Travelling internationally with an expired passport?

[Christi85 86]

I got a question. Were you able to leave the US and enter greece? I have the same problem, my daughters Romanian Passport is expired and we are trying to go to romania. She has a green card. We were ablr to do that 2 years ago on accident. We didnt know her passport was expired and we made it to romania without a problem, but when we tried to leave romania they didnt let us until she renewed her passport. Whe made an emergency passport thats only good for one year. Now its expired and we want to go back this summer and visit and make her a new passport there because here it cost $600 and there its only like $50.We made it without a problem last time, but people are telling me it was by mistake because no one noticed it, but I dont believe that because they see its expired when they scan it. I dont think America cares when you leave, I think they care when you return. SO were you able to leave with your expired greek passport?

Hi,

It didn't end up being an issue in the end. I went through the process of renewing my passport with the Greek Consulate in Los Angeles and kept my fingers tightly crossed the whole time. I called twice in the weeks before my appointment to ask if any earlier dates had freed up and they hadn't. So I kept my original appointment in mid-May and hoped for the best. It turns out the 8-week timeline they give was because they only receive mail every 3-4 weeks, and they don't even know when exactly they are going to receive the next batch, which means, if something happens and they don't receive it when they're supposed to, it turns up with the next batch which is 3-4 weeks later . So anyway, long story short, I applied for a new passport at my Consulate on May 15, and on June 25 (almost 6 weeks later and after I had followed up a few times in between to no avail), I got the call that my new passport had finally arrived

So luckily I didn't have to go through the stress of traveling with an expired passport. And learned my lesson - next time I will apply for renewal 6 months in advance to be certain

Ouch, $600 vs. $50 is a huge difference. Any idea why it may be so? The fees I had to pay were the exact same as if I had done it over in Greece, only here I had to pay the dollar equivalent. I would normally recommend that you don't go through the stress of traveling with an expired passport if you can help it, and that you get your daughter a new one, but the difference in fees is quite stark, so I understand where you're coming from. Any way you could apply directly to Romania from the US? Like you said and like others have said, it's not as much leaving the country as it is re-entering (though unfortunately, there's no guarantee that they may not try to stop you from boarding the plane), so if you decide to go down that route, keep your fingers crossed that nobody will care and be sure to have enough time in Romania to renew and return to the States with a valid passport.

Another route you could explore would be to obtain your daughter a "laissez-passer" document from your local Consulate(the document that's instead of a passport and allows you to travel to your country of citizenship), see if your Consulate would be open to accommodating that request. It's supposed to be an emergency document though. I asked my Consulate about it and they frowned and said they don't give it that easily and that it's supposed to be for emergency travel only, and in my case they advised I just sit patiently and wait for my new passport and hope it arrives before my trip (which, luckily, it did).

[Rickricardo 0]

According to U.S. law, there is something called "discretionary power."  Although the rule is that a valid passport is required for international travel, there is discretion about it.  I once left the United States with a U.S. passport that had been cancelled one year earlier.

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Thread from 2012 is now closed to further comment.