A reminder to check the expiration dates on your IDs

Robert LarsonContributor - November 22, 2022

Advice

Today I had a head smacking moment when I was looking through my wallet and realized that my concealed carry permit expired back in February! 9 months expired!

This could have been really bad if I had used my weapon in self defense and then had to show the officers an expired permit, because I have been carrying constantly during that entire time.

I am going to have to pay for my mistake now because since I passed the 6 months of having my permit expired I can’t just pay the renewal fee online but have to attend an entirely new class, go through the background check and fingerprinting again, and pay the full new permit holder price. Yikes! It’s going to be a multiple month long process to get going again and cost three times as much.

I have definitely learned my lesson and am making calendar reminders for the expiration dates on all my IDs in my wallet and will help my wife do the same.

Check your expiration dates!

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Hard lesson to learn, Robert.  But as you say, could have been worse.  I also realized that my Passport expires in March and so I need to get that renewed since any travel requires it to be valid for 6 months (or is it 6 weeks?) past your departure.  Hope I don’t need to leave on short notice anytime soon.  

 

That would be a worse expiration date to pass and not be able to go on the trip you need. 

Looks like it is 6 months. That site also recommends getting your passport renewed 9 months before it expires to avoid paying express fees, it can take 3 months to process, and like you said, some travel requires it to be valid for 6 months. I will update my calendar reminder for my passport renewal to 9 months now.

 

Now a possibility to renew online. They are trying it out:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew-online.html