Us Passport Renewal With Tight Schedule

[autonomous_unit]

This is just a follow-up question or two with specific details that affect me. My US passport is due to expire in July 2009, and my Thai permission to stay expires mid-October 2008. To top it off, I have to travel in and out of Thailand frequently over the next few months, making any extended period without valid travel papers unbearable...

Can I apply for the passport renewal at the US embassy in Bangkok, and then travel between Thailand and the US while the application is pending (travel on the old passport)? Or do they retain the old passport during the renewal processing? It is difficult for me to arrange a 2+ week stay in Thailand at the moment with my work schedule.

On the other hand, what is the process for renewing the passport in the US while retaining my Thai permission to stay and re-entry permit? Can I just re-enter on the old and new passports together, or would I have to go to the Thai consulate to get stamps transferred? My next stay in the US may be 3+ weeks, so I could probably use expedited local service during that visit. However, it makes me very nervous to be away from home (Thailand) and not in possession of my passport and visa to get home!

I think I have the option of applying immediately for the renewed permission to stay---and then traveling during the processing period, or applying on my next arrival right before the current one expires, e.g. apply in early October before mid-October expiration. Is that correct? So far, I've always applied nearly 30 days in advance of the expiration... Will my annual extension be complicated by renewing a passport during or after the extension process? Will they stamp my existing passport with an extension of stay that is valid later than the current passport's expiration date, or will I wind up having to get it adjusted post-renewal?

Why isn't anything ever simple?

[beechguy]

Can't speak for the this particular service with the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, but I applied for a new passport while in Bahrain with about 6 months remaining. Kept the old passport until the new one arrived less that 2 weeks later. When picking up the new passport, took the old to be invalidated. You retain the old one and can have the appropriate information tranferred to the new passport. If your schedule permits, it may even be possible to obtain a new passport before applying for your next "extension of stay".

Anyway, you have options and you won't be without your travel documents.

Edited September 16, 2008 by beechguy

[thaihome]

Get your new extension to stay in a couple of weeks as usual. In January (six months before it expires) apply for new passport at the US consulate. They will give you your passport back to use while new one is being prepared (about 2 weeks). When you get new passport, they will give a letter asking Immigration to transfer your extension to stay and re-entry stamp to new passport. You don’t even have to go to Immigration yourself to have this done. Our visa person did it a few hours after I got new passport.

TH

[autonomous_unit]

Thanks for the answers. So the end result of extending first, then renewing the passport, would leave me with a normal length extension through next October on the new passport? If so, that sounds good...