return to Ireland day after passport expires??

gottaletitout

Hi, I need advice. Have a great last minute opportunity to travel to Montreal on an all-expenses-paid trip but just realised that I leave Canada with my passport in-date, but arrive in Ireland on the morning after my passport expires!! I fly in two working days - and it's not a family etc emergency (for emergency new passport) - I know from the Canadian gov website that they're happy enough if my passport is in date when I leave Canada, but how do the Irish feel about one of their own returning home with a passport that has expired (albeit 24 hours - expired is expired). Should I chance it? What can they do, send me home??
Thanks for any help :-)

brownacid

In Dublin they never really know where you're coming from, you could show the guards at passport control your drivers licence and should get waved through as if you came from England, if they ask. Or you could give the guard your passport and see what happens? Plead ignorance, it was valid when you left the country blah blah blah. I know which one I would be inclined to do

coylemj

gottaletitout wrote: »

What can they do, send me home??

But you're already home, they have no real choice but to let you land. You don't cease to be an Irish citizen when your passport expires, it's really only an issue in a foreign country where you can be denied entry, I don't see that it will be an issue arriving back in Dublin.

Marcusm

If you're an Irish citizen you merely gave to establish your entitlement to enter not to necessarily possess an in date passport.

gottaletitout

thanks, that's what I reckoned. If the Canadians are happy to get rid of me, the Irish can't help but take me back. And yes of course I'm home Coylemj, I was just being a bit of a smart arse stating that ;-) In any case, I reckon if they can book my airline ticket online using my passport details, then I should just go for it. The fact that I grew up with a man in uniform as a dad probably makes me more cautious of authority!

GarIT

You won't get into Canada unless your passport has long enough left in date that it will be in date for your entire time in the country.

coylemj

GarIT wrote: »

You won't get into Canada unless your passport has long enough left in date that it will be in date for your entire time in the country.

Which it will be as he stated in his first post. The same applies in the US, they only care that it will be current when you're leaving, they don't give a XXXX if it expires when you're in the air on the way home.

GarIT

coylemj wrote: »

Which it will be as he stated in his first post. The same applies in the US, they only care that it will be current when you're leaving, they don't give a XXXX if it expires when you're in the air on the way home.

I missed that somehow, my bad.

spurious

Does it not need six months left for most countries?

veetwin

spurious wrote: »

Does it not need six months left for most countries?

No

Fred Swanson

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Fred Swanson

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Sheldons Brain

spurious wrote: »

Does it not need six months left for most countries?

It may require some period of validity to enter some countries, so that it is still valid when you leave.

endacl

If you decide not to chance it OP, I've a passport. Fully up to date!

coylemj

spurious wrote: »

Does it not need six months left for most countries?

Not in the case of the EU or USA.

In most cases, to enter the United States, you must have a passport that is valid for at least six months after the date you enter. However, the United States has an agreement with some countries (including Ireland) that allows you to enter on a current passport up to the actual date of expiration. An Irish passport need remain valid only for the duration of the holder's stay in the United States.

http://dublin.usembassy.gov/consular/validity-of-irish/eu-passports.html

You definitely do need to have 6 months after you return date on your passport to travel to Canada! I posted a question about this just under a year ago. Myself and my fiance were going to Canada on holidays, literally the day before i checked his passport and it expired in July. We were going to be back in Ireland at that stage! Looked up all the websites, tried contacting embassies etc but it was the June bank hol weekend, didn't seem to be a definite answer anywhere.
He had a passport for work that would have been in date so he got his hands on that "just in case". Was plain sailing all through Dublin airport, no problems with his passport. We breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into holiday mode! BUT when we got to Heathrow there was a problem. Not getting into Heathrow but when we went to the next part of the airport for our trip to Canada. Got to the stage where we show boarding passes and passports, one of the Virgin Airways workers checked our passports, pulled us aside, checked them again, made a call and then just said "you can't go"!!! Our faces dropped, we explained that we would be back before it expired and he said it didn't matter, had to be 6 months left on it! We were lucky because at that stage we said that he had another passport and could he use that even though the passport number was different, surprisingly he was ok with that and just changed the details on our ticket! We were so lucky to have had that, but lesson learned from now on with passports!!

