Passport validity

[only1armband]

I am on a cruise on the 11/08/2019 for 12 days. My passport has an expiry date of 29/01/2020 so when I disembark the ship for my flight home, I will have 5 months 7 days left. Browsing through the excursions I see that Visa's may be required. I would therefore ask if my passport will be valid to visit these countries and for me to return to the UK.

I have a UK passport and I am cruising with Royal Caribbean

11/08/2018: Leaving UK to Amsterdam
13/08/2019: Denmark
15/08/2019: Estonia
16/08/2019: St Petersburg Russia
17/08/2019  St Petersburg Russia
18/08/2019: Finland
19/08/2019: Sweden
21/08/2019  Denmark
23/08/2019  Amsterdam
23/08/2019  Fly back to UK

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, only1armband said:

I would therefore ask if my passport will be valid to visit these countries and for me to return to the UK.

 

Assuming that you are a British citizen, your passport will be valid for your return to the UK: you can use a British citizen passport to return to the UK even if it has expired.

 

ISTR that arrangements for all of the EU countries you mention may depend on whether there is a concluded withdrawal agreement for the UK's departure from the EU, or whether we leave with "no deal". www.gov.uk/euexit has more information about this. On this subject, I really wouldn't rely on anything that you get from strangers on the Internet - although personally I would be surprised if we will need visas to visit any EU country as a tourist.

 

The current position for Russia looks like it's "Passports ... must be valid on arrival."

[only1armband]

Excellent much appreciated, Royal Caribbean have said 6 months is 'recommended' which didn't answer my question. I don't see why I should renew if my passport is still in date and I'm only visiting these countries for the day (Russia -2 days).

[gnome12]

3 minutes ago, only1armband said:

Excellent much appreciated, Royal Caribbean have said 6 months is 'recommended' which didn't answer my question. I don't see why I should renew if my passport is still in date and I'm only visiting these countries for the day (Russia -2 days).

Not discussing your situation particularly, but most countries in the world require a passport to be valid for 3 or 6 months (from either the entry date or the departure date depending on the country).

 

Basically, you enter the Schengen zone in Amsterdam, leave it after Estonia, enter Russia, leave Russia, enter the Schengen zone again, leave the Schengen zone in Amsterdam, and fly home. Each of those transactions (except maybe leave Russia) have passport checks that have their own requirements as to passport validity.

 

Just note that a passport is really never valid to its actual expiry date.

[Globaliser]

11 minutes ago, only1armband said:

I don't see why I should renew if my passport is still in date and I'm only visiting these countries for the day ...

 

If it's a legal requirement of your destination country that your passport is valid for 6 months beyond your arrival date, that would be a good reason for renewing your passport. It would be a pity if you were not permitted to board your ship for this reason.

 

That's why finding out what the legal requirements are - as you are doing - is a very good idea.

[Globaliser]

1 minute ago, gnome12 said:

Not discussing your situation particularly, but most countries in the world require a passport to be valid for 3 or 6 months (from either the entry date or the departure date depending on the country).

 

Such rules are not as common as this suggests. There are plenty of other forms of requirement, and no practice could be said to be standard, let alone universal.

 

1 minute ago, gnome12 said:

Basically, you enter the Schengen zone in Amsterdam, leave it after Estonia, enter Russia, leave Russia, enter the Schengen zone again, leave the Schengen zone in Amsterdam, and fly home. Each of those transactions (except maybe leave Russia) have passport checks that have their own requirements as to passport validity.

 

But even this analysis could change after the UK leaves the EU. And ISTR there being discussion about whether British passports will any longer be accepted by the EU if they are more than 10 years old, regardless of the validity remaining on them.

[1025cruise]

Just to note, this forum is for those needing technical assistance with the boards. This post might find a better audience in the "Ask a Cruise Question" forum.

[broberts]

3 hours ago, only1armband said:

I am on a cruise on the 11/08/2019 for 12 days. My passport has an expiry date of 29/01/2020 so when I disembark the ship for my flight home, I will have 5 months 7 days left. Browsing through the excursions I see that Visa's may be required. I would therefore ask if my passport will be valid to visit these countries and for me to return to the UK.

