Help with an immigration question...please.

[yoga*bird]

My Argentine husband and son who both have US and Argentine passports are traveling together to the USA in December. But here is the kicker, both their US passports will be expired when they want to travel. My husband keeps telling me not to worry because US passport holders MAY travel back to their country on an expired passport. I want to believe him and trust him, but red flags are flying in my mind. Nightmare: They are stuck in BA and won't be around for the holidays. I am traveling ahead of them so if they have to renew on short notice I will not be around when needed at the US embassy b/c both parents have to be present to renew a minors passport. ( I guess I could get a special letter but this may take weeks. Then they will have missed all of our vacation and holiday by the time I get the letter to them.)

Who has experience with this? I would like to hear from someone who recently left EZE with their Argentine passport and then was allowed to travel to the USA and enter the USA on an EXPIRED US passport. By the way, neither of them have US Visas in their Argentine passports.

Help me calm my fears....I really hope my husband is right about this one.

 

[citygirl]

Um.. why don't you just go now to the US Embassy in Buenos Aires and renew the passports?

 

[Davidglen77]

I personally never heard of someone being allowed to travel on an expired passport. When I used to travel for business, I witnessed many arguments between people and airport staff who did not allow the person with the expired passport to board the plane. They ended up missing their flight. However if he is leaving on an Argentine passport to go to the US then WHY are you going to use the USA passport? Is this to avoid applying for a visa to travel to the USA? Why don't you just insist he renews the passport and be done with any doubts?

 

[citygirl]

David - he and the son would have to enter into the US on their US passport. (even if they leave Arg on their Arg passport, they should enter the US with a US passport if they are citizens of the US).

Again, I don't understand why they wouldn't just go now to the US Embassy in Arg and renew their passports. It doesn't take that long.

I have never heard of someone being allowed in on an expired passport - that really is a question that only the embassy could answer.

 

[zingara]

Both Argentina and USA allow for their citizens to travel on expired passports IF they are expatriats returning to their country (of origin or of adoption) to stay.

 

[ghost]

If they renew via the Embassy it takes about 2 weeks and you will have the passports in your mail box in BA. Mine took 12 days round trip. But you have some other concerns to think about. If your son is under 18 and traveling with only one parent, he will not leave Argentina without a notarized letter. Even if he is a US citizen. If a child or/and a parent has Argentine Passports or DNIs they fall under Argentine law. Period. They can enter and exit Argentina on their US passports. However if they entered on Argentine passports and immigration knows that one or both are Argentine you will be screwed by the "under 18" travel rules. Look at their US passports , first page and read the section that says........Born In [what country appears].?

 

[joelie]

I have done similar when travelling to Australia i.e I entered Australia on my expired Australian passport (although I also had a valid passport in my other nationality which I was traveling with). At least in the case with Australia, they say they cannot deny citizens entry to their own country. You just need to be able to prove that you are a citizen (having an expired passport is usually sufficient - it was for me), but if you have things like a birth certificate or other thing, that will strengthen the proof. Of course, that was Australia, not the U.S. so it may be different. I did a google search initally and was able to find the relevant info about it that way.

Of course you need a valid passport in order to get on the plane/travel, but the Argentine passports are valid, so there should be no problem.

 

[ghost]

I have done similar when travelling to Australia i.e I entered Australia on my expired Australian passport (although I also had a valid passport in my other nationality which I was traveling with). At least in the case with Australia, they say they cannot deny citizens entry to their own country. You just need to be able to prove that you are a citizen (having an expired passport is usually sufficient - it was for me), but if you have things like a birth certificate or other thing, that will strengthen the proof. Of course, that was Australia, not the U.S. so it may be different. I did a google search initally and was able to find the relevant info about it that way.

Of course you need a valid passport in order to get on the plane/travel, but the Argentine passports are valid, so there should be no problem.

Read my post re the son traveling. That could be a major problem depending on his age.

 

[kurtdillard]

Several things. First, I doubt the airline will let them board with expired US passports, they will need US passports to enter the US and the airline staff at EZE are very strict about enforcing US entry requirements so that they don't get stuck having to fly someone denied entry back to Argentina.

Second, their flights are more than 2 months in the future? As others have said, there's no excuse for not going to the embassy to renew. Your husband is being irrational about this. If he's determined to travel on the expired passports you guys need to contact both the airline and the embassy to learn what might happen during the trip.

Third, as ghost mentioned, if your son is a minor and they are traveling without you then your husband needs to be carrying the proper documentation for leaving Argentina with only one parent. Argentina has strict rules about this in order to cut down on child trafficking and illegal adoptions. My understanding is that it takes a while to get all the necessary forms approved, signed, and stamped by the various government functionaries involved.

 

[ghost]

The travel document is fairly easy to produce. Any attorney can do it and some notaries. It takes 1 day + or-. However the travel letter is a serious worry. Regardless of whatever real rules may be on the books the airline people and the Argentine immigration people at EZE are very arbitrary. i can tell you from personal experience, my wife and I were exiting Argentina together with our son who was under the age of 18. We all carry US passports and Argentine DNIs plus my wife carries an Argentine passport also. We were stopped by immigration on the way out of the country [EZE] and asked for the original apostilled version of our marriage license. We were not carrying it and were thus prohibited from leaving Argentina. We had to return home at 2AM and dig out the original. The next evening we returned to EZE and left the friggin place without incident.