US State Department eliminating adding pages to passports

[Deleted]

Ooh, I'm glad I took care of this last year. Thanks for the heads up though!

[Brit]

So annoying! We just got pages added for DD last month. She only had two left and it would have been such a PITA to have her resident permit transferred to a new passport...that would have been like days of my life down the drain!

[GilliC]

Which countries' visas do you lose? I've never run into one.

India doesn't add extra pages, so when XH ran out of space, he just had to carry around both passports when he traveled, since some of the visas were in the old book.

The only valid visa I have in my last book is Brazil, and the embassy said it was fine (though I haven't tried to use it).

[mrsukyankee]

I've always carried two passports when necessary w/o any issue.

[v]

@mx, I want to read your memoir.

[Cicero]

Thanks for the heads up. I've already had one set of pages added but will need another in the next year or so. That's definitely not something I want to find out after its no longer possible.

[rupertpenny]

Thanks for the heads up, we need to look into this. We don't travel super frequently, but I know I have at least 3 full page visas already, and a disproportionate amount of our likely future travel will involve more than the standard arrival stamp. We have more than 6 years left before our passports expire as well.

[origami]

Crap. You can add pages while you're abroad right? How long do you have to give up your passport before you get it back?

[Cicero]

Apr 2, 2015 8:56:35 GMT -5 origami said:

Crap. You can add pages while you're abroad right? How long do you have to give up your passport before you get it back?

Unless they've changed something it is a lot easier and faster to do abroad than in the US. One embassy did it while we waited. Another told us to come back in a couple days.

[Cicero]

Apr 2, 2015 10:26:06 GMT -5 mryrcn said:

Apr 2, 2015 9:52:51 GMT -5 Cicero said:

Unless they've changed something it is a lot easier and faster to do abroad than in the US. One embassy did it while we waited. Another told us to come back in a couple days.

I had the same question.  I'm hoping to add a lot more countries to my passport soon. 

You're definitely going to need the extra pages. With the exception of Malaysia and Singapore pretty much all of SE Asia has whole or half page tourist visas and then stamp for entry and exit as well. Malaysia alone is responsible for filling eight pages in my passport--two pages for my residence visa and then a metric crapton of entry and exit stamps.

[GilliC]

Beijing did it in an hour while I waited, but Oslo said it would take six weeks! WTF?! I got both my last two passports faster than that. I guess it's because they don't send them to the States for extra pages, and the Oslo embassy follows Norwegian working hours.

[Wanderista]

Wow, that's incredibly annoying. I just renewed with extra pages this year. I needed them in my previous passport. It's true that most people don't need extra pages, especially with that Passport Card thing for US border-hoppers. It's also annoying that they are basically being punitive towards Americans who travel a lot internationally. That's the last thing that the country needs.

[origami]

Omg it's $82 to add pages here. WTH!!! It's only $80 for a new kid's passport.

[Deleted]

Apr 2, 2015 21:57:18 GMT -5 origami said:

Omg it's $82 to add pages here. WTH!!! It's only $80 for a new kid's passport.

It's $82 everywhere to add pages now. It sucks because even for a new adult passport it's only $110. but for $82 they let us add 2 packets of pages. My passport is like 1/4" thick now.

At least in London we just waited like an hour and a half and they gave us the passport back same day.

[klingklang77]

Apr 2, 2015 8:56:35 GMT -5 origami said:

Crap. You can add pages while you're abroad right? How long do you have to give up your passport before you get it back?

I got it done the same day in Frankfurt. I renewed my passport in Australia and that took a few weeks. 

[anna7602]

Apr 1, 2015 18:52:41 GMT -5 @mx said:

Apr 1, 2015 15:28:05 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Which countries' visas do you lose? I've never run into one.

India doesn't add extra pages, so when XH ran out of space, he just had to carry around both passports when he traveled, since some of the visas were in the old book.

The only valid visa I have in my last book is Brazil, and the embassy said it was fine (though I haven't tried to use it).

Most countries don't have a stated policy on it. I know the US, Brazil and India are ok in writing with people using valid visas in expired passports.

Argentina is okay with this, too.