# Do you keep your passport current? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628 "2011-07-11T14:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/21 "2011-07-11T17:33:34Z")
I keep my passport current but I have special circumstances. Due to being born on Thanksgiving Day and having an idiot for a delivering doctor, I don’t have an official birth certificate. This wasn’t a problem for me for the first 30 years of my life. Until then I used a hospital certificate that I assumed was official. It got me into school, got me a driver’s license, and even got me into the Navy. Beginning some time in the 1980’s though, it started to become more necessary to be able to prove citizenship and pretty certificate with the gold seal and lithograph of the hospital wasn’t good enough. I had to put together a huge amount of documentation (signed affidavits from my parents, school records, military records, etc.) in order to get my first passport and I’ve kept it up to date ever since even though I haven’t been out of the country in over a decade. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/22 "2011-07-11T17:41:25Z")
I always keep it current. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/23 "2011-07-11T17:51:26Z")
My current passport is about 5 yrs old, and my prior passport was 5 yrs expired before I got a new one. But I plan on renewing my passport when the time comes. (Hopefully my job will entail Int’l travel so I can expense it.) Half of my family lives in Canada and you just never know. Wedding, funerals etc. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/24 "2011-07-11T17:56:20Z")
I always keep mine current. It really has happened to me that I have needed to travel internationally on very short notice. Twice in the last five years I’ve had to go to funerals in another country with about 24 hours notice. For work I sometimes have to go overseas with only a few days notice. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/25 "2011-07-11T18:44:21Z")
For forty-odd years, I always kept my passport current, but somehow last year I let it slip out of my mind, and the passport lapsed. It was then a scramble to renew when we decided at the very last moment that we wanted to spend Xmas and New Years on a warm cruise to Mexico. After that I vowed to pay more attention, even though we don’t do many international trips. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/26 "2011-07-11T19:10:36Z")
Yikes - for me and the kids, it’ll be $500+ to get them all renewed. Plus, my husband just got his U.S. citizenship, so he needs to get his new passport (they recommend getting it right away, so you don’t have to use the citizenship certificate for proof of citizenship). We might let my husband do his first, then do the rest of them in dribs and drabs. He’s the likeliest to have to travel in a hurry. The Australian embassy gives us 24 months after expiration to get the kids’ passports done via mail. If we wait longer than that, we’ll have to all go to D.C. for a personal interview. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/27 "2011-07-11T19:17:55Z")
I used mine this morning, so the answer is yes 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/28 "2011-07-11T19:26:27Z")
I keep mine current. The US border is an hour away, and spontaneous day trips sometimes occur. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/29 "2011-07-11T19:30:28Z")
Kids’ passports have to be renewed every 5 years instead of every 10, which makes sense because the photos seem out of date about 3 weeks after you take them! I have had several TSA types look at my younger son and call him by the older son’s name based on the photo. My kids were 4 & 9 when their last passports were issued. Drawback- for kids under age 16, a passport is not “renewed”- you have to go through the process of getting a whole new passport, as if they never had one before, including providing an actual, original birth certificate, which of course I couldn’t locate for the younger child. Pain in the ass… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/30 "2011-07-11T19:32:08Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Yikes - for me and the kids, it’ll be $500+ to get them all renewed. Yeah- the cost for get the expedited passports for my kids is $136. Each. :mad: My fault for not paying attention (only missing the 6 months window by a week or so), but still not feeling happy about it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/31 "2011-07-11T20:00:30Z")
Yup. Both my daughter and I often need them for ID. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/32 "2011-07-11T20:05:34Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > My current passport is about 5 yrs old, and my prior passport was 5 yrs expired before I got a new one. But I plan on renewing my passport when the time comes. (Hopefully my job will entail Int’l travel so I can expense it.) Half of my family lives in Canada and you just never know. Wedding, funerals etc. My Canadian passport only lasted five years before expiring - have you checked your expiration date lately? I mean, your passport’s, not yours. Don’t mean to alarm you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/33 "2011-07-11T20:09:20Z")
I didn’t even have a passport until 2001, when my wife and I were planning a trip to France. Up until then, I’d only been to Canada and Mexico, and you used to not need a passport for those. (Ah, the good old pre-9/11 days!) So as I’ve only had to renew it once, “keeping it current” didn’t really entail much effort. But since we travel to Mexico every couple of years or so, I’m sure I’ll renew again in 9 1/2 years when the time comes. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/34 "2011-07-11T21:01:52Z")
I don’t have a passport. I went to the Caribbean once when I was a kid (pre-9/11) but I have never been out of the country otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/35 "2011-07-12T16:28:00Z")
**Typo Knig** and I have ours up to date, but that’s more sheer dumb luck; we were thinking of an international trip back in 2005 and got passports for everyone, and ours simply haven’t expired yet. The kids’ passports HAVE expired. We should get Dweezil’s renewed soon - as he’s over 16, it’s a 10 year renewal now. Moon Unit is not yet 16 and unless something comes up, we won’t bother until then. For folks who have international connections (as the OP must, if the kids have dual passports), I’d urge you to keep them up to date in case something comes up family-wise. A friend is going through a lot of hassle right now - death in her husband’s family and he had to spend a fortune for an emergency renewal. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/36 "2011-07-12T16:33:38Z")
I keep mine current - I live about 2.5 hours from the Canadian border. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/37 "2011-07-12T16:43:04Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > For folks who have international connections (as the OP must, if the kids have dual passports), I’d urge you to keep them up to date in case something comes up family-wise. A friend is going through a lot of hassle right now - death in her husband’s family and he had to spend a fortune for an emergency renewal. I totally agree with this and it’s what primarily makes me nervous about them being expired and why I think my husband’s passport is the priority. Realistically, if there was a family emergency, it’s likely that just my husband would go. He’s from Australia and it’s a very long, very expensive trip to make, especially in a hurry. If something happened to one of my in-laws in the near future, he would probably be going solo (this is something we’ve discussed a lot, because my MIL had a bit of a scare not long ago). ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/38 "2011-07-12T17:34:35Z")
Yes. It’s so much easier to renew a non-expired or a recently expired passport. Fill in the form, take a picture, mail it in. Once it gets much out of date, you have to start the process from scratch, and that’s a PITA. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/39 "2011-07-12T17:43:52Z")
Yep, but my job requires me to. > [@Zsofia](#): > > ETA - the new passports are hilariously tacky. It looks like all the inside pages were designed by the Franklin Mint. But they have inspirational quotations on them! ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628/40 "2011-07-12T17:59:27Z")
Now that a passport is used for travel to the US I will be. I think they’re expiring in 2013. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-keep-your-passport-current/588628.md?page=3)