Travel to USA from India with passport validity of less than 6 months?

Question

Can I Travel to USA from India with passport validity of less than 6 months? I have an Indian passport with validity 10days shorter than 6 months, traveling via Air India flight. Will there be any issue?

Answer 1

Can I Travel to USA from India with passport validity of less than 6 months?

Yes,

The normal rule is that you need 6 months worth of validity to enter the US, but it doesn't apply to the members of the 6 month club, which are listed in 9 FAM 403.9-3(B)(2) § f

Citizens of the countries listed below are exempt from the six- month rule and need only have a passport valid for their intended period of stay

As of September 7th, 2023 :

Andorra	Angola	Antigua and Barbuda
Antilles	Argentina	Armenia
Aruba	Australia	Austria
Bahamas, The	Barbados	Belgium
Belize	Bermuda	Bolivia
Bosnia-Herzegovina	Brazil	Bulgaria*
Burma	Canada	Chile
Colombia	Costa Rica	Cote D’Ivoire
Croatia*	Cyprus	Czech Republic
Denmark	Dominica (DOMN)	Dominican Republic
Egypt	El Salvador	Estonia
Ethiopia	Federated States of Micronesia	Fiji
Finland	France	Gabon
Georgia	Germany	Greece
Grenada	Guatemala	Guinea
Guyana	Haiti	Holy See (Vatican City)
Hong Kong	Hungary	Iceland
India	Indonesia	Ireland
Israel	Italy	Jamaica
Japan	Kosovo*	Latvia
Lebanon	Libya	Liechtenstein
Lithuania	Luxembourg	Macau
North Macedonia	Madagascar	Malaysia
Maldives	Malta	Mauritania
Mauritius	Mexico	Monaco
Mongolia	Montenegro	Mozambique
Nepal	Netherlands	New Zealand
Nicaragua	Nigeria (NRA)	Norway
Pakistan	Palau	Panama
Papua New Guinea (PNG)	Paraguay*	Peru
Philippines	Poland	Portugal
Qatar	Romania	Russia
San Marino	Saudi Arabia*	Serbia
Seychelles	Singapore**	Slovakia
Slovenia	South Africa	South Korea
Spain	Sri Lanka	St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia	St. Vincent and The Grenadines	Suriname
Sweden	Switzerland	Taiwan
Thailand	Trinidad and Tobago	Tunisia
Turkey	Tuvalu	Ukraine
United Arab Emirates	United Kingdom	Uruguay*
Uzbekistan	Venezuela	Zimbabwe

India being present in that list, you can enter the US

Answer 2

A nonimmigrant is inadmissible under 8 USC 1182(a)(7)(B)(i)(I) unless they have a passport valid until 6 months after the end of their period of admission. What this means in practice is that for people with passports from countries not on the "6-month club", their passport must be valid for at least 6 months at the time of entry, and the admit-until date on their I-94 will be no later than 6 months before their passport expires. For people with passports from countries on the 6-month club, their passport must be valid for any length at the time of entry, and the admit-until date on their I-94 will be no later than their passport expiration date.

Since you are using an Indian passport, and India is in the 6-month club, you can enter the US with a passport of less than 6 months of validity left. However, note that if you are entering on a status with a fixed date on your I-94, you will be admitted on your I-94 to no later than your passport expiration date. If you wish to stay longer than that, either 1) an extension of stay must be applied for (the exact process depends on your status), or 2) you would have to leave and re-enter the US on a new passport (you would not need to get a new visa on the new passport, since a valid US visa in an expired passport can be used in combination with a valid passport from the same country).

This is as far as the US government is concerned. It is possible that the airline and/or originating country may have stricter requirements for passport validity.