Understand the Rules – When Are You Allowed to Renew Your Passport?

The US State Department has firm rules about when passports can be renewed.  Your passport must be renewed no more than five years after it expires.  You can also think about this based on the date of issue of your passport.  Your passport can be renewed up until fifteen years after the day it was issued.  If you let your passport remain expired for more than five years, you will need to apply for a new passport instead of a passport renewal.

How Early Can You Renew Your Passport?

There’s really no such thing as “too early” to renew your passport. In most cases, passports are renewed within a year of the expiration date.  However, there are a lot of reasons that a passport may be renewed earlier:

• Passport has run out of blank visa pages.
• Traveler’s appearance has changed significantly.
• Passport is worn and not in good condition.
• Traveler has had a legal name change.
• Traveler wishes to apply for a long-term visa.
• Traveler has Israeli entry stamps in the passport, and now plans to visit a country like Iran or Sudan that forbids entry if there are Israel marks in the passport. (A second valid passport can also be issued in this case.)

Why Should You Renew Your Passport Six Months Before It Expires?

At G3, we always recommend that you renew your passport no later than six months before it expires.  Why?  It’s because of what’s known as the “six month rule.”  Many countries, including popular destinations like Italy, require that your passport have at least six months validity remaining.  If you don’t have at least six months left before your passport expires, you won’t be allowed to enter.  You might not even be allowed to board your flight!

We want to make sure that your passport is always valid for any trip you might want to take.  After all, if your richest friend calls you up and says “come to the airport, we’ve got an extra seat available on my private jet,” you don’t want to say no because your passport is about to expire!

Keeping at least six months validity on your passport at all times is especially important for business travelers.  Important overseas meetings could pop up at any time.  You and your passport should both always be ready to travel!

Consider Your Travel Plans To Choose the Right Time to Renew Your Passport

Now that you know that you should renew your passport at least six months before it expires, think about your upcoming travel plans.  It might be November now, but it’s not too early to consider whether you may be traveling internationally next summer.  Think about when you may be traveling, and when you will be likely to be staying at home.  Choose one of those down times between trips to renew your passport before it expires.

Need to Renew Your Passport in a Hurry?

Sometimes, the answer to “when should you renew your passport?” is NOW!  If you are in a rush to get your passport renewed, G3passports.com is here to help.  Just place your order online, and we can have your passport renewed in as little as two business days.

The post When Is The Right Time to Renew Your Passport? appeared first on G3Passports.

Drastic Appearance Changes Require Passport Renewals

A basic rule of thumb as to whether your appearance change is significant enough to require a passport renewal is to look at your photo in your passport, look in the mirror, and ask yourself if a stranger would recognize you as the person in the photo.  If you no longer resemble the person in your passport photo, you should renew your passport right away, no matter how long you have before it expires.  Otherwise, you may have major problems when you try to travel with your passport, because border authorities and airport staff may not believe that you’re really the person shown on your passport!

An early passport renewal for appearance change should only be done if you have had a truly drastic change in appearance, such as:

• Extreme weight loss or weight gain.  If your weight has changed by more than 100 pounds, your face may not resemble the photo in your passport.  Not only may you no longer look like your old self to the naked eye, but the changes in the size of your face may also throw off the biometric scanners used at many airports.
• Extensive plastic surgery. We’re not talking about an eye lift or a little botox, but major reconstructive surgery, such as you might have if you were in an accident.
• Gender transition. Transgender travelers who have transitioned their appearance from one gender to another should also get an early passport renewal.  If you’ve also legally changed your name as part of your transition, you can have your name changed on your passport at the same time.

Minor Appearance Change? You Can Keep Using Your Passport

Over the course of ten years, it’s understood that you will have some changes in appearance.  Your appearance change may be due to aging, or due to fashion.  You don’t need to renew your passport if you’ve changed your appearance in any of the following ways:

• New hair color. Has your hair gone grey?  Did you bleach your brown hair to see if blondes really do have more fun?  Have you jumped on the “mermaid hair” trend and dyed your locks blue and green?  It doesn’t matter what color your hair was in your passport photo or what color it is now.  Hair color changes are easily understood by immigration officials.
• You got glasses. Worried that your new specs will make you look different than your passport photo?  It’s not a problem.  In fact, the US State Department no longer allows glasses to be worn in passport photos.  The new norm is for bespectacled travelers to have passport photos that show them without their glasses.
• You’ve gained or lost a few pounds.  Unless you’ve moved way up or down the BMI charts, your weight loss or weight gain won’t change the shape of your face to the point of confusing the facial recognition scanners.
• You’ve gone bald… or started wearing a wig. Whether you’ve lost your hair to the sands of time or to a razor, having gone bald isn’t enough of an appearance change to require a new passport.  And if your passport photo shows you with a bald head, and you’ve grown your hair back or bought a toupee, that’s fine, too!
• You have colored contact lenses.  If you’ve made your brown eyes blue with the help of colored contacts, it’s not a big enough appearance change to make you unrecognizable.  You can still travel with your passport until it expires.
• Minor plastic surgery.  Most plastic surgery procedures, including full facelifts and rhinoplasty, aren’t a radical enough change in appearance to mandate an early passport renewal.

Are There Extra Requirements for Passport Renewals Due to Appearance Change?

Wondering if you should renew your passport because of your appearance change?  You can always call G3 and talk to one of our passport specialists to get our expert advice on whether or not you should renew your passport early.

An early passport renewal due to an appearance change will have all the same required documents as a normal passport renewal.  The only additional document you’ll need to submit is a signed letter addressed to the US Department of State.  In the letter, you should explain why your appearance has changed, and request that your passport be renewed early with an updated photo.  It’s that simple!

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