Take Care of Your Passport

Rule number 1 of international travel: Take care of your passport. This important document is your most important possession during your travels, and losing it will derail your entire trip. Without it, you will be stuck at home (or even worse, stuck abroad), but if you take care of your passport, then the whole world opens up to you and your adventures.

If you don’t already have a valid passport, you should get one as quickly as possible. Everybody should have one of these little books in their possession. Besides giving you the ability to leave the country, a passport is a universally valid form of photo identification. So if you lose your driver’s license–like I did when I was robbed in South Africa–you can fall back on your passport to buy the alcohol needed to get you through that difficult time.

While traveling, your passport is your best friend and the most valuable thing you carry with you. By getting and maintaining it, you can more or less travel the world as you please. But without it, you’re stuck. Take care of your passport no matter what. I cannot emphasize this enough.

SO, WHAT IS A PASSPORT?

A passport is the only form of identification that matters when traveling abroad. They are issued by every country in the world to allow its citizens to leave and return to their home countries. Unlike driver’s licenses, passports meet certain international standards so that wherever you go, your passport can be used as legal identification.

Your passport contains all the information needed to verify your identity, including a headshot and an RFID chip. Upon entering a country, immigration officers will use it to confirm that you are who you say you are.

You will also need it to return home from your travels. When you return to the U.S., which tends to be very strict in its entry requirements, you can expect to show your passport to multiple people and be quizzed on its contents–where were you born? What is your occupation? When is your birthday? Stuff like that.

So don’t freaking lose it.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PASSPORT

Although the United States has issued various proto-passports under special circumstances since the American Revolution, the concept of the universal passport book did not take hold until after World War I.

During the Revolutionary War, for instance, the newly-formed confederal government issued Benjamin Franklin and his entourage “passports” for their diplomatic mission to France. This document consisted of a single sheet of paper bearing the mark of the United States and listed physical descriptions of each bearer.

Nearly a century-and-a-half later, in the aftermath of World War I, the newly formed League of Nations convened to standardize travel documents to make transportation among member countries easier. Though not a member of the League of Nations, the United States adopted many of the policies put into place by the international body.

Although the United States has issued various proto-passports under special circumstances since the American Revolution, the concept of the universal passport book did not take hold until after World War I.

During the Revolutionary War, for instance, the newly-formed confederal government issued Benjamin Franklin and his entourage “passports” for their diplomatic mission to France. This document consisted of a single sheet of paper bearing the mark of the United States and listed physical descriptions of each bearer.

Nearly a century-and-a-half later, in the aftermath of World War I, the newly formed League of Nations convened to standardize travel documents to make transportation among member countries easier. Though not a member of the League of Nations, the United States adopted many of the policies put into place by the international body.

Surprisingly by today’s standards, the United States did not universally require passports until the outbreak of World War II, when the Travel Control Act of 1918 was reinstated to secure entry points into the U.S.

The U.S. passport went through a few aesthetic variations, changing from blue to green to blue again until the 1980s, when it permanently adopted the dark-blue color we still use today. The U.S. adopted technological changes as well, digitizing all passport photos in 2000 and installing RFID chips in 2007 to enable biometric functions.

Most passports today come with 28 pages for entry/edit stamps, although those who travel frequently may request a 52-page passport book. Generally speaking, however, tourists should only need the standard 28-page passport book.

THE MAN FROM TAURED

Maintaining a passport has become a universal pressure point on every international traveler from every nation. The fear of losing it or having some trouble with it has been the basis of many tales and urban legends. My favorite is the one about the man from Taured.

This urban legend began making the rounds in the 1950s. It follows a man claiming to be from a country that did not exist, at least not in our world. The story hinges on a stranger with a strange passport and the immigration officers who cannot seem to identify him.

The legend says that in the 1950s, a bearded man entered Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Smartly dressed but acting strangely, passers by probably just assumed he was another businessman visiting Tokyo for work. His odd behavior, which varies depending on the storyteller, garnered attention from a security officer, who stopped the man to check his passport.

The man complied, producing his passport and waiting for the officer to send him on his way. Then the officer started asking strange questions, like where he lived and which country he was born in. Confused, the man gave his name and said he was a citizen of Taured.

Taured? said the officer. Where is Taured?

Without giving him time to answer, the officer restrained the man and led him into a backroom, where several other officers took turns interviewing him with increasing hostility.

Is this your passport?

What are you doing in Japan?

Tell us your real name.

The man answered the officers’ questions and insisted that there had never been a problem with his passport before. Indeed, his passport contained stamps from around the world, even indicating multiple trips to Tokyo in the last year.

During the interrogation, they discovered that the man spoke a dozen languages in addition to his native French, including Japanese, English, Spanish, and Arabic. He even produced a phone number that he said would call the embassy in Taured; however, when the officers tried to dial the number, the line was dead.

Eventually, one of the officers placed a map on the table in front of the man, asking him to point to Taured on the map. The man confidently pointed to a small region between Spain and France, a region we know as Andorra.

