renewing passport

Erm I've never heard of kids needing a new pp every time they travel. C's passport is valid for 5 years, he's travelled loads already. It's fun filling it up

I travelled with C on my old pp last year, no probs at all. Never even thought to take our marriage cert but then it's fairly common for women not to change their name over here so kids don't always have the same surname as Mum anyway.

New passports before you move - unless there's some requirement to enter Aussie with 6 months or more validity I wouldn't bother. We renewed DH's pp here (in Singapore) just before it expired and it was really fast, I wouldn't bother getting one sooner than you need to just coz you're moving.

The different name thing - we've never had a problem with it (with DS or convincing peopl I am married to DH) .. it's just me I hate the fact DS's birth cert has a different name when I really wanted to change my name to DH's when we got married!

kiwisj wrote: I hate the fact DS's birth cert has a different name when I really wanted to change my name to DH's when we got married!

me too! That's probably the only reason I didn't keep my maiden name.

Also if you are travelling through the US they require your passport to be valid for 6 months at the date of travel.
This is even if you are transiting in the US.

You definitely don't need a new passport everytime your child travels.

Also as others have said about how much expiration you need on your passport, it is usually 6months, but it depends on the country you are going to. If you're not sure, always contact the Embassy / High Commission here to find out how long expiration you need.

Oh how scary and exciting! Good luck!

Linzy wrote: I had mine sent back to Internal Affairs and they typed on it that my name had changed and what my new name was and then I signed it. I just had to make sure I showed the customs people that page as well

Just a note: they no longer do this. If you want a new name in your passport, you do need to get a whole new passport.

I still have mine in my madien name too its due to expire in December this year so i will proberly change it to my married name then. Mind you i still have my bank accounts in my maiden name must get around to chnaging that one day.

Have no idea about the passport thing i would think they would need to be valid for the time you are there but it would pay to check that. My brother and his partner are supposed to be heading off to USA to live for a 3-4 years :( middle of next month they still haven't got their permits.

I still travel on my maiden name. I didnt see the point in having it changed until it expires. Can be a pain when booking flights but you get used to it.

Jackson's PP is in our surname and we never had any problems going through customs or security etc with 2 different names. Although his PP pic was taken when he was 6 weeks old and he doesnt really look like that now let alone when he will be 3 or 4 years old

Edited by rianna08

Just had a thought about moving countries and needing a new pp within a few months (even a year really).... you need someone to witness your application and photo that has known you for 12 months or more and they can't be related. When I applied for my new pp here in Singapore we had only JUST been here a year and wasn't working so needed a kiwi who I'd known 12 months to sign everything .... and I didn't know anyone

We ended up waiting a few more months and got our ONE kiwi friend here to do it for us when she'd been living in Singapore more than a year. It was a real PITA and there wasn't really a way around it apparently (after lots of calls to the High Commission here who told me they couldn't give me a definitive answer so I needed to talk to DIA in NZ who wouldn't budge on the requirements!!!)