I’m traveling to the US in a couple of weeks so I had a couple of questions pop up regarding my Passport and Visa. I sent the embassy an email regarding the question and they called back the next day to answer the question. I was surprised they didn’t write back, but then when I thought about it they just didn’t want anything written.

My passport expires in Dec of 2007, and my Visa is valid until Feb of 2008 but some countries won’t allow you to enter the country if there is only 6 months left on your passport. I know this happened to a friend that visited Thailand or Malaysia on his honeymoon and he only 4 months left so they wouldn’t let him in, that was a mess for them to deal with.
I knew about this issue before, but the process of getting a new passport only takes about 3-5 days, but getting a new US Visa could range from 2 weeks to 6 months. There is no set time and I didn’t want to take that chance even though I already have a valid Visa. First off if your going to the Embassy leave your mobile and camera in your car. Ask questions if you don’t know what your doing like me, there is always somebody to point you somewhere, at the gate they told me to take the golf cart to the front of the embassy which I did. Then your sitting outside in front of three counters and each one labeled for the type of business you have with them but sitting out in the heat felt like we were cattle.

I stepped up to the Visa window and asked the person at the window what is my situation regarding the passport and visa, he told me the only thing they care about is having a valid visa. If my Visa is valid then it doesn’t matter when my passport ends if I am entering the US and my duration. That is the same thing the person said after I sent my email, I really do hope that is the case since it would really be horrible to land in the US and they won’t let me enter the country. So if the visa and passport is valid for the duration of the trip then I would have no problems on the trip.