tell us you were planning on going there without a visa, please.

You were, weren't you? The good news is with any luck your airline company wouldn't even have allowed you to take off. The next-to-good news is they'd have been forced to send you straight back if they had.

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fsg

Mach I agree with you

This fellow is either a fool or a wind up

His account should be closed.

machadinha

LOL. Well, I didn't want to put it quite as sharply...

But patience with sheer idiocy? Nah, left it behind some thirty years ago.

machadinha

What do you mean btw everything's gonna be OK? No, by the information we have now, it's not gonna be OK.

shashank.aggarwal

what !! and what about our meetup at the Oberoi's ?

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machadinha

LOL, indeed. Just when you'd booked the whole place up, Shashank At such a convenient holiday time too

Nick-H

Guys... it happens...

Many a trip must have been cancelled because of a last-minute discovery that the passport is lost or should have been renewed.

Yes, it's really, really stupid, and I'm sure everybody who has done it would agree.

Have to say though, that I am a bit baffled by Harry wondering if he can travel back to USA in January 09 with a passport that expires any time in 2008.

Bottom line:

1. You need a valid passport.

2. You need a visa: you will not get a visa without a passport having at least six months validity and at least two blank pages for immigration stamps.

The logic suggests that it is unlikely that Harry could have got a visa anytime in the last five months...

sannna

** Crossposted with Nick **


Machadinha is right in his comments.

- Your passport should upon arrival usually be valid for at least six more months (that is also the amount of time you can spend in the country on a tourist visa).

- I think 8/12 means December 2008. It would be weird if there was not a year indicated and only a day and month. In any case, I think American passport is valid for ten years usually, so you can calculate it from Date of Issue..

- Whether it expires on the first day December or on the last is of no importance whatsoever. As you plan to leave after the expiry that in any way. And as you do not have the six-months validity upon arrival. Even if your passport is "valid" upon arrival, it will be invalid when you want to leave (or book hotel rooms) at the end of your stay.

- I wonder how you were able to get a visa at all, and I can't help wondering whether you have a visa at all? Did you think about getting one??

- Postpone your trip, get yourself a new passport at home, and get yourself a tourist visa. You don't want to be in India without a valid passport and visa. If they let you in at all.

Saulteaux_woman

I'm just wondering, is this a joke? Was someone just playing around with the site? It was really funny at first, but now I feel a bit sad. I didnt think it could be possiable for someone to over look such basic travel requirments. I really hope its a joke and not someone who really is this incompetent, I feel bad for him.

fsg

There was a wierd guy long time back called the Boston Strangler, cant quite remember his name, but did it begin with H?

Cant quite remember who he strangled either.

Maybe the Oberoi will keep us up to speed with his booking for the Im meet.