Passport validation query in US

[bigam]

I was wondering if anyone could help with this as a lot of yu have gone to US before.

My boys are on children's passports which expire on June 15th in 2010. Our trip is on January 21 - 28 2010 so thier passorts expire 5 and a half months after the trip. I contacted the Aus passport hotline and they said that so long as the passport is valid on day of arrival and day of return it's ok. I asked them what the USA passport restrictions were and they said they didn't know!
I looked up USA embassy site and it said there was no time limit restrictions and it said there were no 6 months validity restrictions on the passport (when I rang the US consulate, I kept getting the voice message asking if I was reporting the death or arrest of a US citizen!!!). I do have to do the waiver visa thing for each person so that's fine.

But several people have told me that the 6 month passport validity still holds and that the officials are being absolutely rigid over travel requirements. This would cause problem for our oldest as he turns 18 in April and any child passport he gets would be valid for only 3 months anyway. Am I being given well meaning and wrong advice by people or should I just keep ringing the consulate to check it's right? has anyone else had this problem?

It would be an absolute nightmare to get to checkout and be told the boys weren't allowed to go.

[ajp]

That's a very good question. All of the travel brochures and things you read say you need to have a minimum of 6 months left on the passport, but there is nothing on the US Homeland website. With a child turning 18, you don't want to get a child's passport only to have to get another one soon after. In this case, it might be worth popping down to your friendly post office and having a chat with the passport issuing officer there and getting their opinion. I would assume that when you filled out the ESTA that it would flag the issue with the passport if there was any. I haven't done one of those yet, but some others who have might know more.

[sandie]

I got my first passport when I was 17 (yes i know it was 20 years ago!) and it didn't expire until I was 22. Maybe it has changed now.

[bigam]

I sent an email to the American Visa people and they replied a couple of hours later - which i think is pretty good. Basically they say that usually there is a 6 month validity of passport requirement but not with Australia and New Zealand.
here it is:

Thank you for your inquiry.

As a general rule, passports must be valid for six months beyond the date the traveler will exit the U.S., however, the U.S. has signed agreements with a number of countries (including Australia and New Zealand) to waive this requirement. When such an agreement is in place, the passport must be valid for the entire period of the visitor's intended stay, but the additional six month validity period is not required.

You can find the full list of countries with the exemption to the six month validity rule on the Department of State website link below: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/104770.pdf

Best regards,

AMVISA
U.S. Consulate General, Sydney

So I'm printing this out and taking it with me - but I'm also checking with the passport person at the post office!

[KeithS]

That's excellent that they replied so quickly - and thanks for posting the link here! I'm sure that a lot of people will find this information of great use