Effective immediately, 2nd Valid US passports are now valid for 4 years rather than 2 years. With so many countries enforcing the 6 month rule now, this is a major bonus for avid travels who previously had to update their second valid passport every 18 months.
The 2nd valid passport program was started by the US Department of State to help US citizens that fall into 1 of 2 categories:
- Individuals who need their primary passport for international travel, but are in a tight spot because they also need to obtain a visa which would require them to give their passport to a consulate for an extended period of time. For example, lets say you are spending the next 60 days traveling internationally for work, but in 62 days, you need to go to Brazil. You know that it will take 10 days to get a Brazil Visa, but don’t have 10 days between now and your Brazil trip where you can hand over your passport to the Brazilian Consulate. If you can prove this conundrum to the Passport Agency, you qualify you have 2 passports at once. You can travel on 1 while you get a visa on the other simultaneously.
- Individuals who travel between countries (typically in the middle east), that might disqualify you from entering the country because they see entry stamps from another country that they do not get along with. For example, if you have stamps in your passport from Israel, countries who have diplomatic tension with Israel might make it difficult to enter their country. This would qualify you to have 2 valid passports- you keep the Israeli stamps in 1, and use the other passport to travel to countries that discriminate against Israeli stamps.
At Swift, we find that the stress of getting passports and visas frequently falls on travel coordinators, executive assistants, and HR staff. They are often given the impossible task to coordinate travel plans that just aren’t feasible with 1 passport. If this sounds like you, and you think you can befit from having a second passport, we encourage you to contact us for more information. Swift can get you a 2nd Valid Passport in as little as 1 day, and now, it will be valid for 4 years!
