Damaged Passport
 

Hi

Having already upset the passport office by having lost two passports in as many years, I'm reluctant to ask for a replacement to my water damaged passport.

Pics:

http://195.8.103.21/tmp/passport/1.JPG

http://195.8.103.21/tmp/passport/2.JPG

http://195.8.103.21/tmp/passport/3.JPG

The laminated photo page is 100% fine. No water there at all, but the pages themselves are damaged as above, on the edge only.

Should I risk travel to the USA on this? Am I likely to get knocked back with this passport by the UK airline at checkin, or on entry to the US?

Thanks in advance!

I'd be more worried about the tipex strips across it. :)

I'm very cautious about the USA as you just never know what CBP will do, but if the photo page is not damaged and the laminate is 100% intact then you might be OK - but if it were me I wouldn't risk it and would face the wrath of the IPS and get it replaced.

I've had no problem with my wrinkly from moisture passport anywhere.

I don't have real ink-running-because-it-got-wet damage though.

Several of mine have looked much worse, and indeed I have twice presented myself at immigration when both myself and my passport were soaking wet (once after walking through rain forest for several days and arriving in a downpour, and once after crossing the gulf of Honduras in a dugout canoe before arriving at the Guatemalan port of entry at Puerto Barrios). I know of no regulation that says passports are supposed to remain dry, and in both cases the agent carefully peeled apart the pages before stamping them with a somewhat watery entry stamp.

That's truly very minor damage. Your passport is about proving your citizenship and identity, not how well you maintain your possessions. I've seen passports that were soaking wet and one with the biodata page completely separated from the rest of the document. And that's not to mention all of those USA passports with the extra pages haphazardly sellotaped inside. I wouldn't lose sleep over a little water spot if I were you.

What don't you like about our annexed passports?-- I love that we have that option though I am not happy with the new fee . . .

My suggestion would be to bring it to your local passport office (if possible, I don't pretend to know anything about how this stuff works in the UK) and see what they say.

Or your immigration office.

True story: a friend of mine (oriental descent, but Ret. US Navy officer) had a passport that had minor water damage due to a flood. He has Caucasian US wife, hers has the same slight damage. It was no problem for the country he visited, but coming back to the US the CBP/Immigration agent questioned the authenticity of his passport (not his wife's, though) and sent him for a 3 hour secondary. He is an MD and head of department at the hospital in his city. He was ordered to replace his passport by the manager of the customs station.

He would have to be mighty picky if he considered changing his wife simply because she had minor water damage.

:D I went back and fixed it.

Fixed it for ya - a passport belongs to the government (at least for US citizens).

FWIW I just passed through US immigration on Monday. I am a US citizen, but my 8-year-old passport looks much worse than yours. It's spent much time on or in glaciers, rain forests, rivers, oceans, and washing machines. Many of the stamps are faded or washed away, and most pages have the type of damage you photographed.

It has never once, in about 40-50 border crossings, ever been questioned.

Thanks so much everyone!

I'm glad my passport won't need replacing .... the IPS got seriously snotty last time... and since I live in Fife, I didn't relish taking a 100 mile round trip to be shouted at.

Great stuff, :)

Help! UK Passport-damaged?
 

Hi everyone-this is my first post, but I was recommended here by a Canadian friend so I hope you all can help me!
I have travelled widely for the past 6 years and on one of my first trips a member of check in staff stuck my baggage label into my passport. I assumed this was OK and carried on doing it. I have roughly 20 baggage stickers on the last three pages (but NOT the page for 'official observations') My photo and laminate isn't damaged at all.
On my last return to the country (to Stansted from Lodz, Poland) I was informed by an immigration official that I shouldn't have stuck the baggage stickers in there. However, if I take them out now I make it worse and the pages all get ripped, so I have left them in there.
Do you think this constitutes a damaged passport? I am flying to Canada in June and if it is damaged I'd rather it was replaced early!

Thankyou so much in advance for your help!

I would let it be, just don't stick any more stickers in there (I recommend sticking them on your boarding pass), and if you can remove some of them without damaging the passport, do so.

You should probably also enrol for IRIS, although it won't help at STN.