Passport Validity - How Long Is A Passport Good For

Passport validity is the length of time a passport can be used to travel to another country, or be used as a valid form of identification within or outside the issuing country before its date of expiration

Adult passport validity map

Adult passports

Generally an adult passport is valid for ten years, such as a United Kingdom passport, United States Passport, New Zealand Passport or Australian passport, or for five years as used to be the situation for a Papua New Guinean passport or currently for an Indonesian passport. Some countries issue adult passports for periods between five and ten years, such as the Cuban passport, which is valid for six years.

Optional validity period

Some countries allow adult applicants to choose a passport validity, usually 5 or 10 years. For an example Canada, Hungary, Japan, Mexico (3, 6 or 10), Russia or South Korea.

Child and young adult passports

Most countries issue passports for children and young adults for five years, under passport issuing protocols a child or young adult passport is defined as being under 16 years for a United States Passport, under 19 years for a Japanese Passport, under 21 years for a Croatian passport, under 24 years for a German passport or under 30 years as is the case with a Spanish passport.

Infant passports

Because children change rapidly in appearance from infancy to age five, some countries issue infant passports for two years, such as the Austrian passport, or for one year in the case of the Republic of Korea passport.

Senior passports

Some countries issue passports with longer validity period to their senior citizens, for example Latvian passports are issued with a validity period of 10 years to applicants aged 60 or over and a Spanish passport issued to citizens over 70 never expires.

Validity on arrival

Many countries require passports to be valid for no less than six months upon arrival.

Countries requiring passport validity of at least 6 months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Cambodia, Comoros, CÃ´te d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (except when arriving at Basra - 3 months and Erbil or Sulaimaniyah - on arrival), Israel, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, countries requiring passport validity of at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia, Zambia, countries requiring passport validity of at least 3 months on arrival include Schengen Area countries, Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Moldova, Nauru, Panama, United Arab Emirates and countries requiring passport validity of at least 1 month on arriv al include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand, South Africa. Other countries require either a passport valid on arrival or passport valid throughout the period of intended stay.