passport renewal-where is my old 1

[randy 77zt]

sent my passport in for renewal.got the new 1 back today .i figured the state dept. would send the old 1 back with the new 1 .i am bummed because i didnt get the old 1 back and it had alot of cool stamps in it from when i was working in iraq.anybody else had this problem?

[Tony D]

Nope, I did mine in person at the Passport Agency Los Angeles and when I was at the window, both my old passport and new passport were in the envelope. The old one has two holes punched in the I.D. Page.

Same thing happened with my emergency passport renewal in Bangkok last September (needed 6 months past arrival to get into Malaysia), got my original back with two holes punched in the I.D. Page. That was done at the passport window of the US Embassy in Bangkok.

 

Did you use a passport service, and did you pay for the expedited mail service? Many times an old passport (if renewed early) will still have valid Visas in it, to be used as proof to get them applied to your new passport.

 

I got all three of mine, the only one I don't have is the original one the Military Issued back in the 80's. They kept that one.

[randy 77zt]

i used the snail mail service.i sent the old 1 back with the forms you get from the state dept website.the local post office put the old 1 and the forms in a priority mail envelope and sent it to the address for renewal by mail the slow-no-extra fees way.did not use a 3rd party service.mailed directly to the state dept .since i am not using it right now -but i might soon.there is an 800 number on the stuff i got back with the passport .i will call it tomorrow but i dont think it will get me any where

[Tony D]

The expedite service from the US Passport Service usually comes in a FEDEX or UPS RED letter envelope, more than enough weight allowance to send both passports back.

 

When I picked mine up, it was in a standard business envelope like you would send a letter in...no way in HELL my old passport would go in there and be mailed for ONE stamp!

 

I use CIBT (www.cibt.com) for most of my passport stuff. I just happened to be in town, and it got me out of the office and driving the Z across town two times in a week (drop it off monday afternoon, pick it up wednesday after 11AM!) No payment extra, just gave them an Orbitz intinerary that said I was flying on Friday and you go to the front of the line!

 

To drop it at CIBT's office on Wilshire would be insane for that service---they are literally right up the street! But when I need a specific visa, I can drop it at CIBT, and they will fedex it back to wherever I am. Hell, I can download all the visa stuff from their website,and fedex it to them...they fedex it back.

 

Watch out for Nigeria, though. PRINT the first page of the Google Docs application, you have a number there that doesn't show up ANYWHERE ELSE during the process after you press "submit"----and guess what? If you don't have that number, there is no way for them to access your passport visa application and (of course) you must fill it out again, and pay another $127. Even in the bureaucracy....the Nigerians got a neat little scam going! Forewarned is fore-armed!

[randy 77zt]

i guess some countries need visas and some dont?havent had to do that yet.my old 1 just had alot of middle east stamps in it.may be heading to cabo soon though-on my dirt bike.

[psdenno]

sent my passport in for renewal.got the new 1 back today .i figured the state dept. would send the old 1 back with the new 1 .i am bummed because i didnt get the old 1 back and it had alot of cool stamps in it from when i was working in iraq.anybody else had this problem?

 

 

I just renewed mine a few weeks ago by mail. Got the new one last week and my old passport was NOT returned with it even though I had requested that it be returned. I was bummed. On Monday of this week, my old passport came in the mail. Like you, I like to keep a collection dating back to military "official" passports. Don't know why they don't send them together - wait a minute, it's the government

Dennis

[johnc]

My old one came a week or two after I received my new passport.

[Tony D]

i guess some countries need visas and some dont?havent had to do that yet.my old 1 just had alot of middle east stamps in it.may be heading to cabo soon though-on my dirt bike.

 

Commonwealth of nations usually lets you in with a stamp, or in many cases you get a visa on arrival when you pay a fee.

Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Morocco, UK, Holland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany (hell, the whole of the EU nowadays) don't require a specific visa for entry.

 

India: Visa.

Indonesia: Visa (available on arrival for US citizens, $25 thankyouverymuchpleasecomagain!)

China: Visa.

 

Technically most of the places you go you are getting an entrance and exit visa, it's incorporated as a stamp. But some countries require you to get the visa and permission to travel to the country beforehand. Now that I have a new passport with all the neat biometric crap incorporated, I'm thinking of getting my 10 Yr Indian Visa... Talk about a stupid requirement if you issue one for 10 years WHY BOTHER AT ALL? Just take my money every time I arrive like Indonesia does. Then you can raise the fees each year and rape me for progressively more and more...

 

But I digress...

[Tony D]

For those US Citizens wondering 'do I need a Visa' to go here, check out this page:

 

CIBT Quick Check

 

Easier than wading through the state departments webpage and paragraphs of bureaucratese...

[randy 77zt]

thanks for the news that my old passport will be coming back by mail(hopefully).just another fine example of government effiency-paying twice the postage

[Tony D]

Nope, two passports would not go under ONE first class stamp.

 

My passport would not go under ONE first class stamp!

 

Now if they are using the $4.50 flat rate mailer, then they both could go, but that's considerably higher than two business envelopes and two first class stamps.

 

(Though as stated, with three page additions to my old passport, it wouldn't FIT in a standard business envelope, much less weigh less than one ounce!)

[Michael]

The visa requirement situation ranges from quirky to outright ridiculous. U.S. – India always seem to be trying to work out a reciprocal visa waiver program, but that’s not reached fruition yet. In the mean time, India’s visa application is quite extensive, and intrusive.

 

For many countries, the reason to require a visa is simple retaliation for the U.S. requiring a visa for their country’s nationals. Even the fee structure is a mirror image. An example is Russia.

 

Others, such as Turkey, just treat visas as a sort of entry fee.

 

The passport stamp-collection hunt is a great hobby. There’s a particular pride to be enjoyed, from seeing one’s passport completely filled with stamps, before it reaches its 10-year expiration date. Every trip to a European country used to generate an entry and exit stamp, but with the broadening of the EU, many places don’t even bother stamping passports on entry. That’s what has been happening to me lately in Frankfurt. Heathrow and DeGaulle still stamp pretty regularly, however.

[Tony D]

Heathrow and DeGaulle are on different systems. You stamp in at DeGaulle, and stamp out at Frankfurt, and anywhere inbetween on the continent within EU there's not even a passport check any more. Like you said, before it was like having to show your passport at each state border for inspection and stamping...

 

Staying in Ireland won't get stamps going to Amsterdam on the weekend.

But staying in Liverpool and going there will give you exit, entrance, and back...

 

Ireland is EU, the lands of the British are not. Don't know if there's a flight from Ulster to the continent...meh!

 

When you travel a bit, you realize filling that puny passport in 10 years isn't a problem. The problem arises when they tell you they can't add any more pages and you have to get a new one! I got mine in November 09, and as of now, I have less than 8 pages left before I have to get pages added. And I make it a point to NOT take short trips or 'commute' across borders where I will waste stamp spots. (Actually, my page 25, 26, 27 don't have the 'visa separation' lines like the rest do... maybe I can crowd more than the 'official 4 per page' on those if I need to!) I can see at least 2 or 3 pages of stamps coming in the next three months from jobs I already have scheduled, so this one is basically gone in a year...and then you pay the $$$ to have the pages added.

 

I'm told after you have the third set of pages added, they make you get a new one. I'll necropost in 2013 and let you know!