Need help – adding more pages to US Passport
 

I’ve had a bulk of international business travels in the past year; hence my passport is now close to full. I understand I can submit an application request to add more pages (form DS-4085) at no additional cost. However, I have several questions.

First, I would like to give my employer an estimate on how long I will be unavailable for international business travel. Hence, does anyone know how long it takes to get extra pages added to your passport without using expedite service? For example, if I send out my application to the National Processing Center in Philadelphia today, what is the average wait time to get my passport back into my hands?

Secondly, how exactly are the extra pages added to an existing passport? Do they actually re-stitch extra pages after page 24 and are the numbered as pages 25~48? Also, despite my passport has an issue date of January 2007, they gave me the old type passport without the IC chip. Will this affect anyway in the passport pages that I am issued?

Your comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

kebosabi

if during your next international trip you're in a city where us embassy/consulate is located, take 1/2 day off, walk in, ask for extra pages, and you're done. no charge and usually done while you wait or few hours at most. Some locations will try to tell you 3 days and if you have the time, then no big deal, but if you don't, just state your case and they will make an exception.

did it twice, in tokyo (told 3 days), done in 2 hours, and in warsaw, done in about 1/2 hour.

my extra pages were taped in the middle of the passport. they stamp it with the amended date.

I've never added pages when in the US, but have done it a few times over the years at different US consulates overseas (I think twice in Madrid and once in Phnom Penh). IIRC, there is no charge when having pages added at a US consulate, and it's done while you wait -- I don't think I ever waited more than an hour at the most; adding in time for and going through security, you should be able to get the whole thing done in 2-4 hours.

Why not just build in a little extra time (say, a half day) on your next overseas trip? Your employer should be happy to accommodate you, as it will certainly be faster than sending your passport to Philadelphia and waiting for them to turn it around.

As for the page numbering, my current extension is numbered with letters, rather than numbers. So I have pages 1-11 (or whatever) and then A through W (or whatever), and then 12 through 24.

- Michael

btw, don't freak out when you see a long line of people waiting at the embassy. i almost turned around in tokyo when i saw the looooong line at 9am in the morning, until i realized that this was the locals. for us citizens, they have a separate line. i assume that's true for any embassy/consulate.

You should be able to go to the passport office in LA and do it in a day or two.

I had extra pages added at the Houston office last year, and a friend had them put in at the Miami office same day last December.

My extra pages have letters instead of numbers for each page, and as noted above they are stamped with the extra date. Mine are "taped" in with the endorsement in the back there are extra pages.

Ciao,
FH

I mailed my passport to get extra pages added on Mar 13 2008. I will try to remember to post when (and if) I get it back.

MisterNice

You will have no trouble adding pages to a non-chip PP. I've had it done a number of times. Overseas, some US embassies do it while you wait. Although there is no charge for adding pages, you can pay a $60 expediting fee here in the US and get the pages added in a few hours.

As previously mentioned, the pages are attached with tape-wings.

The 24 added pages run A-X. All are usable for full-page visas except for the first page (A) which has the supplement info and a raised seal.

It sounds like you travel a fair amount, based on your PP page burn rate. You can request two 24-page inserts which will most likely be granted. I used to go for one insert at a time, which was annoying. I once asked what it took to get several inserts at one time. The reply from the consular official: "all you have to do is ask" ! :)

I did this just last month (after being lectured by a US Immigration officer because I didn't have any more blank spaces in my passport). I sent it to the passport office via FedEx and enclosed a pre-addressed form and envelope for them to FedEx it back to me. I didn't pay for expedited service, but I had it back in about two weeks, with the new pages taped into the middle.

First of all, thanks everyone for their fast and prompt responses!

This was the first time that I've used up all of my pages in my passport so naturally I had many questions. But thanks to everyone's input, I see that I have nothing to be worried about.

I am also thankful for the idea of going to an overseas consulate/embassy to get this done in a jiffy. That's a nice to hear as I will actually be touring one of my company's plants in Tijuana this weekend (via driving on my own car :td:). I hope I'll get some extra time on Monday to visit the US consulate in Tijuana for my request.