Seemingly bewildered, the man grew agitated, saying Taured had been in existence for a thousand years. He spoke at length about its history, about its revolution that overthrew the monarchy, and about the geography of the region itself. Although the officers could not verify the existence of Taured, they verified that the geographic description of the country was indeed correct…for Andorra.

With the situation escalating and unsure of what to do, the officers offered to set the man up in a hotel for the night to rest. They would continue the interrogation in the morning. The man reluctantly agreed to surrender his passport to the officers and was led to a hotel room for the night.

Two security guards were assigned to keep watch outside the door. The next morning, they entered the room. However, the hotel room looked untouched, and the man was gone. The room was on the fourteenth floor and did not have opening windows, so they were sure he could not escape. Still, where was he?

Back at the airport, the officers noticed that the man’s passport had disappeared as well. The Man from Taured had seemingly vanished into thin air, never to be seen or heard from again.

Now, whether that story is true or just a spooky urban legend, it underscores just how important it is to maintain a real, legal passport on your travels. Unless you can also travel across dimensions, I suggest you take care of yours.

THE LIFESPAN OF YOUR PASSPORT

Passports today have a lifespan of 10 years.

…but not really.

It’s confusing. Let me explain.

If you receive a passport in 2022, technically your passport will remain valid until 2032 (which doesn’t even sound like a real year); however, most countries require at least six months of validity to enter (caveat below). That means if you received your passport in September 2022, you will have to renew it before March 2023.

Caveat: The six-month rule

I recommend you make extra sure of the entry requirements of each country you plan to enter, even in transit. Because while standard passports have a validity period of ten years, many (dare I say most) countries require six months of validity on your passport to enter. That means that your passport must be valid after you intend to depart.

This rule varies, and I’ll try to spell it out as best I can in this post, but to be safe, just assure that you need at least six months left on your passport to enter any country.

THE SCHENGEN AREA

For example, countries under the Schengen Agreement–an international treaty that applies to nearly 30 countries in Europe–your passport must be valid for three months beyond your three-month entry visa, or for a total of six months regardless of how long you intend to stay.

Even this seems inconsistent, though, since some Schengen countries only require three months after your intended departure date (including those in transit), others assume you will stay for the max duration of your entry visa and require three months of validity after that date, thus totalling six months of validity.

As of today, here is a list of countries under the Schengen Agreement:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

IRELAND AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

Every group has the “cool friends,” and I think we all knew it would be these guys. As of right now, Ireland and the UK do not require any additional validity beyond your stay.

WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST FOLLOW THE SAME RULES? THE CONFUSING VALIDITY REQUIREMENTS FOR EUROPE, ASIA, AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Requires 6 months of validity beyond scheduled departure date:

• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Brunei
• Bulgaria
• Cambodia
• China
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• New Caledonia
• North Korea
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Qatar
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Tajikistan
• Thailand
• East Timor
• Turkmenistan
• Turkey
• UAE
• Vietnam
• West Bank/Gaza Strip
• Yemen

Requires 3 months of validity beyond scheduled departure date:

• Albania
• Belarus
• Croatia
• Kazakhstan

Requires 1 month of validity beyond departure date:

• Honk Kong
• Macau

AFRICA

The countries listed below require 6 months of validity on your passport to enter:

• Algeria
• Angola
• Botswana
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Congo
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Mauritania
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zambia

THE CARIBBEAN

The countries listed below require 6 months of validity on your passport to enter:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Grenada
• Guadeloupe
• Haiti
• Martinique
• St. Barts
• St. Kitts
• St. Lucia
• Trinidad and Tobago

LATIN AMERICA

The countries listed below require 6 months of validity on your passport to enter:

• Belize
• Bolivia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Suriname
• Venezuela

* Just FYI that Panama requires 3 months past arrival date.

PACIFIC

The countries listed below require 6 months of validity on your passport to enter:

• French Polynesia
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Micronesia
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• Vanuatu

* Another FYI that New Zealand requires 3 months past arrival date.

PLEASE DOUBLE-CHECK

I’ve compiled this list of countries from a variety of sources, including the U.S. State Department’s website; however, you should 100% absolutely positively not just take my word for it. As with everything you see on a blog, double-check for yourself.

But honestly, if you were going to base your logistical planning for your international vacation off of one blog post, then you kind of get what you deserve.

MY PASSPORT EXPIRED (OR IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE). WHAT SHOULD I DO?

The passport renewal process is straightforward, but it will take some time. For the purposes of this post, I’ll just assume you already have a passport that you want to renew.

If your passport only has a couple of years left on it, you should think about getting it renewed sooner than later. Like the gas tank in your car, you don’t want to cut it too close. Doing so could leave you stranded on a much longer vacation than you anticipated.