I have a UK passport and I am cruising with Royal Caribbean

11/08/2018: Leaving UK to Amsterdam
13/08/2019: Denmark
15/08/2019: Estonia
16/08/2019: St Petersburg Russia
17/08/2019  St Petersburg Russia
18/08/2019: Finland
19/08/2019: Sweden
21/08/2019  Denmark
23/08/2019  Amsterdam
23/08/2019  Fly back to UK

 

Check with the UK passport authority for details, but I believe when one renews a UK passport the remaining term of the old passport is added to the term of the new. Given this, unless there was no intention of ever renewing the passport it seems prudent to renew before applying for visas.

[Globaliser]

4 minutes ago, broberts said:

Check with the UK passport authority for details, but I believe when one renews a UK passport the remaining term of the old passport is added to the term of the new.

 

Not any more.

[broberts]

Just now, Globaliser said:

 

Not any more.

 

A shame.

[Globaliser]

1 minute ago, broberts said:

A shame.

 

I agree.

 

I've managed to get two consecutive passports with the same issue and expiry dates, exactly 10 years apart from each other. It has really helped when completing forms, because I haven't had to remember new dates, only a new passport number.

 

Next time, I won't even be able to keep the issue date because it falls on a Sunday so I can't get the passport issued that day. Boo, hiss.

[gnome12]

I'm grateful at least that Canada has gone to 10 year passports. When we had only 5 year ones, essentially you have a validity of 4 1/2 years (or slightly less if you were travelling somewhere that wanted 6 months validity). It doesn't seem to be as much of a waste when you are looking at 9 1/2 years instead of 10.

[Globaliser]

6 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

It doesn't seem to be as much of a waste when you are looking at 9 1/2 years instead of 10.

 

And depending on where you go, you can still get the full 10 years out of it. For example, if a Canadian passport holder travels to the UK, the passport only needs to be valid for the period of intended stay; and for return to Canada, the passport only needs to be valid on arrival. So you could arrange your travel so that you fly back on the last day of your passport validity, getting the full 10 years out of it.

[MisterBill99]

12 hours ago, only1armband said:

I am on a cruise on the 11/08/2019 for 12 days. My passport has an expiry date of 29/01/2020

 

Just wanted to suggest that when you post dates on a board that has a majority of US users, you should either post the date is mm/dd/yy format or just use "month day" format to avoid confusion. I understand that it was obvious with the second date you posted.

 

And as 1025cruise suggested, post it in the correct board.

[Globaliser]

58 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

Just wanted to suggest that when you post dates on a board that has a majority of US users, you should either post the date is mm/dd/yy format or just use "month day" format to avoid confusion.

 

Even if so, it ought to be "day month". 

 

 

[MisterBill99]

3 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Even if so, it ought to be "day month". 😉

 

Yes, that would also be fine, it will just look strange to most of us here . Just to avoid the ambiguity of using all numbers, especially in cases where the day is 12 or less.

Edited February 12, 2019 by MisterBill99

[Charles4515]

Don’t understand why this thread has not been moved. Or how a question about Passport validity would even get posted to this forum but if it were in the correct forum it would probably get better answers. It should be moved. All the answers so far are well meaning but I think they miss a key point. Royal Caribbean check in personal in Europe for a Baltics itinerary may not let someone board the ship without six months validity left on their passport.

 

 

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[Charles4515]

 

Just wanted to suggest that when you post dates on a board that has a majority of US users, you should either post the date is mm/dd/yy format or just use "month day" format to avoid confusion. I understand that it was obvious with the second date you posted.

 

 

The date format on US passports is day month format. Not “month day”. Also day month should not be confusing to those who travel internationally.

 

 

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[Globaliser]

34 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

All the answers so far are well meaning but I think they miss a key point. Royal Caribbean check in personal in Europe for a Baltics itinerary may not let someone board the ship without six months validity left on their passport.

