7

I read in one of the answers on this site that people who are travelling to their country of citizenship do not need to have their passports valid for more than six months. Can someone point me to an official reference for this, please? I cannot find any on the Internet. In case it matters, the place to which I am travelling is Hong Kong.

More context: a couple of weeks after buying my air tickets, the airline e-mailed me a reminder of my flight with the previously unseen condition "ensure that your passport has at least a six months [sic] validity" without any conditional clause. So I am worried that the airline may not let me board the plane.

akk
  • 73
  • 1
  • 3

2 Answers2

7

The "official reference" is Timatic, since that is the database which airlines use to decide whether you're allowed to enter your country of destination. In this case, the rules say:

Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for a minimum of 1 month beyond the period of intended stay.

Exception: Hong Kong (SAR China) passport must be valid on arrival.

So you're allowed to enter Hong Kong as long as your HK passport is valid on the day of arrival.

However, the airline might have its own rules about who they want to transport, for instance somewhere in their conditions of carriage, so it would be best to get confirmation from an airline employee that they will let you board.

Edit: If you prefer a more official-looking source, the website of United Airlines also has a free Timatic Interface, which will give you the same information as the Emirates site but with the Timatic logo at the bottom.

Mophotla
  • 2,418
  • 1
  • 11
  • 23
1

If you are a full citizen of country A, and are on a non-stop flight to country A, then your passport can expire on the day of landing and you will be fine. As a citizen you have a general right of entry, and your passport becomes unnecessary the moment you cross the border so wether it is valid tomorrow is a non-issue. I have entered my own country of citizenship several times with a passport that was expired for several years with zero problems - the only comment was "are you going to renew it this trip?".

Citizen entry to some countries, for example the USA, do not even require a passport. The problem then is getting on the plane without documents. This corner case depends on the country's constitution/ declaration of rights (if any) and legal history.

If your route changes planes in country B, then you need to examine the entry requirements for B. There may be different rules for entry vs. transit, and "transit" may have limitations like same day and same airport. Or even same terminal - Heathrow terminal 5 is one that comes to mind, they built it specifically so that transit passengers don't need to interact with UK immigration at all.

peter
  • 11
  • 2