Hi

My Thai fiancee has had a Spanish visa approved for the 19th December until 2nd January 2009, at the time of visa application we were unaware of the Thai requirement that she needed 6 months left in her passport, The spanish embassy wasn't bothered about this and approved the visa, it was only when we went to book the ticket that it came to light.

So we canceled the passport and got a new one and called the spanish embassy who told us we needed to bind the old and the new passport together to keep the visa valid. we went to the passport office today and were told that you cannot bind the 2 passports together now due to the microchip in the new passport. Instead they have stamped the new passport with the words like the following:

This person used to travel on passport number ********* which has been handed back, this passport is linked to the old passport and any visa in passport ******* are still valid.

when we called the Spanish embassy about this they said, not sure you can try it but we can't say 100% if she will get in to Spain.

Anyone else had this problem with a Schengen country and what was the outcome. can she travel with the 2 passports?

any help would be welcomed as i don't wish her to be stuck in Madrid airport for 2 weeks like tom hanks in terminal.

thanks in advance

TM

I would think she must carry both new/old passports showing the visa at immigration in Spain, however an email to the authorities should clarify the situation.

After further investigation i checked the VFS website and found this just to clarify entry into France which is a Schengen entry point.

Q:2- I have a valid Schengen visa but my Indian passport has expired. Can I transfer this visa to my new passport?

No. If you are holding a valid Schengen visa in an expired Indian passport, you may carry both your expired and new Indian passports together and travel between India and the Schengen countries until the visa expires. You do not need to obtain a new visa.

Schengen Visa

There is no probkem to travel to Europe with your new passport and your visa in your old passport.

In the new passport will be a note that it is the replacement for your old passport )

The old passport is not valid any more for traveling but all visa's will stay valid untill they run out.

But you have to hand both passports over to the immigration desk on entering into the country.