Passport Expiration Within 6 Months Rule

P

patstarks

New Member
Greetings,
I am in the final stages of obtaining a Green Card Immigration visa for my spouse and we live overseas. We are currently awaiting for an interview to be scheduled to get approval. My spouse's passport expires in approximately 8 months from now. The USCIS website states that:

Unexpired passport valid for six (6) months beyond your intended date of entry to the United States and a photocopy of the biographic page. Children may be included on a parent’s passport, but it must include a photo if they are 16 years or older.

This brings to mind the following questions / scenarios:
  1. Our interview will likely be scheduled before the 6 month rule. If we obtain approval, will we have to travel to the United States before the passport expires by 6 months or will we have to travel to the United States before the Visa or Medical Examination occur which are usually valid for 6 months?
  2. Our other option is to renew the passport after obtaining the visa. Does renewing a passport have any effect on Green Card? The Green Card visa will now be in an expired / nullified passport. Further, the DS-260 form that we completed as part of the Civil Documents Upload step contains information from the old passport such as Issue Date, Expiration Date, and Passport Number. Can we enter the United States using a new passport while the approved Green Card Visa is stamped on the old expired passport?
Thanks!
 
The 6 month thing is for people entering as nonimmigrants. It doesn't apply to people entering as immigrants. There is a separate rule that the passport must be valid for 60 days beyond the expiration of the immigrant visa. Although the immigrant visa is usually valid for 6 months, the officer can shorten the validity of the immigrant visa so it expires 60 days before the expiration of the passport. I will also note that certain categories of immigrants are not required to present passports to apply for an immigrant visa; you did not say what category you are immigrating in, but if you are in such a category, length of validity of the passport might not be an issue.
 
newacct said:
The 6 month thing is for people entering as nonimmigrants. It doesn't apply to people entering as immigrants.
Click to expand...

DoS page says it does. This is the page for what to bring to an immigrant visa interview https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...he-interview/step-11-applicant-interview.html
(This was specifically indicated to us back when we did our immigrant visa interviews too in the letter from the consulate, though that was a few years back.)
Not clear why it differs from the rule you cite.
  • Passport – For each applicant, an unexpired passport valid for six months beyond the intended date of entry into the United States
 
SusieQQQ said:
DoS page says it does. This is the page for what to bring to an immigrant visa interview https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...he-interview/step-11-applicant-interview.html
(This was specifically indicated to us back when we did our immigrant visa interviews too in the letter from the consulate, though that was a few years back.)
Not clear why it differs from the rule you cite.
  • Passport – For each applicant, an unexpired passport valid for six months beyond the intended date of entry into the United States
Click to expand...
INA 212(a)(7)(B) (8 USC 1182(a)(7)(B)) requires nonimmigrants to have a passport 6 months beyond the period of admission. INA 212(a)(7)(A) (8 USC 1182(a)(7)(A)) only requires immigrants to have a valid passport at the time of admission. DOS separately has a regulation requiring passports to be valid for 60 days beyond the validity of the immigrant visa. (Note that this is 60 days beyond the expiration date of the immigrant visa, not beyond the expiration of the period of admission, since immigrants are not admitted for an unlimited time.)

Since immigrant visas are usually valid for 6 months, this essentially means that passports should be valid for 8 months at the time of issue of the immigrant visa, which is more than the 6 months you mention. (If immigrants were required to have a passport valid for 6 months beyond the expiration of the immigrant visa, that would mean the passport would need to be valid for 1 year at the time of issue of the immigrant visa.) However, the FAM notes that an immigrant visa could be issued on a passport of shorter validity by truncating the validity of the immigrant visa to less than 6 months, if that still allows enough time for the person to travel to the US.
 
newacct said:
INA 212(a)(7)(B) (8 USC 1182(a)(7)(B)) requires nonimmigrants to have a passport 6 months beyond the period of admission. INA 212(a)(7)(A) (8 USC 1182(a)(7)(A)) only requires immigrants to have a valid passport at the time of admission. DOS separately has a regulation requiring passports to be valid for 60 days beyond the validity of the immigrant visa. (Note that this is 60 days beyond the expiration date of the immigrant visa, not beyond the expiration of the period of admission, since immigrants are not admitted for an unlimited time.)

Since immigrant visas are usually valid for 6 months, this essentially means that passports should be valid for 8 months at the time of issue of the immigrant visa, which is more than the 6 months you mention. (If immigrants were required to have a passport valid for 6 months beyond the expiration of the immigrant visa, that would mean the passport would need to be valid for 1 year at the time of issue of the immigrant visa.) However, the FAM notes that an immigrant visa could be issued on a passport of shorter validity by truncating the validity of the immigrant visa to less than 6 months, if that still allows enough time for the person to travel to the US.
Click to expand...
The wording is very ambiguous in terms of any practical implementation because it’s not 6 months beyond date of expiry of visa or admission - it is 6 months beyond “date of intended entry”. This could effectively be well be before 60 days after visa expiry. Some people leave almost immediately they get their visas.
 
Thanks for the comments! I provide some clarifications below:

you did not say what category you are immigrating in, but if you are in such a category, length of validity of the passport might not be an issue.
I believe that our visa category is IR1, CR1 since I am a U.S. Citizen and applying for an immigrant visa for my spouse and we live overseas. Our current step is that the civil documents are "documentarily approved" and now awaiting an interview date. According to my online search I am finding that the interview will be after two months meaning that there will be exactly 6 months remaining on my spouse's current passport. I assume that as long as the consular officer approves and provides a visa, then the Department of Homeland Security will allow us to enter as long as we enter before the visa expires and / or medical examination results for the visa. Is this a safe assumption?

The wording is very ambiguous in terms of any practical implementation because it’s not 6 months beyond date of expiry of visa or admission - it is 6 months beyond “date of intended entry”. This could effectively be well be before 60 days after visa expiry. Some people leave almost immediately they get their visas.

Yes I agree with you the wording is very ambiguous! We do intend to travel to the USA after obtaining the visa but I live and work in an overseas country that requires giving a 60 day notice and we have a few other things to take care of before we will be ready to move permanently!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top