Travelling to the US with possible faulty chip on passport.

[DereksGotATail]

We recently went on holiday and was told that dd1 had a faulty chip on her passport. We were travelling through Europe and they said that it was no problem to them but if we were thinking of travelling to the US then it may be a problem.

With one thing and another we forgot to sort this problem out and we are planning a holiday to the US next month . Dh has made enquiries with the passport office and has been told that he must make an appointment to get a replacement passport. I'm worried that we've left it a bit late (dh hasn't made the appointment yet due to dd going abroad twice before our US trip).

Has anyone else encountered this? If there had been no prior holidays we wouldn't have known that the chip was faulty and would we have been refused entry?

"Dh has made enquiries with the passport office and has been told that he must make an appointment to get a replacement passport. I'm worried that we've left it a bit late (dh hasn't made the appointment yet due to dd going abroad twice before our US trip)".

How old is DD?.

I would speak to the Passport Office asap, it hopefully will be possible for them to issue a renewal passport. Her current passport will in any event have to be returned to the Passport Office. You do not want to chance a faulty chip on a passport when it comes to entering the US.

She's 18. He'll have to take her to the passport office as it's in another town and she doesn't drive.
Dh is going to make an appointment asap but it won't be until she has been away to Europe. She goes away on Friday to Spain but is taking plenty of ID with her to be on the safe side.

You can get a passport same day if you go to the passport office, and you're prepared to hang round for several hours waiting for it.

Current renewal time is three weeks but apparently they have been coming back a lot soon, say, in a week.

The advice was to go in person to the passport office as we're travelling within 10 weeks. We can't send her passport off as she needs to use it in the meantime.

I wouldn't risk travelling with it if faulty. Get a new one.

I've had a faulty chip for 7 years or so, it never scans and they just type the numbers in. I've travelled to the US, Asia, Europe and more. Maybe it's just me and obviously I can't guarantee it will work but it's never been an issue.

Dh tried making an appointment online but was rejected on the basis that we should send the passport via fast track which takes a week. We can't do that as dd needs her passport for her other holiday. We now have to ring up to make the appointment on the premium cost line