Extra pages for passports
 

I know this is off topic for this forum, but I'm sure I saw a thread on this here. I can't find it through search though. It was stated that extra pages could be added to one's passport so they didn't have to get a new one due to being full of stamps. I have just 1/2 page left and 5 years to go before expiry. I'm also using the dang thing every few weeks.

Can I go somewhere in San Francisco and get extra pages added while I wait? Any insight welcome, as it will be full in 2 weeks.

FWIW, I went to a local Post Office on a Monday, with the form. I paid an expediting fee and had my passport back with extra pages, the following Monday.

http://travel.state.gov/extra_pages.html

I'm not sure you can do this while you wait, but check.

SAN FRANCISCO Passport Agency
95 Hawthorne Street
5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901
Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., local time, M-F, excluding Federal holidays
Automated Appointment Number: (415) 538-2700

Make an appointment and take a completed Form DS-19 with you to save time. (The DS-19 form opens as a PDF file.)

Hi! Which country's passport do you have? If it is an US passport, I found a nice link to State department that may help you.

* Deleted link as Transpac mentioned ealier.

If you have other passports, your counsulates or embassies (well in this case, DC) should be able to add your pages.

In the same token, why don't you ask your embassy/consulate to add pages for you when you go abroad next time (next week)? I should think it is easier ans faster that way.

[This message has been edited by Atuchan (edited 06-11-2002).]

I should add that you can request a 48-page passport (aka "a fattie") upon renewal, or when you get your first one, by adding a letter stating this as a written request.

"You may request a larger, 48-page passport at no additional cost. To do so, please attach a signed request for a 48-page passport to your application"

[This message has been edited by transpac (edited 06-11-2002).]

Wow. That's 3 replies all within 2 minutes of each other!

Did the movie just let out? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

It's really easy. I had it done at the American Consulate in Frankfurt for free. They add 24 new pages right then and there.

Have a good trip! Many happy returns!

Wow. Thanks for all the super quick replies.
I will download the form, add a stopover in SFO and visit the passport agency there upon return from HKG. I need to go to the Brazilian consulate there also for a new visa, so I'll make a day of it!

Thanks again--I love this place.

NO! Trust me on this one, have it done right in Hong Kong. I recall an earlier thread on this, but I can't find it, and others were in full agreement with me...

Visit the US Consulate office in Hong Kong (your hotel will have the info, if it's not the phone book, and I recall it being easily accessed from the MTR or quick by taxi). As an American, you get to skip ahead of all others in line...I had it done there a few years ago, and literally was out of there in 5-7 minutes with three of us in my group having pages added. No appointments, no waiting, no problems.

Thanks. I'll check it out when I get there. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I saw a guy at HKG whose passport was 3/4" thick.

Mentioned that to a friend who works HK Immigration. "No big deal", he says. Some folks have passports 2" thick. It boggles me.

Maybe we can call it the "passport" run to HKG. (via SIN). Of course, I have a friend there & also want to visit China.

As others have stated, it is an easy and painless process. I would like to add that a Federal Background Check is required before the pages will be added. This is very transparent to you, but your passport number is entered into the State Dept's computer system, and if all is ok, then they add the pages. If there is a flag or discrepancy, then it requires a delay of about 24 hours for processing.

When last in Estonia (last August) I needed additional pages added. I called the embassy in Tallinn, and the Ambassador herself answered the phone (after several rings) and she told me to come in and she would do it. After entering the embassy, She greeted me personally, and even added the pages herself. It was at this time she explained the process to me, as well as a few other tidbits. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

There was of course no fee, and service was with a smile!

Is Federal Background Check a too glorious name for the process that (in my limited understanding) makes sure there are no outstanding warrants for your arrest and the like? The reason I ask is that I read that this Jose "the dirty bomb" Padilla (aka "the Immigrant" Al-Qaeda operative) applied for a new passport in Pakistan and the State Dept. guys there got a little uneasy and then put a trace on the guy or something like that. Some journalist thought the "Federal Background Check" got him.

As already pointed out, adding pages is very easy, and best done overseas, where the typical wait time is two minutes or less. I have already added 7 inserts at the US embassy in BKK. It is so bulky, that the data pages have begun to delaminate, and before this April, the embassy kept wanting to give me a new passport because they felt that some countries might hassle me due to the shape of the thing. I keep resisting because of the many active business visas which, despite what the embassy claims, will become invalid when a new PP is issued.