Passport: valid 6 months *after* trip?

I've seen a note that some countries require US Citizen passports be valid for
6 months AFTER the end of your trip: does anyone have personal experience with
this rule (i.e., is it real, is it enforced, which countries, etc?). The
countries I'm concerned about are Switzerland, Germany, France, and the
Netherlands.

"P.T.Daniel" <ptdaniel@.nojunk> wrote in message
news:20030716091007.02382.00000012@mb-m21....
> I've seen a note that some countries require US Citizen passports be valid
for
> 6 months AFTER the end of your trip: does anyone have personal experience
with
> this rule (i.e., is it real, is it enforced, which countries, etc?). The
> countries I'm concerned about are Switzerland, Germany, France, and the
> Netherlands.

Its a fairly widely applied rule, the USA applies it to
European visitors for example as does Australia.

Keith

P.T.Daniel wrote:
>
> I've seen a note that some countries require US Citizen passports be
> valid for 6 months AFTER the end of your trip: does anyone have
> personal experience with this rule (i.e., is it real, is it enforced,
> which countries, etc?). The countries I'm concerned about are
> Switzerland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

The rule is real and the rule is enforced.

The rule gets enforced by the airline counter agents. They will not
allow you to board the plane unless you have more than 6 months
remaining on your passport. Friends whose trip to Germany and Austria
was cut short by one day to remain compliant with the rule told me that
the airline is fined heavily if they tranport passengers with fewer than
6 months on a passport.

Karen Selwyn

>P.T.Daniel wrote:
>>
>> I've seen a note that some countries require US Citizen passports be
>> valid for 6 months AFTER the end of your trip: does anyone have
>> personal experience with this rule (i.e., is it real, is it enforced,
>> which countries, etc?). The countries I'm concerned about are
>> Switzerland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
>
>The rule is real and the rule is enforced.
>
>The rule gets enforced by the airline counter agents. They will not
>allow you to board the plane unless you have more than 6 months
>remaining on your passport. Friends whose trip to Germany and Austria
>was cut short by one day to remain compliant with the rule told me that
>the airline is fined heavily if they tranport passengers with fewer than
>6 months on a passport.
>
>Karen Selwyn

That's interesting, because the Swiss Consulate in Chicago just told me that
rule does *not* apply to US Passport holders entering Switzerland (it applies
only to those requiring Visas to enter).