US allows Americans with expired passports to return home

AP | Washington

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Biden administration says many American citizens holding recently expired US passports will be allowed to return home from abroad on that document until the end of the year.

Citing delays in passport renewals caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department said certain passports that expired on or after January 1, 2021, will be honoured for reentry into the United States until December 31. That’s because the pandemic forced the department and most embassies and consulates to close down or significantly reduce passport services.

“US Customs and Border Protection officers will accept for admission certain expired US passports, thereby assisting US citizens who have been affected by appointment backlogs at embassies and consulates overseas caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the department said in a notice issued late Monday.

The closures resulted in waiting times of more than two months in some cases for processing passport renewals, and a significant backlog of applications remains. The department cautioned, though, those recently expired passports aren’t valid for international travel from the United States or for travel between third countries that are not directly linked to return travel to the US, AP reported.

“Recently expired passports cannot be used to travel from the United States to an international destination or to travel to a foreign country for any length of stay longer than an airport connection en route to the United States or to a United States territory,” the department said.

It added that not all expired passports will be eligible for the waiver and urged Americans to check their status online at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/covid-19-information.html before finalizing travel arrangements.

Among the requirements are that the expired passport was originally valid for 10 years, that the passport has not been damaged or altered, and that the traveller has physical possession of it.