urgent request for help

[Marijn]

My son is due to go on a college trip to Los Angeles on 2nd April for a week. His passport expires on 10th Sept 08. The college is saying he will not be able to travel to America on a passport that expires in less than 6 months from the date of departure. I have also been told that he will not be able to get a new passport in time for the trip as he needs to apply for an adult passport for the first time, and this takes 5 weeks.
I didn't think that someone needed 6 months left on their passport, I thought it was less than that.
If it does turn out that it IS less than that, can the college still refuse to take him if the 6 months allowance is college policy? Or the coach company's policy (who is taking them)?

[Buenchico]

As Dzug states, anyone entering the USA under the visa waiver program only requires a passport which is valid until the date on which they leave the USA. Additionally, holders of British passports who need to seek a visa are exempt from the '6 month rule' which applies to citizens of some other countries.

Confirmation of this is on the US embassy website. See here:
http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/faqs/faq_ visa_niv.html#niv108
and here:
http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/faqs/faq_ visa_niv.html#niv079

Chris

[Marijn]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I phoned that passport office telephone number. And unfortunately now I have another dilemma... I was told my son would not be able to use his passport as it was a child passport with a photo of him age 12. She said USA insists on him having an adult passport as he turned 16 last August, he MUST have an adult passport with a photo of him as an adult because he won't look his child photo and they're very strict on that.
My ex said he'd never heard of that and she must be wrong. But she sounded so confident. I'm going to phone US embassy on Monday and ask. But in the meantime still anxious. Does anyone know anything about this?

[netibiza]

My friend's passport had run out here in Spain and the Vice-consul issued her with an emergency one for 76� and then she went straight to the Passport Office and got a new one on the same day. This was January of this year.

[sense4all]

link to US web site here have a peruse to see if reading it means you have other questions to ask on the phone, help you organise yourself.

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/rctour.html

[Marijn]

Thank you very much Sense4all. I can't see any info on there about the child or adult passport dilemma. Can you see it? I'm not that computer literate and I may've missed something.

[munchie63]

you can travel with less than 6months left on your passport - in theory you can go through 'borderless' Europe without needing a passport, although everyone, especially airlines, ask for one as proof of ID.

i'm sure the info posted here on the US is correct, and less than 3 months is still OK.

I check + send passport forms at work (post office). Your son won't automatically be called for an interview - at the moment the numbers called in are very low, and usually only if you've held no other passport before. Your son has had a British passport (as a child) and the ID checks would have already been done when that was issued.
If you apply through your local Post Office on Monday, you should have a passport back in 10 days. We can't guarantee it, but it's the normal turn-around time.

It costs �7 to process this way, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

[Marijn]

Thank you for answering. I now know that as long as he has 90 days left on his passport that's fine. I also know now, that as he already has owned a passport he doesn't need to do the interview and 5 week wait. What I am now concerned about is that the woman on the phone at the passport office said that USA woudn't accept his passport anyway, as it is a child passport, and that they need a picture of him as an adult in an adult passport as this is a specific stipulation of America. My ex thinks that the woman must be wrong and says to just leave it, but I'm worried in case she's right. Do you know?

[tickledtrout]

I would guess that she is right if she works for the passport office. I would'nt take the risk, apart from anything else your son will be really disappointed if he is turned away.
Why don't you use the post office as munchie has suggested?

[Marijn]

My ex says that we shouldn't risk applying for a new passport until we know for sure, as you have to surrender your passport to get a new one. He says it has been known that even if you pay the fee to the post office to check your passport application, your application can still be sent back for petty errors. So if there is a delay of some sort my son will be totally without a passport. That's why I need to know for sure if it's really necessary to change passport.
I will phone the U S embassy on Monday, but in the meantime I wondered if there was anyone out there who knew for sure, to put my mind at rest. Thank you.

[lou 26]

I went to the States last year with my daughter. Even though she is a child on a child passport, her photo was taken when she was 3 days old and she was 4 when we flew. I had more hassle getting out of the UK with it than I did when I got to Florida. Noone there questioned it at all. As long as its in date I wouldnt think theres any problem but if it puts your mind at rest I would give the embassy a call

[Marijn]

Thank you for answering. It's appreciated.

[tickledtrout]

Had a look on various holiday websites and can't find anything that suggests he will have a problem. Direct Holidays say that he can use the child passport until he is 18 and the passport office website says that if he was to apply for a child passport when he was 15 it would last until he was 20.
All info seems to conradict itself!
The only thing that they all agree on is that he won't need the interview.
I would definatly ring the US embassy on Monday

[Marijn]

Thank you, that is what I have found; lots of contradictory information, I'm none the wiser. I really appreciate all the replies I have received. Thank you to everyone for all your time and effort.

[sense4all]

Hi -just being nosey- how did you get on with the embassy this morning?

[Marijn]

Hi Sense4all and anyone else reading. All is fine. I have phoned the American Embassy today, who then gave me another number to phone (can't remember who they were though, it was premium rate again). Anyway they said they'd never heard of such a thing about needing an adult passport and photo. If passport's in date, which it is, then it's fine that the photo of him is when he was 12 years old.
They asked me who told me that. I didn't like to say it was the British Passport office. The woman who I phoned there on Friday sounded so confident, but as it turned out she was as mad as a balloon, The misinformation has caused me a lot of worry.
Thank you again everyone for your kind support in answering my question.

[sense4all]

I am so glad that you have had a satisfactory outcome to this debacle. I wish your son a lovely trouble free trip, and yourself a worry free wait for his safe return. Kids and passports who'd 'ave 'em? lol.

[Marijn]

Thank you :-)