Us Visa Catch 22 - 101

[paulfr]

My wife has a Thai Passport with a 10 yr Multi entry US Visa on one page.

But her passport expired and she got a new one.

But they did not put her US visa page in the new passport.

So I went to the US Embassy [Civilian Services] and one would

think they could just issue a new one.

But no they require you start all over and apply for a

US Visa as if you never had one. And $131 to boot.

We have our tickets to leave in just 2 weeks.

Groan, sigh, ...... dam_n bureacracy.

They did say we could chance it and take both passports

and it would be up to the official in NY to decide if she

could enter the country.

[lopburi3]

A US visa in an expired passport is fully valid. There will not be any problem using both passports on entry into the US. I am very surprised that the Embassy official would make such a comment. Was it an American or a local employee?. Of course it is always up to Immigration at the arrival point if you can enter so that point is true but they should have clearly advised that this is a common occurrence and nothing out of the ordinary. Below is the official Department of State advise on expired passport visas:

Unless previously canceled, a visa is valid until its expiration date. Therefore, if the traveler has a valid U.S. visa in an expired passport, do not remove the visa page from the expired passport. You may use it along with a new valid passport for travel and admission to the United States.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html

[Thanyaburi Mac]

A US visa in an expired passport is fully valid. There will not be any problem using both passports on entry into the US. I am very surprised that the Embassy official would make such a comment. Was it an American or a local employee?. Of course it is always up to Immigration at the arrival point if you can enter so that point is true but they should have clearly advised that this is a common occurrence and nothing out of the ordinary. Below is the official Department of State advise on expired passport visas:

Unless previously canceled, a visa is valid until its expiration date. Therefore, if the traveler has a valid U.S. visa in an expired passport, do not remove the visa page from the expired passport. You may use it along with a new valid passport for travel and admission to the United States.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html

Lop 3 is absolutely correct.  My Thai wife has been to the U.S. several times carrying two passports, the expired one with her U.S. visa and the new passport.

Might be a good idea to staple them together, we didn't, just handed both over to the Immigration officer at port of arrival.

Mac

[thaihome]

There should be a note in the first page of the new passport explaining that it is a new passport and visas in the old one are still valid should be honored.

Amazing how just reading the pasport would have saved you what sounds like a painful trip to the consulate.

TH

[paulfr]

There should be a note in the first page of the new passport explaining that it is a new passport and visas in the old one are still valid should be honored.

Amazing how just reading the pasport would have saved you what sounds like a painful trip to the consulate.

TH

No such note is there that I can see.

Thanks for the replies and information.

[jstumbo]

No note in my US passport either.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

There should be a note in the first page of the new passport explaining that it is a new passport and visas in the old one are still valid should be honored.

Amazing how just reading the pasport would have saved you what sounds like a painful trip to the consulate.

TH

There is NO such note on my wife's Thai passport on the "endorsements" page or on any other page.  But, again, has NOT been a problem on her several trips to the U.S. showing both passports, the expired one with the visa and the new passport.  And, they are not stapled together, I just hand them over together when we go through the line.

Mac

[TokyoT]

My wife’s passport is valid thru the end of next year, but her US visa will be valid for several more years after that. I did some checking on this subject earlier it everything I found indicated the visa in the old passport was fine as long as the US visa page was not damaged in any way.

Not sure about Thailand, but most countries do something to damage the old passport (US punch holes in the copver and first few pages) before returning to you after getting a new passport. So it seems that as long as the page that contains the US visa has not been damaged that the visa in the old passport should still be valid for travel.

[jstumbo]

I would think that if it has a hole in the corner, it would still work. Many countries punch a hole clean through the passport to invalidate it. Probably talking about more damage than that. I think they just want to be able to make sure it is real and has not been damaged so much that it might be questionable. After all what is damage? If it is creased, that is damage.