Passport Expiration

My passport expires about 5½ months after my return date from SXM. I would greatly prefer to renew my passport after I return rather than before I leave. The information I've been able to find is: American - passport must be valid for six months after I ENTER a country (it is); travel.state.gov - valid for duration of stay. Does anyone have any knowledge to the contrary that would say I must renew passport before departure? Please don't respond if you are going to suggest I do it now to be on the safe side. I am looking for FACTS that I may not have discovered.

Thanks.

The facts are that it has to be valid, as you said, for six months after you arrive in a country,,,

The rest is opinion and maybe's

We just went thru this in Iowa and finally went to our county court house. It is in fact 6 months from your return date to the United States. We were about 5 months out also and it is kind of confusing. $187.00 later for each of us we got expedited service in 5 weeks! Just one more close call to get here!

My understanding is that Sint Maarten only requires your passport to be valid for the duration of your stay. However, some of the airlines (like American) have their own rules because most countries do require your passport to be valid for six months from your arrival.

They told us in Iowa it has nothing to do with where u are going but the return trip to the USA requires 6 months! That really suprised us! Thanks to a persons discussion on TTOL about passports we checked ours and called the court house in our county to get the verification!

boucharda--No, the FACTS are that Sint Maarten only requires the passport to be valid at the time of travel. That is the way that it has always been. And bbeach--that is incorrect. Never has been required that the US required a passport to be valid for 6 months after you return. That is BS.

Some other countries require a passport to be valid for 6 months after entry, but not Sint Maarten and definitely NOT the US.

Information from US State Department

A Complete Guide to the Six-Month Passport-Validity Rule

From the AA website...I just picked that airline because it's a common carrier to SXM



...and the whole point of this discussion is mute since the OP said the expiration date was not a factor....

...and, yes, you are correct about SXM requirements

eightzerobits--NO, AA cannot have a longer rule than Sint Maarten requires, if that's what you are saying.

aa far as the US is concerned, a US passport is perfectly valid until it's stated expiration date....but the country you are traveling to may have different requirements/concerns....as Carol said, SXM, like the US, only requires your passport be valid at the time of travel, while other countries require at least 6 months before expiration

Linda. I went to SXM 12/27 and returned 1/6. My passport had an expiration date of 3/6/21. I had zero issues. I asked TSA in Charlotte if I had to make a quick trip back to SXM end of January returning early February would I have an issue and they said flat out no! Once we realized we weren’t going to go (literally 2 days after getting home) I submitted my passport via the post office and expedited it. Got it back I think within 4 weeks.

Thanks, everybody. bbeach - I really think you were given bad information. Did you see what you were told in writing anywhere?

Tell that to AA Carol. As boucharda posted, it clearly says on the AA site that a passport with at least 6 months of validity is required for any international travel. I certainly wouldn't rely on the local airport employees knowing that SXM doesn't require that and having a contradictory statement on the airline's website.

Well I flew AA down and back with zero issues. So who knows, but a passport is for 10 years. Not 9 years 6 months. Would I fly to China, or Iraq with 6 months left, probably not, but Canada or the Caribbean, yes. And TSA confirmed I was fine and AA never questioned a thing.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...untry-Information-Pages/SintMaarten.html
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You are okay but the six month rule appiles to the French side.

Make a copy of this to carry just in case the airline gives you a headache.

zerobits-If AA were to give anyone any trouble, they need to point them to the US State Department website. Anyone that is in this situation, just print it out. I have never seen anyone have any problem with this.. AA is WRONG. Do not ever depend on the airlines to get things correct. Someone here said that an airline website--not sure if it was AA or not--said that there was a quarantine going into SXM. Obviously that is WRONG.

Absolutely correct Carol. Flying in and out of French side and Barths requires 6 months. Not Dutch St Maarten. If you plan on island hopping than you'll need the 6 months.