volvoclearinghouse wrote: In reply to Strizzo: Problem is, that doesn't seem to be consistent. According to WonkoTheSane, it had to be valid for 3 months. 3 months? 6 months? The date on the passport? Let's make it at the capricious whim of some third-tier government employee!
Yep, Enyar covered it. . Honestly, your best bet is to just renew it when it's about 6 months out. My problem is that I got complacent. I pop over to Germany/Europe as often as I travel to California, so I was just kinda going about on the trip, ya know? I knew I needed to renew, I was just going to take care of it "later." Toss in kids and other normal life and it's REALLY easy to put off doing government paperwork :)
In this case, the reason makes sense. We have a treaty with Germany and most other euro countries (but not the whole EU) that says you can stay for 3 months without a visa. A return ticket is not a sworn commitment to leave on the day of your return flight, so they need to ensure that you CAN stay legally the whole time you're allowed to.
