New US passport issued, but visa extension in old one: problem?

As long as the visa in the old passport is still valid then it should not be a problem.
Having traveled extensively have not had a problem with presenting both the old and new passports to show the valid visa in the old passport.

@gobot there was an answer for you that was posted a few weeks ago that with the procedure you'll have to go through, but I'm really not sure what thread it was under.

@stumpy, woodward responded to a question like this about a VEC in the same way, It don't work that way here. Once the PP is canceled the visa or what ever has to be transferred to the new PP. I would make a remark about experts but its not worth my time.

Yeah the officials here seem to do as they want. Not sure why you got a new passport whilst you still had a year left on it. Maybe best to head down to immigration in your area and check out what they will do, I have heard some people have had a visa placed in the new passport and others who have been told to leave and reapply as the old visa is null and void.

colinoscapee wrote:

Yeah the officials here seem to do as they want. Not sure why you got a new passport whilst you still had a year left on it. Maybe best to head down to immigration in your area and check out what they will do, I have heard some people have had a visa placed in the new passport and others who have been told to leave and reapply as the old visa is null and void.

Here's why:


Important Change to your Passport


After December 31, 2015, visa pages can no longer be added to U.S. passports because such inserts pose vulnerabilities to both the security of the ePassport and the internal controls of the issuance process.  Instead, 52-page passport books are now issued at no extra cost to U.S. citizens applying from outside the United States. Please renew your passport early to make sure you have enough blank pages for visa stamps from other countries.  Keep in mind that some countries require two blank pages for entry and exit.

You may want to visit http://travel.state.gov for more information on entry, exit, and foreign visa requirements.

Budman1 wrote:

@stumpy, woodward responded to a question like this about a VEC in the same way, It don't work that way here. Once the PP is canceled the visa or what ever has to be transferred to the new PP. I would make a remark about experts but its not worth my time.

Well Budman1, the all knowing...   it seem that we're not the only ones who are of the impression that the visa in the old passport continues to be valid. So, if we're misinformed then we're in awfully good company.

http://www.vietnamvisa-easy.com/answers … d-passport

I can't speak for stumpy, but in my posting I was talking strictly about the validity. Under international law a visa continues to be valid until it expires or is cancelled by the issuing nation, regardless of the expiry of the passport it is contained in, provided that the visa itself is undamaged in any way. This is why most countries only clip off the corner of a cancelled passport. If the Vietnam authorities require it to be transferred to another passport, that's a separate issue... the visa is still valid.

That's even the way the US government handles their visas in old/expired passports according to the State Department:  http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/e … asics.html

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

I didnt see where he said he only had a few pages left, I thought he just applied for a new passport. I had to do the same when putting a VEC in my passport seeing as it only had two years left it was of no use for a VEC. I still had plenty of pages left in my old book.

This seems to be internationally accepted practice.
The old passport is damaged in some way, the British cut off a corner, then it's returned to you, and visas are still valid.
That's how it works in Indonesia, and I'm assured it's the same all over Asia.
Looks like you have no issue here, save possibly informing local immigration about your change of passport.

Have had old passport with valid work visas in them and presented them to passport control along with the new passport with no problems. You just need to get a new visa or permit put into your new passport before the one in your old passport expires. 

The visa is the issue, not the old passport.

I just went through this, but I was doing a visa run.  They issued me a new 1 day visa at the airport and charged me $5. 

I had to get a 1 year/temporary passport issued for a couple of reasons; mostly because the old one was over 8 years old and was showing it's age.  I'd already had a less than pleasant exchange of words with a Thai authority over it's condition and swore I'd never go back. 

"Never" arrived this year, so I was a bit concerned, but was still planning on using the old one since it had 2 pages remaining and Thailand doesn't require a visa, just a stamp.  2 days before the run I discovered something that I hadn't noticed before.  U.S. passports have "visas" written on the pages that are intended for them.  I was aware of that, but the thing I hadn't noticed was that there are blank pages that aren't labeled "visas" at the end of the booklet and that technically they aren't supposed to be used for them.  Why are they there?  I have no idea, but I wasn't about to risk another inquisition in Thailand, though I probably should have chanced it since I lost about a year of validity in the undue process.

I'd call the agent that you used for the visa and see what they say.  More than likely they'll tell you to wait until it's time to get another, if you plan on doing that, and they'll just issue the new visa with your new passport.  Otherwise, you're probably looking at a trip to immigration.

@ Teacher Mark: I have entry/exit stamps on the last three pages of my US passport even though I have 72 extra pages added over two sessions at the Consulate before they were stopped. No one in US Immigration has ever said anything in my three or four trips into the US since the stamps were issued. Since we have no input on where an Immigration Officer stamps our passports, I don't worry about it. Also can't think of what those pages might be set aside for... maybe just a design flaw?

-JohnD- wrote:

@ Teacher Mark: I have entry/exit stamps on the last three pages of my US passport even though I have 72 extra pages added over two sessions at the Consulate before they were stopped. No one in US Immigration has ever said anything in my three or four trips into the US since the stamps were issued. Since we have no input on where an Immigration Officer stamps our passports, I don't worry about it. Also can't think of what those pages might be set aside for... maybe just a design flaw?

I asked Mr. GOOGLE what those last few pages in a USA PP were for and this is what he said:

http://www.uspassporthelpguide.com/us-p … ent-pages/

Just looked at mine and Yep, that's what it says. Its side ways on the page not at the top.

Rick

Thanks, Rick. I'm unsure how to prevent Immigration Officers from stamping those pages... maybe tape them together?

-JohnD- wrote:

Thanks, Rick. I'm unsure how to prevent Immigration Officers from stamping those pages... maybe tape them together?

Not to worry, they know the rules....

They might know them in the US, but I have stamps on those pages from Mexico and others. I'm not going to sweat it, though. Thanks for looking up the information.

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@MinhTu

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-JohnD- wrote:

@ Teacher Mark: I have entry/exit stamps on the last three pages of my US passport even though I have 72 extra pages added over two sessions at the Consulate before they were stopped...

Once they're stamped you have nothing to worry about John.  The fact that they (any country) can deny entry, if the US citizen has only the endorsement pages remaining, is something American expats should be aware of.  When I was researching this, 2 countries popped up a few times as places where it had been an issue - South Africa and Thailand.  Anyone planning a trip to either country should make sure they have everything in order.

OP here. The reason I wanted a new passport was I was moving to Thailand and taking another trip, and I didn't want to get too close to the point where you can't travel with < 6 months to passport expiration.

As far as transferring the visa stamp from old to new passport, it turns out I just waited until I left the country to see what would happen. In February I passed through immigration at Tan Son Nhat airport on my way to SFO. The immigration guy looked at my 2 passports and stood up and said a tieng viet equivalent to 'Jesus h christ' and called over another guy. Guy #2 also shook his head and grumbled, and then they both escorted me to the side area for troublemakers and gave my passports to guy #3 in a booth. I had to sit down for awhile in a row of hard seats. Then guy #3 sticks up his head and in perfect English asked where I got the new passport. I said 'US Consulate Saigon'. One minute later he came over, smiled, and very politely gave me the passports and said 'thank you you can go'. The extension stamp was copied into the new passport. No charge.