Okay to travel with passport 3 months before it expires?

[josietoms]

When i worked in the travel industry you ALWAYS had to have a minimum of 6 months left on your passport from date of return. If i was you i would definately renew.

[dolfinluck]

I would def re-new it since you have enough time to get it done. If you decide to change your last name after the wedding, you dont have to pay the $75 again if its done within a year of your passport being issued.

[L&J]

I recently traveld to Cabo with less than 3 months on my passport with no problems. Mexico does not have the 6 month rule but it still never hurts to renew early!

[deecol]

Does anyone have any recent knowledge of this?

 

My passport expires just under 6 months after we go to Mexico - do I need to renew before?  I will be changing my last name after so it would suck to pay the passport fee twice.

[calgarybride2015]

I thought it was 6 months but if you are close you may be fine. I'd probably google search it for Mexico's rules or see what you can find on passport Canada's site.

 

I changed my name too but have been traveling under my maiden name (boarding passes) cause it matches my passport. Haven't been willing to cave yet as I have 2 years left. But may cave soon, have been debating this.

 

I don't get the expiry rule. Why have an expiry date if you hit snags BEFORE that date.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited September 25, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[deecol]

@@calgarybride2015 Right?!  It doesn't make sense to me either.

 

I'll definitely do some googling, just wanted to see if anyone had had any recent experience with it.

[snswedding2016]

@@deecol I was waiting to respond to this thread until after our site visit (we just got home tonight). It's funny I've been reminding our guests like crazy and made all these reminders for myself about renewing my passport for the wedding BUT I didn't even think about renewing it for our site visit. My passport expires in Jan 2016 and Sean's expires in Feb 2016 and it hit me the night before we left that ours were definitely under the 6 month mark!!! Needless to say I had a mini freak out! Sean talked me off the ledge and we found an article that said Canadians travelling to Mexico need a valid passport but it didn't mention the length of time until the expiry when travelling.

 

I tried not to worry because really what was I going to do about it at that point. We got through with no issues and no one said anything going there or coming back. I kept thinking what if they let me get to the gate but not board the plane and then I thought what if they let me get to Mexico but send me back as soon as I tried to clear customs - haha! None of those things happened. I think as long as you're not travelling with a passport that expires the week you get back, you should be fine. 

 

That being said it will probably give you peace of mind to just renew it and know that it will be valid. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by snswedding2016

[deecol]

@@snswedding2016 Thank you!

 

My passport expires Oct 14th 2016 and we're travelling to Mexico on April 23rd 2016, so it's just shy of 6 months, like 5 1/2!  I emailed both the Mexican/Canadian officials and my travel agent and both said as long as it's valid and not expired it should be fine even though they recommend having it valid for at least 6 months... I'm such a worrier that I'll probably just end up renewing it.

[VancouverGal]

In case anyone is wondering about a more recent example:

I travelled on vacation from Canada to Mexico in the beginning of April 2016 and my passport expires July 7, 2016. I was nervous but I researched the Canadian Mexican embassy website and it says in bold letters: "Mexican Authorities do not require a minimum period of validity of passports; nevertheless, this document must be valid at the time of the entry and during the period you wish to be in Mexico." I didn't have time to renew my passport, so I decided that the Embassy website was good enough for me. I went on my trip and absolutely no problems!

 

Not sure if the case is different for Americans, but Canadians are all good.

[ekf6189]

you should definitely renew it. My friend had trouble with hers not being valid for 6 months.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/mexico.html