/ 12JUL05 / 2030 UTC
BRAZIL (BR)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: a passenger may enter Brazil with a
valid visa in an expired passport provided:
- the page which contains the valid visa in the expired
passport has not been invalidated or mutilated in a manner
as to make the visa illegible.
- the passenger holds also a valid passport of the same
nationality.
- a handwritten annotation does not appear in the passport
that passenger has been advised to obtain a new visa in
valid passport.
IN ALL CASES, TRANSFER OF A VALID VISA TO A VALID PASSPORT
IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

========================

That said, Brazilian Federal Police and the Brazilian consulate do deny some Americans entry/visa on largely arbitrary grounds on a few occassions.

This http://www.delta.com/travel/trav_ser...atic/index.jsp is a very useful resource and is the engine that DL uses for determining passenger travel requirements when dealing with its flight to Brazil.

Ask the question before you get the visa (when applying and/or by phone before applying). I'd hate to be party to your not enjoying Brazil.

Indeed - that is what I meant by "when" - I just wasn't clear. :)

From personal experience you do NOT need to transfer visas to new passports from Brazil and India, just carry along the old passport with you.

I updated my prior post to reflect that.

For India I assume that's only good for transferable visa's?

I don't know if this applies to your situation or not, but here is what Delta relies upon to determine who to board and not board:

=========================
12JUL05 / 2039 UTC
National U.S.A. (US) /Destination INDIA (IN)

INDIA (IN)

Passport and visa required.

Note: a valid visa in an expired passport is still acceptable,
provided accompanied by a valid passport of the same
nationality of the expired passport.

However, if holding a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card:
visa not required.
========================

The Indian embassy/consulate will, for free (I believe), transfer most visas. Of what kind of visa are you in possession? If there is a doubt about these matters, a call to the consulate/embassy is the minimal advisable standard. For those that have issues with trusting "random" people on the phone, getting the transfer at the consulate or getting a new visa is not a bad idea.

Have you ever dealt with an Indian Consulate? I have on several occasions in several countries on several continents and they are all a bureaucratic mess, who in their right mind would go and get a visa transferred or a new visa, it is only asking for trouble especially when for many years in BOM and DEL this has been perfectly acceptable at immigration!

Yes, I deal with Indian consulates all of the time, but generally the embassies. It's always been very smooth going for me, although I have observed that it is not always that way for others (and certainly not smooth at all locations). Going to an Indian consulate is not asking for trouble; it may be, at worst, asking for long lines and listening to a glorified stamp representative tell you to come back tomorrow. Same nonsense for foreigners visiting some of our US consulates too.

Did I not say that, in retrospect, it apparently was a waste of someone's time? Yes. ;) That said, I would not be surprised to hear of an ill-informed airline rep (or other travel industry employee) telling someone, in years past, that an unexpired visa in an expired passport is no good. Also, for some purposes, the passport may have to be presented to non-immigration savvy individuals who may look not only at the passport but at the visa; and, for other purposes, one may have to present their info to the local police station (which certainly may not be immigration-savvy). ;)

There are good reasons to get the visa transferred, even if others may do such out of apparent ignorance. Otherwise, how does one explain why some consulates actually have pre-made rubber stamps that say: "TRANSFERRED FROM PPT. NO. __________"? There are, official or otherwise, circumstances that dictate such.

OK - I feel compelled to tell my story.

Back in 1998, I received a scholarship from the India Project at my university, which required that I go to India for several months to research pharmaceutical companies.

The school hooked me up with a ticket on SQ via HKG and SIN, but never did anything for me in the visa department.

I took a stopover in HK, and I was hanging out at LKF the night before my flight to BOM and ended up talking to a middle-aged British woman about India. At some point during the conversation, the visa topic came up and I was taken aback, but I believed her.

So, the next morning, rather than heading off to the airport (the old one), I went to the Indian consulate, where I learned that I needed to get my visa from the San Francisco consulate since that was my area of residence. They charged me $x for a telex and set the process in motion.

The problem was that the next business day in the US was an American holiday, the next day in HK was a Chinese holiday, and the third day was an Indian holiday.

After leaving the consulate, I checked into a true pit of a hotel room recommended by the US consulate and wallowed in my stupidity.

My next move proved to be my smartest; I called my mom and explained my situation to her. She, then, tracked down the Indian consular in SF and made things happen.

On day 3, my passport showed up at the terrible hotel, SQ gave me a seat on their sold-out flight in spite of my crappy fare, and I was off to India.

I just renewed my passport in Jakarta and it took 10 days. That's the normal length of time. The passport came from the US. Fee was the same as normal mail in renewal. Form the same as well.

I should have said consular services dept rather than consulates as I have dealt with embassies. While lines, and other crap may be the harbingers of any visa/consulate/embassy situation, I have yet to encounter any embassy/consulate that pulls the following: You are resident in another country and apply for visa in the country you are resident in, the consulate says that they must FAX a report to the embassy in your home country to get approval, you pay them for the fax and they tell you it takes a week, a week later they receive no reply and therefore it is approved but they get an expedite fee of some sort out of you (in addition to the fax money you've already paid!). This is the game the Indians play everywhere in the world. Bureaucracy at its finest (I am convinced that they do not actually send the faxes and that it is just a money making scheme.

Aslo, god forbid you have a US passport not issued in the US, it seems to confuse them hugely and slows down your application (heard of this multiple times). Over the years I have gotten visas tons of places on multiple occasions (including places that no longer require them), Brazil, Russia, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Turkey, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Australia, Japan, France, Ex-USSR, All the Eastern European countries when they were communist, several Central Asian Republics and others, and by far the most painful experiences have been for India and Saudi.

It's interesting you bring up the US passport not issued in the US matter that slows things down considerably with Indian bureaucrats. Apparently in the 1980s and 1990s a bunch of "material support" for "anti-Indian activities" was occurring with the "assistance" of persons travelling on US passports not issued in the US; some of those passports (used by such persons) were either doctored, otherwise acquired through other than routine "legitimate" channels, or were wholly-valid/legitimate acquisitions intended to facilitate "anti-Indian activities". A bunch of Pakistani-backed (and formerly CIA-"linked") Mirpuris seem to have been amongst such persons of interest (amongst others).

That said and as you said, India and Saudi Arabia can be major headaches when it comes to visa acquisition.

Perhaps we should open a new thread about visa-acquisition headaches? (I have plenty of Indian associates who could share some stories about our visa-issuing games. :D )

What's the LATEST that I can renew passport?
 

I have 2 international trips planned in Oct. My passport expires May 2006.

Will I need to renew my passport before return from my 2nd trip? It will be 6 months and 9 days prior to expiration.

I'll be passing through MIA on my return from a domestic trip, and can show them my e-ticket for my first international trip with departure 2 days later (6 months and 28 days prior to expiration).

Should I try to renew in Miami that day? How far is the office away from the airport? Or I might be able to renew in LA in between my 2 intl trips.

Mseverywhere: If there is a US consulate in either of your international destinations, I would highly suggest doing your business there, if possible.

(I know I have advised this before and have recently been shot down by, "not going to happen," remarks, but I've never known anyone to have any trouble doing so (within 4 days) in China so it's worth a shot.