The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have issued a warning in response to an increasing number of Australians who are experiencing travel delays due to their passports being non compliant to the entry requirements of the country they are travelling to.
The DFAT warning reminds travellers that a number of countries demand that passports be valid for at least six months beyond the date of entry to, or intended stay in, the country the traveller is visiting and also states that failure to meet this requirement may prevent the traveller from entering the country and in some instances, from entering subsequent travel destinations.
The Australian Passport Office is in the process of exploring ways of alerting clients to the passport validity issue when booking overseas travel and is currently negotiating with airlines to enforce automated verification of passport validity to prevent travellers from booking international flights if their passport has less than six months validity.
According to Lyn Harris from QBT a number of airlines have already introduced this requirement by forcing travellers to provide their passport details before a ticket is issued as the fines imposed by Customs agencies throughout the world on airlines can be significant.