Passport Expiring Soon

[Laeticia]

By the time I travel to India, my passport will only have 4 months left on it to expire. Do you think that would be a problem?

 

[Sammie]

I wouldn't take the chance of traveling with a soon to be expired passport Laeticia. I believe India has a rule regarding passports not expiring within six months of a visit. You may not even get through customs with your passport.

 

[Malibu]

I agree with Sammie. Most places I have been to always check that you have at least 6 months left on your passport. Just renew it to be on the safe side.

 

[amelia88]

I agree with Sammie. Most places I have been to always check that you have at least 6 months left on your passport. Just renew it to be on the safe side.

I've had the same thing - most countries I've traveled to so far have enforced that 6 month validity window with passports. Now I am not 100% sure whether that is also applicable to India, but I'm one of those "better safe than sorry" folks and I would always rather have 6 months minimum validity.

 

[hellotraveler]

I would get it renewed as quickly as possible just to be safe. It's better to have a passport renewal ealry, than to have an expired passport and not be able to make it through customs or back home reasonably without a hassle or having to prove that it's really you on that passport once it's expired. It's probably not a big deal, but I wouldn't push it. Some places I've traveled to were nicer than others about it, but I'm not sure how India would deal with it, so just to be safe, renew early if you can.

 

[briannagodess]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

It says on the Indian Embassy that your passport must have at least 180 days validity before you can apply for a visa on arrival at the airport. So it's better to be on the safe side and renew your passport before departing for India. I know some stories of people who were denied entry on certain countries because they failed to renew their passports, hence they weren't able to apply for visa on arrival.

It can be a waste of time and money if you are denied entry into another country just because your passport isn't renewed. You can try applying online as well for the visa once you have your passport renewed. This can save you a lot of hassle in terms of time and effort. But of course, visa on arrival is still fine. Since you're from a European country, it is required for you to have a visa and passport. But your country is allowed to apply in the e-Tourist visa website.

I hope this helps!

 

[Danny Luke]

It's highly recommended that you immediately renew your passport before you fly to India. This is to avoid unnecessary problems that may hound you once you are already in the country. It's better safe than sorry.

 

[rz3300]

Well this is just one of those things that you need to keep up on. I consider myself pretty lucky because I did not have to go through all of the hoops that most people have to and it was done for me - for work reasons - but I have heard some nightmare stories. I am sure that if you pla ahead it is not too bad, but waiting until the last minute might result i some pretty big headaches.

 

[Norjak71]

As long as you don't stay past the date no it shouldn't be, but if you have time to update it I would do it because you don't want any questions or concerns going through customs.

 

[jaden11218]

If you aren't staying four months then it might not be a problem. However, as previously stated, many countries have limitations where the passport must have six months left. Not sure if India is one of those countries, but it'd be safe to assume they are. If you have the time to get it updated then do so, that way you know for sure you won't have any issues with your passport. If your trip is booked and there isn't time then definitely look it up to see if India has any limitations on how soon it can expire.

 

[ad.mike2016]

From my experience six months is about as close as you can get to your passport expiring before it might become an issue to get into a country. I am curious to the length of your stay. This also depends on the border agent that you run into while trying to get into the country. This applies for everywhere but some are more lax then others, there are a lot of decisions that are left up to the discretion of the border agent. However, spending the money to get there just to be turned around because your passport is close to expiration seems like an undue risk. I would go ahead and get it renewed, there is no reason to risk it. I would make sure that you have enough time to get it renewed before you leave the country, renewal can take a bit of time.