Before you leave the country, it pays to check the back of your passport and make sure you have a few blank pages left. Those pages can fill up faster than you realize!

A full passport might seem like an enviable problem to have, but what happens if you try to travel without any blank pages? It’s tempting to think that you could make it work as long as the passport itself is still valid, but in most cases, you would be wrong. The vast majority of countries simply won’t let you in if you don’t have a blank page for them to stamp. After all, a passport stamp is more than just a souvenir- it shows how and when you entered the country and in many cases indicates how long you can stay.

If you try to travel without any blank pages, you’ll more than likely be turned away at the airport. If you do manage to get on the plane, what happens next will depend on the policies and procedures of your destination country. However, you are almost certain to get hassled, you could be detained and in many cases you’ll simply be escorted on to the next available flight back to the United States — at your own expense, of course.

The good news is that it’s easy to avoid this predicament. Simply check your passport before you travel and either add passport pages or renew your passport as necessary. To add pages, send your passport in along with a completed copy of Form DS-4085 and a check or money order for the $82 fee. Within 6 weeks, your passport will be send back to you with new pages added in the back.

If you need to add passport pages but you can’t wait that long for your passport, paying an additional $60 expedite fee will get it delivered in about 3 weeks.

If your passport expires in the next 9 months, you’re better off renewing it anyway.  See Passport Renewal by Mail for details.

Whether you need to add pages or get a renewal, RushMyPassport can make the process quicker, easier and more efficient. We hand-deliver your application to the Department of State, so it gets processed in as little as 24 hours.

Need to add passport pages at the last minute?  We’re here to help – contact us today!