 

If the cruise line only says "recommended", and there is no legal requirement for six months validity, the cruise line would be taking a big legal risk in denying boarding.

 

I've actually had this myself, but on a different cruise line (Holland America). The cruise line "recommended" six months, but I knew that I would be fine with the 3½ months I had left, having checked it with an independent and reliable source. There wasn't even a question.

 

I also know from another experience that that cruise line has access to accurate information. I was travelling with someone whose passport arrangements were complex - they always travel on two passports in different names, which come with differing visa requirements. The cruise line was able to satisfy itself within a couple of minutes that the passenger was permitted to travel visa-free to all of the destinations using one passport even though the name in that passport was not the ticket name.

 

It would be different if (as I think some other cruise lines do) the cruise line has its own requirement that there be six months left on the passport after the end of the cruise. That would be a requirement well beyond the legal requirement for many passengers and many countries, but only something like that would give the cruise line the ability to deny boarding when the passenger is actually legal to travel to all the ports on the itinerary.

[Globaliser]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The date format on US passports is day month format. Not “month day”. Also day month should not be confusing to those who travel internationally.

 

To get serious about this for a moment: For this reason, US immigration forms have long been in "day month" format. US customs also got with the program(me) for a while, but then regressed to "month day". It's a good thing that the customs form usually isn't read that carefully by customs agents.

[Charles4515]

  If the cruise line only says "recommended", and there is no legal requirement for six months validity, the cruise line would be taking a big legal risk in denying boarding.

 

I've actually had this myself, but on a different cruise line (Holland America). The cruise line "recommended" six months, but I knew that I would be fine with the 3½ months I had left, having checked it with an independent and reliable source. There wasn't even a question.

 

 

 

 

Yet over the years there have been horror stories posted by people denied boarding who should have been allowed to board. Or maybe they did misunderstand the requirements and the check in people were right. Recommended gives the cruise line legal wiggle room.

 

I don’t think Need help with the Forums is a reliable source. That is my main point. The thread should be moved.

 

 

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[Globaliser]

30 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Or maybe they did misunderstand the requirements and the check in people were right. Recommended gives the cruise line legal wiggle room.

 

One would obviously have to look at all the individual cases to work out who was right in each case. But (as posts in this thread have already demonstrated) members of the public can often get things wrong. In contrast, cruise lines (like airlines) are sufficiently sophisticated operations to have access to reliable information. After all, cruise lines are not only dealing with passengers' immigration issues. More central to their business is making sure that those who work on their ships don't have immigration problems either, and that is something which is in many ways more complex than the requirements imposed on tourists.

 

I can't see the wiggle room in "recommended". That's a piece of advice. If the cruise line does not say that anyone declining to follow the advice may be denied boarding even if the passenger is legal to travel, that's legally an extremely dodgy position for the cruise line to be in, having only given advice that was in truth too cautious and therefore unnecessary, and that was rightly ignored by the passenger. If the cruise line wants to be able to deny boarding in this situation (which some cruise lines do), then the word should be "required".

[only1armband]

Thank you all for your input, I have sent an email to the UK Government with my question and await a reply, Brexit is not helping matters as no one really knows what will be agreed or not. I apologise if I am on the wrong thread as this is a genuine oversight. Mt aim on this forum was to see if any other UK passenger has experienced my dilemma.

[Globaliser]

44 minutes ago, only1armband said:

I have sent an email to the UK Government with my question and await a reply, Brexit is not helping matters as no one really knows what will be agreed or not.

 

And hence I doubt that the reply will tell you anything that is not already on that gov.uk page that I posted above.

[Charles4515]

Thank you all for your input, I have sent an email to the UK Government with my question and await a reply, Brexit is not helping matters as no one really knows what will be agreed or not. I apologise if I am on the wrong thread as this is a genuine oversight. Mt aim on this forum was to see if any other UK passenger has experienced my dilemma.

If you renew your passport before the cruise then there is no dilemma.




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