My passport expires in just less than six months time. I know many countries need at least six months remaining, but which countries can I visit before April 09 with a short life passport? Michael Rogan, Liverpool

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: The best resource here is the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website, which lists travel advice by country. Under each is a heading on passports, which tells you the amount of validity that must be remaining in your passport in order to visit.

It varies from country to country, with the most liberal being places like France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, which only require that your passport be valid for the duration of your visit.

Next you'll find countries that need your passport to be valid for at least 30 days after the end of your intended visit, like New Zealand and South Africa.

Some others, like Croatia and Estonia, need three months validity at the time you enter.

For some countries though, having less than six months left on your passport precludes you from visiting, like Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, and oddly enough, Belgium.

If you are planning to go on a package, then speak to your tour operator.

Note though that a few won't take bookings to anywhere without six months remaining on your passport.

There isn't a neat one-page list that I know of, but with a few minutes on the FCO website you'll hopefully find a few places that you fancy a trip too that will let you in.

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