TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Passport Emergency

We planned our trip down to the last detail except I forgot to check the expiration date on my passport. We are scheduled to travel on Monday April 18th returning Monday April 25th to the US. My passport expires May 15th. Does anyone know if I will be allowed to travel? We checked the state dept webite and it appears that I only need a valid passport for entry but will AA allow me to fly?

I would be on the phone with AA now and speak with a supervisor, get names, etc.

I can't speak for the airlines, but SXM only requires your passport to be valid until the date of departure. Most other places requires it to be valid for 3-6 months after your departure date. I would say you will be O.K. as even if for some reason, you had to stay longer in SXM, you still have a few weeks before the passport expires. Enjoy your trip!

We did and got a supervisor at AA. They said that according to the Timeatic system they use for how long passports need to be valid for when you travel to each country that SXM only requires that it be valid for the period of the stay. That being said, we are still uncertain that I will be allowed boarding. We will get to JFK extra early to deal with the possible issues but we are hoping that someone on this board might have first hand knowledge.

Since you are just a couple of days away, your options are very limited. Document everything as far as who you talk to with AA, get to the airport early and hope for the best.

What someone else experienced may not be the same thing you personally experience in this case.

LINK

Go to this link - enter the required information - print up the results and carry it with you to the airport.

Call again and have the answers you want emailed to you from AA. Print it out to take with you to the airport.

Thank you all for the suggestions. We had already been on the site Bobcat posted a link to and we are feeling good about being granted entry to SXM. We had a private boat charter scheduled for next Thursday and it looks like we might not be able to go ashore in Anguilla if we make it down. That is the least of my worries. I am just concerned that I can fly. We did not have AA send us their findings in writing so we will contact them again first thing tomorrow to make that happen. I really appreciate all the great responses here. Very helpful.

We went down a few years ago and our passport was to expire the next month. We had no problem Buffalo, New York or SXM, however we were told we couldn't go to Anguilla. I believe the passport had to be valid for another 3 months

Anguilla according to the US State Dept website is the same as SXM entry.

It looks as if I am in the minority here, because it would never occur to me that you couldn't fly until the exact date that your passport expires. As you said, it is valid until May 15th. I can't imagine you being denied entry to the U.S. until May 16th. I will be very interested to know what the airline tells you.

SOME jurisdictions require your passport to be valid for a period of six months past the date of entry, in order for you to gain entry into their country. The issue is NOT coming back into the US, it is entering the foreign country. What that means is that the airline could well deny you boarding on the airplane when you leave home. Apparently that is not the case with Sint Maarten. However, once there, you may not be able to travel to other countries, such as St. Barts, which I think perhaps has the six month rule.

OP is basically concerned with entry into SXM and Anguilla. A US passport is valid for entry into the US up to midnight of the expiry date of the passport and according to the US agency site entry into SXM and Anguilla will not be a problem for the time they wish to visit.

Bringing a copy of the agency information along just in case the airline is not up to speed on the regulations is a good idea.

French West Indies (not including St. Martin when entering from Dutch side) is 6 months as Carol mentioned.

Thank You Carol and Bobcat--I misunderstood what the OP was getting at.

You should be able to re enter USA BUT you'll probably have to apply for a "NEW" passport instead of a renewal because it will have expired and since you're using it to travel you won't be able to re new prior to travel.

Hubby had to do that before our March trip to SXM. Started process in December and didn't get it until Feb.

You may renew your expired passport by mail as long as it was issued within the last 15 years + other requirements listed on the link.
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LINK

I am the OP. I used my husband's computer and hence his login when I made the original post. We spoke with AA again yesterday and they said they only deny boarding if they believe you will not be granted entry when you arrive at your destination country. They assured me I should have no trouble flying to SXM. Today I was able to print my boarding pass after having to enter my passport number and expiration date. We are hopeful we will be sitting on the balcony at the Cliff listening to the ocean tomorrow. I will renew my passport as soon as I get home next week prior to it expiring. Thank you all again for your comments and suggestions.

Glad things are looking good for your trip. Enjoy.

OK, sounds like you are OK. Hope things go well for you!

Just for those interested in the latest turn-around times, we just renewed our passports (set to expire in October). It took only 2 weeks from the time we mailed our renewal applications until we received our new passports. Our old passports were returned under separate cover about a week later. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Also, a good idea is to order your passport cards along with your passport books as at some time soon certain state photo IDs- may not be valid for domestic flights

I don't believe the US site is correct for Anguilla. I think its either a 3 or 6 month past entry requirement. Trying to find it online but not certain just something in my head telling me this is the case.

Yes you are correct. Some sites do say six months. This may require a call to the Anguilla authority to confirm the present requirements.

According to the Anguilla Tourist Board, passport just needs to be valid beyond departure date.

Hopefully you have gotten satisfaction by now. Last year we traveled Feb 1 -Feb15. PP expired Mar 6. I panicked after reading several doomsday posts here, but after contacting PJIA and several other government agencies and Delta, and getting answers via email and printing them, we had absolutely no problem. I did however, renew immediately after our return. Didn't need that kind of stress again.

Happy to report that I have arrived safely in SXM and all is good. Just had a fabulous lunch at the Cliff Cafe with a celebrities at the next table - Bill and Elaine- lol. So grateful we made it down despite the weather we arrived to.

Thanks for reporting that you were able to arrive safely. Enjoy your trip!

LINK

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News story about changes to passports.

We recently renewed ours and now have a readable passport with chip and passport cards for domestic travel by air, land & sea and international travel by land & sea but not for air, the passport book is for all international travel as well as domestic. The cards are great, the size of a drivers license.

Glad you made it without incident - time to place the worry beads away and enjoy your vacation. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Glad you made it, enjoy!

Hopefully you made it home ok too. Just want to check that you had no problem leaving also.

I had no problem with my passport in either direction. I was only questioned when I entered Saint Maarten. They asked how many days I was staying to make sure it was not longer than my passport was valid.

That's really good and then know as we are going late July and our passports expire late August.

Why push the date & worry. Why not renew in June & good to go?? Less worries = better vacation. To us anyway. Just sayin, <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

I agree. I was going to join the Procrastinators Club, but I think I'll wait til next week. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

My passport was due to expire soon so I went to our local post office and had the whole process done in about 20 minutes including filling out the form and having the postmaster take the photo.

Three weeks later I had received my new passport, my "passport card", and my cancelled old passport in three seperate mailings on different days. ...and I did not request and purchase expedited service!