Passport Six-Month Rule Calculator

It's a common — but not universal — entry requirement where a destination country asks that your passport remain valid for at least six months beyond either the date you arrive or the date you plan to leave. It isn't an ICAO rule; each government sets its own policy, so the exact buffer and reference date vary by destination.

No. Many countries use six months, but plenty use three months, four months, 45 days, or simply require your passport to be valid through the end of your stay. That's why this calculator offers several rule presets instead of one fixed formula — you need to pick the one that matches your actual destination.

It depends on the country. Some measure six months forward from your entry date; others measure it from your planned departure date. This calculator lets you choose either reference point — check your destination's official entry requirements to confirm which one applies to you.

It's a two-part test, not a simple validity check. Your passport must (1) have been issued less than 10 years before the date you arrive, and (2) remain valid for at least 3 months after the date you plan to leave the Schengen area. Both conditions must be met — passing only one still fails Schengen entry.

Yes, and this is the part travellers most often miss. A passport that carries extra months from a pre-October-2018 renewal (some countries added up to 9 bonus months onto the printed expiry) can still fail the 10-year issue-date test even though the printed expiry date is comfortably in the future. Both legs of the test are checked independently.

This calculator does not look up your destination for you — you select the preset. Always confirm the exact requirement on your destination government's official travel/immigration page, or your own government's travel advisory for that country, before you rely on any calculator's answer.

As a practical safety margin, this calculator flags a 'renew by' date roughly three months before your passport would otherwise fall below the destination's required buffer — for the common six-month rule, that works out to renewing once you have under about nine months of validity left.

It's the latest date you could enter the destination on your current passport and still meet the selected rule. If that date has already passed, you'll need to renew your passport before booking or travelling.

Both. Airlines check passport validity at check-in and boarding using IATA's Timatic database, which reflects each destination's stated entry requirements — so you can be denied boarding at the airport even before you reach border control at your destination.

No. It only checks passport validity against the rule preset you select. Visa requirements, transit-country rules, connecting-flight document checks, dual nationality and child-passport rules are separate topics with their own requirements — check them independently.

Yes. A passport that hasn't technically expired can still fail a destination's entry requirement if it doesn't leave enough buffer beyond your trip dates (or, for Schengen, if it was issued too long ago). 'Not expired' and 'meets the destination's validity rule' are two different questions.

No. It's a screening aid to help you estimate whether your passport is likely to meet a common rule pattern, using the dates you provide. The only authoritative sources are the destination government's official entry requirements and your own government's travel advisory — always confirm with them before booking or travelling.