Fred Swanson

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Well it is airline staff that decide whether you get on the plane! I posted a reply because I have recent travel experience of the exact situation the OP asked about.... have you? No point in quoting case law when you're stuck at the gate in the airport!!

coylemj

newbie85 wrote: »

Well it is airline staff that decide whether you get on the plane! I posted a reply because I have recent travel experience of the exact situation the OP asked about.... have you? No point in quoting case law when you're stuck at the gate in the airport!!

The Virgin staff were wrong. There is NOTHING on the Canadian Border Agency website which says that you need 6 months on your passport to be admitted and the Virgin Atlantic website explicitly says that UK passports only need to be valid for the duration of your stay so the same will apply to all EU passport holders.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/getting-into-the-country/canada-visa.html

USA Today says that Canada does not enforce the 'six month rule' ...

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/countries-require-six-months-passport-validity-100788.html

Aer Lingus points you at the IATA travel website https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/ - I told them I had an Irish passport which expires on June 30th next and planned on visiting Canada for 30 days starting on May 15th, they said I'd be fine.

gottaletitout

Hi all, well just back from my trip to Montreal. We had checked with immigration at Dublin airport and they said as I'm an irish citizen I was fine to come in on an out od date passport, and as I sid the Canadian government only require that your passport be in date during your stay in Canada and when leaving the country. So purchased tickets. BUT when checking in with ground staff, we were met by a member of the Gestapo - a young woman, real stickler for her own company's regulations which she said stated my passport should be in date by three months in order for 'her' to let me travel - this is regardless of another country's legal requirements. Well, that pissed me off. We told her we'd checked with the Canadian Government and with immigration in Dublin airport and they were all cool with me travelling, bit she still made a big song and dance about it. Long story short, we insisted she refer it to her superior and he cleared me to travel. Her little power trip may have been because she was training a few new minions, one of whom had caught the expiry date in a matter of seconds. Anyway, I got through, but every blasted person who looked at my passport raised it as an issue and I had to explain it all again. On the way through immigration in Dublin airport, the garda was coolenough, I had to explain myself and tell him I had checked with his lot before flying out, I could tell he was getting bored with all my jabber and he waved me through.
My new passport application is being submitted today! Scheesh!!!
It was a great trip though :-)
Thanks a million for all your advice.

coylemj

gottaletitout wrote: »

BUT when checking in with ground staff, we were met by a member of the Gestapo - a young woman, real stickler for her own company's regulations which she said stated my passport should be in date by three months in order for 'her' to let me travel - this is regardless of another country's legal requirements. Well, that pissed me off. We told her we'd checked with the Canadian Government and with immigration in Dublin airport and they were all cool with me travelling, bit she still made a big song and dance about it. Long story short, we insisted she refer it to her superior and he cleared me to travel.

Write a letter to the airline saying that this is unacceptable - travel these days involves enough stress that you don't need airline officials making up rules that don't exist. You did make a note of the Gestapo Commandant's name?

gottaletitout wrote: »

Anyway, I got through, but every blasted person who looked at my passport raised it as an issue and I had to explain it all again.

I went to the US (I know you were travelling to Canada) in Nov 2011 with a passport with about six weeks remaining on it. Not one person remarked on it, not even the US immigration people in Dublin. Who exactly were those other people who gave you grief?

gottaletitout wrote: »

On the way through immigration in Dublin airport, the garda was coolenough, I had to explain myself and tell him I had checked with his lot before flying out, I could tell he was getting bored with all my jabber and he waved me through.

I've emboldened the words 'I had to explain myself' - you clearly did not have to explain anything if the Garda didn't even bother listening to your story, you had just programmed yourself to expect hassle. You can't be denied entry to your own country based on your passport having expired.

Fred Swanson

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