Are Your Travel Documents Still Valid?

Once an American flew to Malaysia for his relative's wedding ceremony, but he was detained at the Malaysia airport for his passport was five months to its expiration date while Malaysia requires at least six months validation for one's entry or exit to its country.

1. Why is it important to keep a valid passport and make a timely renewal?

There are several reasons for this: first, some countries not only require a passport to be valid for the full duration of your stay in their country, but also insist that a passport has to be valid for stated months upon your arrival or after you leave, so you might run into problems when returning your country if your passport is expired. Second, you won't get a proof of citizenship or legal identification with an expired passport in other countries. Third, you will not be allowed to enter other countries if your passport is expired when you travel abroad.

Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you have a valid passport, visa and other travel documents before your trip to another country. Do check your passport expiration date and status and renew it in advance if it is about to expire or near invalidation, otherwise you might be refused to enter that country.

2. What are the periods of validity of different types of passports and the validity and invalidity of passport and visa?

Period of validity of different types of passports

A diplomatic passport is valid for five years from the date of issue if the bearer remains his or her diplomatic status. An official passport is valid for five years from the date of issue if the bearer remains his or her official status. A regular passport issued to a bearer above 16 is valid for ten years, while the one for a bearer under16 is valid for five years from the date of issue. The variation of a regular passport called No-Fee passport is only valid for five years from the date of issue. The emergency passport is only valid for one re-entry to the country you come from.

Validity and invalidity of passport

A passport only becomes valid when the bearer signs his name in the signature space. When the Department of State is informed of and registers a lost or stolen passport, revokes the passport or sends a written notice to the bearer, the passport becomes invalid.

Validity and invalidity of visa

A visa is valid before the date printed on it and when there are enough entries left. If it goes beyond the date of enter (no matter the entry is used up or not) or the entries permitted has been fully used, the visa becomes invalid. Applicants should apply for their visas in advance and well arrange the entry date.

3. Special passport expiration rules

Different countries have special passport expiration rules, for example, some countries start counting the expiration days from the date of entry into their country, while some from the date of departure, and there are also some require that a passport should not only be valid for the duration of your stay in their country but also valid for three or six months after your entry or departure from their country. For a U.S. passport, Cambodia, Denmark, Fiji, Switzerland require three months and Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Paraguay, Romania, Singapore require six months. Hence, it is necessary to inform yourself about the special passport expiration rules of the country you are going to.

4. Renew of travel documents

You can make the application for a renewal passport by mail if your existing passport is unimpaired and received within the past 15 years, and you were at least 16 when it was issued and remain the same name now. Otherwise, you have to apply for renewal in person.

If your passport has been expired but your visa is valid, you should apply for a new passport. Transferring the visa to a new passport is not allowed, thus you should travel with your new and old passport plus the visa, or apply a new visa and travel with the new visa and new passport.