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Travel and passports 101: Is your passport valid?
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These days you cannot travel across the border into Mexico or Canada without a passport. So it would stand to reason that, with a valid passport in hand, you could safely enter any foreig.jpg)
n country, right? Well, not exactly. Some countries have additional passport requirements and if you’re unaware of these conditions you could be turned away from your international flight or turned back at your arrival airport.
For example, South Africa requires that a passport have one entire blank page—not a quarter or half page—a completely blank page must be available for entry. A more common problem for travelers, however, are those countries that require passports to have more than six months of validity, i.e., passports that are not scheduled to expire within six months of your departure date. A check through the State Department's website reveals a long list of countries with a six-month rule, including Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Malaysia, Malta, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, and more than a dozen others. A few other countries have a three month rule.
Fortunately, with some planning and research you can protect yourself against most problems:
As a matter of course, renew your passport at least six months before its stated expiration date. That way you'll be ready to travel to countries with additional passport requirements and you won’t have to worry about dealing with last-minute passport renewal issues.
Check the State Department's website for entry requirements of any country you plan to visit (click on "Travel Information by Country").
Call the country’s embassy and check its website in the event there’s some variance between the State Department’s site and the Consular Information Sheets.
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