And thank you to UAL Traveler for the additional input of asking for two sets at the consulate to spare me some time in the future. Seeing that I've used up my pages in little over a year, I think it's best to get two sets inserted into my passport.

I'll post back a full report with the outcome when I return on Tuesday.

Mine were actually stitched in. Just got them added about 3 months ago. None chip passport, same lettering as others. No issues

About 1 week with an expedite service (I was travelling domestically so had them delay delivery)

Denied more pages
 

Four years ago, when my passport was nearly full (and not knowing any better), I went in to a passport office in the TPA airport post office. On the spot they took my passport and said it was "damaged" (it seemed fine to me, and I had recently returned from China). They said I could not travel with that passport, and made me file a renewal. Then, when the new passport arrived, the endorsements page said "this passport was issued to replace a damaged passport."

I was looking forward to having new pages stitched in - to me it's like a rite of passage. So, I guess I just need to keep on truckin' to get more stamps and visas...

I noticed that a lot of US Consulates lately make you make an appointment online before you can go get your passport renewal/pages added etc. I ran into this challenge this past February in Sydney. You might want check to see if you have to do that in Tijuana.

I imagine that the US Consulate in Tijuana must be a nightmare, and practically beseiged by local visa applicants; at the same time, given the proximity to the US, they may have reduced US Citizen Services. Make sure you find out the correct times / place for US Citizen Services, as you might otherwise waste a lot of time making your way through the crowds -- only to find that you won't be attended to at that time.

- Michael

as per my previous post, tokyo had the same "rules" yet, I just walked in without an appointment and had the extra pages within couple of hours. the appointment rule is nothing new, it's been around forever, but it's hardly ever enforced for such mundane tasks as extra passport pages.

but i agree about tijuana. that may be one of the few exceptions.

I recently had extra pages put in a the LA Passport Office. I paid for the expedited service -- $60 I think but it could have been $40. I made an appointment (very important!) for Thursday and the passport was ready by Tuesday, just went back to pick it up. A year or so ago (before the big rush got going) a friend sent his off to have pages added and it took well over a month. May be worse now.

As was mentioned above, the inserted pages are lettered. They are the color and style of new passports and so don't match my 5 year old passport. When I used it the first time in DUS it got some close looks and a few questions, but no hassles.

I did it in London at the Embassy in Sept - took about 2 hours wait time in the late morning - no charge.

The passport was in my mailbox on Mar 19 so it took 6 days for the pages to be added and its return without using the $60 expedited service option.

MisterNice

Is this a travel legend or wasn't there in the past some gigantic 96-page "megapassport" that was like a little hardcover book?

I was running down to my last 3 squares and was about to enter South Africa. Of course, gotta have 1 blank page to satisfy South African immigrations folks and that darned visa sticker. So, I stopped into the US Consulate in Dubai. I asked if I could have 2 sets of additional pages added and they said "sure, no problem". I just had to fill out 2 applications. It was finished in less than 5 minutes. It's a little like entering Fort Knox there, but was fast, easy, and friendly.

I should've taken care of this during the last month, a slow travel period for me, and didn't. Not urgent w/ 16 squares blank, but it's an uneasy feeling. I think I'll see if I can get it taken care of at the SF Embassy soon.

I wouldn't be surprised if my last PP was about this size with three or four additions. I second the suggestion of just having it done in an embassy. I cannot comment on the appointment issue, as I never had an appt and was never turned away. Each embassy does have their quirks, though. Such as in Santiago, Chile, I had to have a drivers license to enter the embassy area. Average wait was about an hour. Cost is gratis.

Has anyone done this in SF? The SF Passport Agency page speaks only of those needing visas w/in 14 days of travel and appts are required. Would they let in someone who needs extra pages?!

The Philadelphia PP agency certainly allows expedited processing for page additions, so I would expect the SF people to do the same. Remember... even if you're only adding pages, and want it same day, the fee is US$60.

Deleted

I went to the US embassy in Beirut last August, and they turned me down for extra pages in my passport. Ugh, what a slog it was to get there...however, even though I was at three, I was informed that if I went back to a place where I had already received extra pages, then I would be able to find success. Indeed, in Hong Kong, they gladly added a fourth in fifteen minutes.

