A friend of mine had her visa to visit a country denied because her passport expired 5 months and 29 days before her return date.

6 months in many countries. I just had to renew our kids' passports as they expire in January and we're going to travel internationally in a week or two.

Renew. Many countries will turn you away if your passport expires in less than 6 months. It's literally up to the agent who looks at it. I lived in South Africa and remember vividly when some major big wig tech guy coming in to speak at an international conference was put on a plane home because his passport expired in 5 months. Rules are rules.

A lot of times it is six months

It's really country by country, so research where you're going - you may want to confirm the requirements with their local embassy. To be safe you should go ahead and get it renewed. Many nations won't accept a passport that is 6 months are less from expiring. They won't let you on the plane to go to the location, even if you have a return ticket that's for before the expiration date of the passport. I'm familiar with Europe, where some countries are strict about this requirement, and I've had colleagues run into issues.

Not drum, DCUM.

Actually, the obvious answer is Look It Up! Why would you rely on drum for information about something this important?


http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html

We were told that we could not enter 6 weeks before our passports expired even if our return trip was scheduled way ahead of the expiration date.

Passport expires in December, but I'm planning a short trip to the Caribbean in October.

I've heard that some countries will not let you in, if there's not much time remaining on your passport. Will I be ok with a return ticket, or should I renew?

[I know the obvious answer is "renew anyway just to be safe" but looking for practical answers, perhaps based on experience]