This is what I read many times when the question had been asked before, so when I went to the US embassy in Tokyo, I expected to get it right back the same day. Unfortunately, they told me I had to either pick it up the next day or leave it with them and have it mailed back to me. Since I was leaving the next day, I chose the latter option. It came quickly, though -- within a week -- and there was no fee (I don't even think I paid for postage).

While I'm not doubting that in many places they just do it right away and give it back, you should be aware that if you do it in an embassy it might take a day or two. As always, YMMV.

In Shanghai they told me it would take 20 minutes. Then they told me they couldn't add pages since there was a stain on my passport. :td:

I will try a Euro embassy next week and hopefully get a better response.

I'm just hoping that our government doesn't start refusing the addition of new pages to speed up the transition to the newer e-passports for the more frequent travellers.

The moral is, you have to check the hours and procedures of the particular embassy you intend to visit. You should phone first, before actually going to the embassy. Also, some of them have websites where they list such information (though whether the info is up-to-date is another issue).

I found that the American Embassy in Buenos Aires only listed limited hours on its website during which they handle such passport matters, so I went there during those hours.

I went to the consulate in Amsterdam and they added my pages without a problem. I brought it in during the morning and it was ready at 2:30pm.

I'm up over 100 pages now. It's getting a bit thick. :cool:

Since they are so nice at this consulate, I ordered a second passport so I can have an extra for the times I have to wait several days for certain visas to process. We'll see if the second one has RFID.

I too was also able to get pages added in about 20 minutes. This was at the Taipei, Taiwan US consulate. I had four blank pages left but they still gave me 24 extra pages (I was only 4 years into my passport; have since used half of the supplement).

So if you request and don't get a 48 pager, no need to stress out, just go to a consulate and get the pages added.

For me, they started jamming all the stamps on one page *after* I added the supplement- the first five or six pages of my supplement have 6 or 7 stamps on each page!

The best bet is overseas at a consulate or embassy... the thing is check for consular hours as most are open limited times eg. mornings for foreign citizens, afternoons for american citizens.

I got lucky that a friend I know at State was able to get 26 pages added to mine a few years back and then when I was in Damascus this spring I asked the consular officer I was working with if he could add another 26 pages as mine was almost full again... he did it in less than 1 hr. I'm now up to page K on my second set... I know how stimpy feels!

I didn't know you could have a second one. What do they charge for that?

$67.

I took mine into Shanghai last week. They literally did it with no charge or hassle in 4 minutes flat.