Besides that, renewing your passport from within the U.S. has the benefit of a standardized process. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to renew it abroad, you will have to do extra homework and speak with the U.S. embassy in that country to find out about their specific requirements.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this straightforward process is fast. As with everything the government does, processing passport requests takes time. For example, it can take two weeks or longer for the State Department to start processing your application. The entire process can take up to three months.

You can choose to pay a $60 fee to expedite the process, but even the expedited process can take up to two months. So give yourself plenty of time.

RENEWING YOUR PASSPORT BY MAIL

If you can, I recommend renewing your passport by mail. This simplifies the process and can have a faster turnaround. To find out if you are eligible to renew your passport by mail, you must answer YES to all of the following questions:

1. Do you have your passport in your possession to submit with your application?
2. Is your passport undamaged other than normal wear and tear?
3. Were you at least 16 years old when this passport was issued?
4. Was this passport issued in the last 15 years?
5. Was this passport issued in your current name, or can you provide documentation of a legal name change?

If you answered “yes” to all of those questions, then congratulations, you can renew your passport by mail.

Follow these steps:

1. FILL OUT FORM DS-82

You will submit all your identifying information, including your social security number, on this application. You can also use this form to request a 52-page passport, verses the standard 26-page book.

2. SUBMIT YOUR MOST RECENT PASSPORT

Pretty straightforward. Just beware that you will have to surrender your existing passport. You will receive it back after it has been voided. Make sure you have another valid form of photo ID before you surrender your passport.

3. INCLUDE NAME CHANGE DOCUMENTATION IN YOUR APPLICATION

This is where you will include documentation including marriage certificates and court-ordered name change documentation.

4. PROVIDE A COMPLIANT PHOTO (SEE A LIST OF REQUIREMENTS HERE)

I found this step frustrating to do on my own. Many places, including Walgreens, Walmart, etc. offer passport photo services. These services don’t cost a lot, and they will save you a lot of the time and frustration from trying to take and print these photos yourself.

5. CALCULATE FEES

A passport book will cost $130. A passport card (don’t worry about that–it won’t get you in or out of most countries) costs $30. Together, they both cost $160 (basic math, amiright?)

6. MAIL COMPLETED APPLICATION

This is important: You MUST mail your passport application via USPS. Applications sent via other courier services (like DHL, UPS, and FedEx) will be returned.

7. TRACK YOUR APPLICATION STATUS

You can track the status of your passport renewal application here. Please note that it can take up to two weeks from the day you mailed your application for the State Department to begin evaluating your application. I told you, this takes a while.

MY PASSPORT WAS LOST OR STOLEN

I came perilously close to having my passport stolen, along with the rest of my stuff, while walking home from the gym in Cape Town, South Africa. I got lucky, as I had taken my passport out of my backpack just before going to the gym, but I did not realize that until I got home after being robbed.

It puts the fear of God into you. Fortunately, the State Department anticipates that this might happen to people, so they have a process in place to replace lost or stolen passports.

First, you need to report your passport lost or stolen here. Simply navigate to the forms labeled “Report lost or stolen passport.” You will be redirected to a form to report the passport lost or stolen (DS-64). Then, you will have to fill out an initial application for a U.S. passport via form DS-11. Both are available online.

Your passport carries important personal information about you that can be used to compromise your identity; therefore, you must start this process as soon as possible after noticing you have had your passport lost or stolen.

This goes doubly if you are outside the U.S.

I LOST MY PASSPORT OVERSEAS. WHAT NOW?

For many, this is kind of a worst-case-scenario situation that hopefully you will never find yourself in. With that said, if it does ever happen to you, you need to get in touch with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate building in your country.

Unfortunately, each embassy has its own rules and processes for dealing with these issues, so it is hard to explain here what they will ask you to provide. I can tell you that it will be a somewhat lengthy and frustrating process, but that’s all part of the adventure.

If this happens to you, get in contact with the embassy as quickly as possible, and set up an appointment to go over your options. It helps if you have another form of photo ID, like a U.S. driver’s license, to verify your identity. Keep your backup photo ID in a safe place at your accommodations. That way, if you lose your purse or wallet, you still have one form of ID to present at the embassy.

LAST-MINUTE TIPS FOR SAFELY MANAGING YOUR PASSPORT WHILE TRAVELING

• Take a picture of the ID page on your passport with your phone. Back that photo up on whichever cloud service you use–Google Drive, Dropbox, Verizon, etc. — so you can retrieve it if you lose your phone as well.
• Memorize your passport number.
• Don’t disclose personally identifying information to people you do not know.
• Try to travel with multiple forms of photo identification. A driver’s license won’t get you home, but it could make it easier for the embassy to identify you if you lose your passport.
• Travel with your passport as little as possible. Whenever possible, keep it in a safe place in your room where you will not lose it. Most places that require some form of ID (bars, museums, etc., depending on where you are) will accept either a picture of your passport or a passport number, which you should have memorized by now.

OK for now.

~CS

Originally published at https://recoveringhomebody.com on August 14, 2022.