The Biden administration says many American residents holding lately expired U.S. passports can be allowed to return dwelling from overseas on that doc till the tip of yr.
Citing delays in passport renewals brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department stated sure passports that expired on or after Jan. 1, 2021, can be honored for reentry into the United States till Dec. 31. Thats as a result of the pandemic pressured the division and most embassies and consulates to shut down or considerably scale back passport providers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will settle for for admission sure expired U.S. passports, thereby helping U.S. residents who’ve been affected by appointment backlogs at embassies and consulates abroad brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the division stated in a discover issued late Monday.
The closures resulted in ready occasions of greater than two months in some instances for processing passport renewals, and a major backlog of purposes stays. The division cautioned, although, that lately expired passports aren’t legitimate for worldwide journey from the United States or for journey between third international locations that isn’t instantly linked to return journey to the U.S.
Recently expired passports can’t be used to journey from the United States to a global vacation spot or to journey to a overseas nation for any size of keep longer than an airport connection en route to the United States or to a United States territory, the division stated.
It added that not all expired passports can be eligible for the waiver and urged Americans to examine their standing on-line right here earlier than finalizing journey preparations.
Among the necessities are that the expired passport was initially legitimate for 10 years, that the passport has not been broken or altered, and that the traveler has bodily possession of it.
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