Traveler Beware

[Wingy]

My experience of travelling with someone who did got me in....getting out was a different story

Having a passport with three Indo Visa stickers with CANCELLED sprawled across the page is a reminder that they do hold grudges.

 

[Centrals]

My experience of travelling with someone who did got me in....getting out was a different story

Having a passport with three Indo Visa stickers with CANCELLED sprawled across the page is a reminder that they do hold grudges.

With the valid visa issued by the Indonesian Embassy in HK, still require lubricant in entering the country!!!
The officer told me while holding the passport that he likes to collect HK dollars as souvenir!!

 

[toddthecat]

O really!!
My experiences told me otherwise.

See my avatar to the left...

 

[Centrals]

See my avatar to the left...

Anyone who had travelled to Indonesia with the old HKCI(Certificate of Identity) would had to pay up even with the valid visa. The BDTC passport holders were treated slightly better!!
The latest HKSAR holder do not require any visa now!!!Table had turned.

 

[beaverdivers]

FYI. We were recently denied entry into Bali since our US passport did not have a blank page to put the Indo Visa on. I was aware of the usual warnings about having a passport that had at least 6 months left on it till it expires but I never ran into this before. We had to return to Singapore and have extra pages added at the US embassy. All in all a very crappy way to start a trip. So check your passport before going to Indonesia. Never had trouble like this in Latin America or Europe.

Thank you for your post. Traveler be wary!

 

[gcarter]

Not sure about Canada but there is an express service for passports available in the US. It's still scary to give up your passport right before a trip, I understand. You'd think in these days of computers, that they could renew a passport without sending it through the mail. I would certainly take care of that if its going to expire anywhere on your trip,though. Would not be fun to be stuck enroute in a foreign country.
I just wish that we could keep our passports permanent and add extra pages. I hate losing the history from all the cool stamps from the countries I've been to.

We can keep our expired passports. If it still has life left when you renew, they will just punch some holes in it.

 

[AlanWald]

On the US passport application form, after the instruction, you will see boxes to check One box says 28 Page Book (Standard) and the box says 52 page book (non-standard). They cost the same amount of money and course the 52 page one will be a bit thicker.

In the old days before the passports with chips in them, any embassy would gladly add pages for you at no cost. Now it costs US Dollars $82 (yes eighty-two) To renew an adults passport by mail does NOT require the execution fee f $25 like when done at the Federal building or designated post office (or for all children - the both parents must be there) First time passport holder all must pay the $25 execution no matter what age or if the old passport is very old (see below)

So if you passport is 8 years old ( for example) it makes more sense to get a new passport for $110 than pay $82 for additional pages on a passport that will die soon!!! i believe you get an additional 48 pages, but after that they may not be able to add pages

This is from the web site of the US Consulate in China http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/adding_pages.html

I have added pages twice to my U.S. passport. Can I add pages again?
Unfortunately, if you have already added supplemental visa pages two or more times, you will need to renew your passport. Please see Adult Passports, Minor Passports or First Adult Passports as applicable to your situation.

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Back in the olden days they just glued and sealed (with embossing seal) the pages on to the edge of a regular page so it was like an accordion,. I had probably three such extra pages, and once a bored German border guard took the end of one of the added on pages and then grabbed another and flapped the passport up and down as if it were a bird.

Then they started just inserting them like regular pages (on the pre-electronic chip passports)



Best thing to do is always get the non-standard 52 page US passport book when getting a new passport. This type of passport has existed for many years but it was somewhat of a secret,. I have gotten them for many years because I knew to write a separate letter enclosed with my passport application asking for the book with more pages . Now they are listed as choices on the application form.



From the US Passport WEb site
You Must Apply in Person If: (applying in person always means paying the $25 execution fee)

• You are applying for your first U.S. passport
• You are under age 16
• Your previous U.S. passport was issued when you were under age 16
• Your previous U.S. passport was lost, stolen, or damaged
• Your previous U.S. passport was issued more than 15 years ago
• Your name has changed since your U.S. passport was issued and you areunable to legally document your name change

http://eforms.state.gov/forms//docs/ds0011.pdf?

 

[drbill]

I think it's pretty darned stupid to expect to have blank pages in a passport. My first passport from the 60s had as many as five stamps on a page. What is the rationale for needing an entire blank page?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I think it's pretty darned stupid to expect to have blank pages in a passport. My first passport from the 60s had as many as five stamps on a page. What is the rationale for needing an entire blank page?

Not for stamps but for visas. Some countries' visas occupy an entire page. Passport pages can get eaten up quickly by visiting a few of those countries.

 

[Searcaigh]

I think it's pretty darned stupid to expect to have blank pages in a passport. My first passport from the 60s had as many as five stamps on a page. What is the rationale for needing an entire blank page?

Saudi Arabia and Iran require two adjacent blank pages, one for the stick on visa and the other for the stamps.