A 2009 survey conducted by the online booking portal kayak.com found that Americans are woefully uneducated about passports. In this survey of 1000 American respondents, 26% thought that Americans would need a passport to return from Maui and a whopping 50% were certain one needed a passport to return from South Padre Island (in Texas). What???I didn't see the original survey nor did I meet any of the monkeys that took it, but my belief is these Americans are geographically challenged. I guess South Padre Island could be construed as a Mexican resort beach. I just don't know.
Here are a couple tips that can help with Immigration and what the government neglects to tell you before you departure.
You may be denied boarding or reentry into the United States if:
- Your passport is going to expire within 6 months
- You don't have enough blank pages remaining on your passport.
At least four months before you plan to travel, make sure you have at least two pages on your passport for every foreign country you plan to visit. if you are cutting it close on pages, it's worth it to order extra pages from a passport office or American consulate. Your passport can't expire while you are out of the country, period. A general rule of thumb is that you should have at least 6 months remaining on your passport beyond your travel dates. I know this sounds obsessive, but the alternative is the chance of being denied entry or exit of a country. The fines and costs of returning home once your travel is halted can become exorbitant and the hassle will be prohibitive.
The recent law changes have made crossing borders more difficult and the laws more confusing, but if you just assume you will need a passport for every border crossing everywhere then you will be fine. So, when you take the family to South Padre Island for one last weekend of beach time before school starts remember to bring along your passport. Just kidding.
Pick of the Day(51-12-1)...Cubs
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