Stopped From Traveling At Airport

[pointofview]

Hi, A friends wife whom has lived in Norway (married to Norwegian) for over 10 years was today stopped from traveling back home to Norway, after spending 2 weeks in thailand, as her passport had a few days short of 3 months before expiry. Of course on entering Thailand/leaving Norway the passport was within the mandatory 3 months to expiry date - to allow travel.

She is obviously quite distraught as she thought that the mandatory 3 months was applicable only at the start of the journey. Any advice or information would be most most gratefull!

Thanks

[britmaveric]

new passport???

[londonthai]

should take no more than 5 days - the airline would usually honor the old ticket.

even if thai would let her go - norwegians might could stop her if the passport is walid for less than 6 months

[stevemiddie]

new passport???

As above. New passport is your ONLY option.

[Maestro]

Hi, A friends wife whom has lived in Norway (married to Norwegian) for over 10 years was today stopped from traveling back home to Norway, after spending 2 weeks in thailand, as her passport had a few days short of 3 months before expiry.

She should talk to the consulate of the country on whose passport she is travelling. It travelling on a Thai passport, she should talk to the passport office.

--

Maestro

[NanLaew]

Personally, I have never heard of a 'mandatory 3 months' validity being required. Most countries will only issue visas if the passport has minimum 6 months validity and I have used that rule-of-thumb for all passport related matters. I renewed a passport with 7 months remaining as I knew business would keep me away from home for most of the year and they credited the 'unused time' of the old passport, i.e. they used the original passports expiration date.

Your friends oversight, although a pain, should be easily resolved. Renewing a Thai passport is very easy and in my experience, getting a replacement foreign passport while overseas is usually faster than doing the same at home.

[Tammi]

I was travelling from here to Manila via HongKong and was refused boarding at HK because passport validity was less than 6 months. I had to catch the train into HK and get a new passport. I caught my flight - Consulate did new passport real fast. Dreadful passport photo.

[Mobi]

Assuming it is a Thai passport, If she goes directly to the passport office at Cheang Wattana, she can get a new one in one day - actually a few hours is all it takes.

[stevemiddie]

Hi, A friends wife whom has lived in Norway (married to Norwegian) for over 10 years was today stopped from traveling back home to Norway, after spending 2 weeks in thailand, as her passport had a few days short of 3 months before expiry.

She should talk to the consulate of the country on whose passport she is travelling. It travelling on a Thai passport, she should talk to the passport office.

--

Maestro

You would also have to talk to the airlines etc. That scenerio is just not realistic. A new passport is the only option on this.

[Irene]

This is an idiosyncratic and bureaucratic rule of maintaining that the stated wordings in a passport of an expiry date is not an expiry date. It has to be the date of three-month or six-month before the printed expiry date. (I have never been caught by this rule.)

Yes, the solution is easy, just to get a new passport. But think of a person who just simply follows the simple language of the meaning of an “expiry date” and now precluded to leave the country. I bet that immigration officer must have a happy day that day and exclaimed that now I caught one irrespective of the suffering of another human being.

I now wonder whether we are the world full of sheep.

[dog412]

This is an idiosyncratic and bureaucratic rule of maintaining that the stated wordings in a passport of an expiry date is not an expiry date. It has to be the date of three-month or six-month before the printed expiry date. (I have never been caught by this rule.)

Yes, the solution is easy, just to get a new passport. But think of a person who just simply follows the simple language of the meaning of an “expiry date” and now precluded to leave the country. I bet that immigration officer must have a happy day that day and exclaimed that now I caught one irrespective of the suffering of another human being.

I now wonder whether we are the world full of sheep.

more to do with the countries being traveled to, than the issuer of the passport. and yes, it is confounding