Okay, I think I may have a problem.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone here for their helpful insights on getting more pages added to my passport. I was able to go to the US consulate in Tijuana on Monday and they did it in a few hours.

However, the quotation from UAL Traveler worries me: They didn't give me one with a raised seal on page A.

The extra pages were added with a taped-wing after page 24. On my new page "A" it reads "This supplement, under seal, forms a part of the passport. Ce supplement, sous sceau, fait partie integrante du passeport." However, there is no raised seal.

The consulate in Tijuana did however place a visa-type sticker on page B which reads: "This passport was amended on 24-Mar-2008 to add visa pages to passport number xxxxxxxxx"

Should I be worried?

[Should I be worried?[/QUOTE]

Don't Worry! Be Happy!

Had exactly the same situation on my most recent page addition about a year ago. No seal and the words "under seal" were crossed out. No problems in either entering the US or other countries.
A previous page addition about two years ago did have the seal, however. Seems like the requirement for the seal has been dropped.
Thanks for the tip in the thread to ask for two sets of extra pages at once. Never thought of this before. Saves a lot of time and trouble

Rens

I believe you're fine with the sticker amendment. I have numerous amendments in one of my US passports that sometimes have a seal, and sometimes not. The last time I had a double insert was about three months ago, and they did carry the raised seal under the stamped phrase (not a sticker) that is essentially identical to the phrase on your sticker. US embassies and consulates have some flex in their procedures.

Happy travels:)

I got mine in Berlin and they did the same thing. They even crossed out "Under Seal" by hand with a green pen on the first page. They printed the visa sticker upside down and put it in the wrong way. Never had a problem (30+ entries) since.

On another note, is there a limit to the number of extensions?

The limit on the number of page inserts, as told to me by a consular official, is determined by the amount of original visa pages in the passport. Each insert must be attached to two such pages. For example, a 48-page passport has 38 usable pages (pages 8-45, with even page 8 being a left hand page, and odd page 45 being a right-hand page), which allows a total of 19 inserts. So, with essentially 23 usable pages per insert, you can add 437 pages for a total of 475 pages. That's why I get a 48-page pp on renewal.

Your assumption is incorrect. In Ho Chi Minh City you take a number and wait along with everyone else.

The situation may vary by location. In Phnom Penh, for example, American Citizen Services are available only in the afternoon; non-citizens applying for US visas must go in the morning.

My previous 10 year passport had the ominous amendment that "This Passport is a replacement for a stolen Passport". It ended it's useful life with around 70-80 pages about 18 months ago. All the inserts were added outside of the US without question and in short order.

I had a 1 year temp passport issued out of Melbourne for a short while and only 8 months ago got a new 10 year pp also issued overseas. I'll be adding new pages in a couple of months but hope to be traveling on an AU pp within a couple of years.

Funny thing though, the old pp had a sense of gravitas and experience about it. The new, little thin thing just looks wussie.

have had extra pages added in singapore. No wait to enter embassy and done in 15 min.

I did it in London in November 2005. Total of less than 90 minutes. Separate line from non-citizen services. No charge. No big deal. I've got a new passport now. And because I collect stamps agressively--dash into Korea for 10 minutes while in transit at Incheon just to get the stamps--now I need more pages. I've never been to the Embassy in Bangkok, so I might give it a try on an upcoming visit. Failing that, Singapore looks like a good option.

Glad to hear that the CBP officer at DFW who was reluctant to stamp me on my return and told me I couldn't get pages added was full of it.

Can the new e-passports have the inserts added? I heard they no longer issue 48 pagers, so I am not sure if inserts can be added.

Thanks

Was it a passport with the chip?

I had one of the new "bio-metric" passports issued at the Houston passport office with extra pages, in less than a day.

A friend had the same thing done at the Miami office last December. Another friend had pages added in Miami at that time.

Ciao,
FH

I don't think the spine of any of my 48-page passports would hold 19 supplements of pages without falling apart first. They had enough issues with 5-6 supplements.

I sent my passport in on 3/26 to get additional pages added, and it just came back today (4/5). My 2nd set of pages to be added, these were the new style (landscapes) vs the old state seal pages. My original PP was 48 pages (now 100) and I still have 4 years on it left..