Dear Clients,
Recent media reports turned a spotlight on the near impossibility of obtaining an appointment at the U.S. Embassy to renew an expired passport.
Per the Haaretz newspaper, the U.S. Embassy in Israel has a COVID-related backlog of 15,000 pending passport applications. As the result, "it is virtually impossible to obtain an appointment to renew expired passports" and "many desperate Americans living in Israel say that they and their families are trapped in the country." (Haaretz, 10.5.21).
In response to this situation, the U.S. State Department has decided to permit some U.S. citizens to use an expired passport to travel to the United States until the end of 2021.
In order to be eligible for travel to the United States with an expired U.S. passport, all of the following must be true:
- You are a U.S. citizen whose passport expired on or after January 1, 2020.
- You are currently abroad, and will be flying directly to the United States, or have a connecting flight through a foreign country on your return to the United States.
- If you were 16 years of age or older when the passport was issued, your expired passport was originally valid for 10 years. If you were 15 years of age or younger when the passport was issued, your expired passport must have been valid for 5 years.
- Your expired passport is undamaged, unaltered and in your possession.
Safe travels!
About the Goldfarb Seligman Corporate Immigration Practice
The Goldfarb Seligman Corporate Immigration practice provides guidance and hands-on assistance to foreign and domestic business clients. Our work in the field of U.S. corporate immigration focuses on assisting companies in relocating executives, managers and specialized knowledge employees to the U.S., leveraging our expertise in the L-1 intercompany transfer, E-1 trade, E-2 investment, O-1 extraordinary ability and other visa categories.