Passport Casuistry
People think that Catholic morality is casuistical and legalistic. Hah! For real legalism, you need the law, particularly the law having to do with entry into a country–the point at which, incidentally, you are most legally vulnerable and have the least amount of rights.
I went to Italy, and then England, on March 29 -April 5. Around March 1, I looked at my passport–it expired on April 19. I thought, well, that’s no problem, I’ll be back two weeks before it expires. That’s a good enough cushion.
So I get to the airport on March 29, and check in with Northwest. I swipe my passport, the machine gives me my boarding passes, and cryptically puts up the ominious message “Some countries may require your passport to be valid for at least six months after the date you plan to leave the country.”
What? Which countries? The countries I’m going to visit? Needless to say, the gate agent wasn’t quite sure. I had thoughts of flying for ten hours and Italy denying me entry. But was it Italy I needed to worry about? I was landing in Amsterdam to change planes. Maybe the Dutch would send me home. Wouldn’t I clear passport control in Amsterdam because of the whole European Union thing? But then England’s not part of the EU. So do they have their own passport control that I’ll have to come through when flying from Italy? And what’s this “may require”? If I’m nice, and look like I’ll spend my euros and go home on time, will they let me in anyway?
So. . . .waiting to go to the gate, I called a friend of mine with a computer, and google skills. Things look bad. The US Department of State, as well as the World Travel Guide, says I need a passport that is valid at least three months past my trip. My little two week cushion was starting to seem ridiculous.
It turns out there is this thing called the Schengen Agreement, which governs free movmenet in Europe –but not England. The three-month requirement has to do with visas, not passports, it seems. But stil. . . . should I get on the plane? I called friends who traveled a lot –they said get on the plane, at most you will be denied entry and sent home. Mmm. . . . I watch too much tv for that. I had visions of cold, dark interrogation rooms.
I was really annoyed –and really kicking myself at the same time–a valid passport should be a valid passport. With the six month or three month requirement, a passport’s validity ended up being shorter than advertised.
South Bend being South Bend, the plane didn’t leave that night. I was rescheduled for the next afternoon. So I asked a crack research librarian from ND Law School to get to the bottom of this. Which is. . . . some countries probably a valid passport to be valid three-month or six months past the exit date.
BUT. . . a series of countries, including the US, have signed an agreement that extends the validity of a passport valid on entry for six months past the date of expiration. So . . . bottom line, if your passport is valid when you leave, you’re OK. Two steps forward and two steps back. Two international agreements to get to the common-sense point of view that your passport is valid (i.e., useful) during the time period in which it says it is valid.
I printed out the pages from the Foreign Service Manual and stuck them in my carry-on, prepared to argue my way into Italy and England if necessary.
As it turned out, no argument was necessary. Everyone at the border was very nice.
So. . .go ahead. . . take that last minute fling to Europe before your passport runs out. But if I were you, I’d still pack the regs –just in case.
Of all the countries listed in the agreement, the US is nowhere listed!
The “U” listing is as follows:
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
So what am I missing?
My guess is that it’s in the US foreign service manual, so it tells our guys whose passports to extend. The agreement is reciprocal, so that’s why we get the extension in the countries listed.
Of course. . . . the other option, for those who are sensible, is to make sure you always have time left on your passport.
“But then England’s not part of the EU.”
Excuse me?
http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/index_en.htm
You’re right–I should have said “fully” part. They kept their own currency, for example–and I wasn’t at the time sure what else they kept that would keep me from getting into England!
England has no border authority or passport control because no such country as England has existed since 1707.
The country called the United Kingdom (which is made up of the nations England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) is a full member of the EU in every way. Membership of the EU and membership of the Euro aren’t synonymous.
There are other full EU members such as Ireland that don’t belong to the Schengen Agreement. There are also other full EU members such as Denmark that have kept their own currencies.
Okay, okay.
So obviously I haven’t even straightened it out fully now.
But at least you can see why I was so freaked out on Sunday night!
Israel advertises itself as requiring six months ongoing validity on a passport. Of course they can and do ask tourists a great many questions, over and over again, but so far I haven’t missed my flight!
I remember arriving at Glasgow airport thirteen years ago as a foreign student, nervously proffering a sheaf of carefully prepared visa documents. The immigration official looked at me, pushed the documents aside and said: “Och, I don’t want tae look at them!” Then he stamped my passport, and I was in. It was a lovely introduction to Britain.
Now students coming to the UK from overseas are charged extortionate sums for said visa (mine was free). The amount of form-filling required to obtain a visa has, in my estimate, quadrupled. Foreign students are also asked to purchase a biometric id card, and lecturers and universities are about to be asked to report on our students’ absences and movements to the authorities.
This is why it’s very comforting to hear from that the border officials were still reasonable, and that a group of countries has decided to be reasonable about recently expired passports.