Pages in U.S. Passport

[Cqis]

How many pages should you have empty on a passport that has three more years. DH has seven pages left and I have five. We are entering six countries on our next cruise in Oct 2013.

[Jazmyn49]

When we get down to 4 pages remaining, we send our passports in for extra pages. We love last minute deals and want to be ready should any appear. But beware, it's expensive to add pages! Not as much as if you lose a passport, but close at $82. Pages cannot be added until you have 4 or fewer pages remaining.

[ajcruiser]

Be careful because not all "blank" pages are equal. Check the title of the page. The US State Department website shows entry requirements for all countries. Many countries require 2-3 blank visa pages for a single entry. We found ourselves needing more pages and realized that it was more cost effective to just get a new passport. You can now request the extra pages be put in the new passport at no extra charge.

[jtl513]

Are you aware that many countries don't actually stamp your passport anymore if it has the RFID chip? Our current passports are three years old and we have exactly three stamps in them ... all on the same page. We have done an Eastern Med cruise from Venice to Istanbul and back with three stops in Greece, one Caribbean cruise, and one cruise to Bermuda. We got all three stamps on the Med cruise - two in Frankfurt Germany where we changed planes coming and going (i.e., where we entered and left the EU), and one on landing in the US. We missed our scheduled stop in Croatia, so that might have added one more. We got no stamps on either of the other cruises.

 

I looked at your itinerary, and think 5 pages is plenty ... if you have the RFID chip. :)

 

Check the title of the page.

What do mean by this? Mine just say Visa, and a patriotic quotation, mostly from former presidents.

[Randyk47]

Even without an RFID chip many countries just don't bother. Most of of our Med cruise was within the European Union so once we entered through England there were virtually no checks. I have my passport, old type without RFID, in front of me right now and there are no stamps from our transit through England coming or going, a stamp from the airport in Barcelona, a stamp from Greece, and finally a visa and stamps from Turkey. The thing I found interesting was the stamp from Greece. Our passports were kept by the ship so if officials at the ten ports we stopped at actually looked at them only the Greek officials took the time to actually stamp them. Doesn't mean the paasports weren't looked at n other ports just that they weren't stamped.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We just orderd 50 page books and it was the same price ..

[cruisemom42]

It is not the RFID chip that cuts down on passport stamps -- it's the travel regulations within certain zones of the EU. It's not required any longer to stamp your passport when going between certain countries (e.g., Italy to France, Greece to Italy, etc.)

 

I have a passport with the RFID chip and I'm faced with getting extra passport pages after only 5 years due to multiple trips to places where stamps (and visas) are still required.

[ajcruiser]

Are you aware that many countries don't actually stamp your passport anymore if it has the RFID chip? Our current passports are three years old and we have exactly three stamps in them ... all on the same page. We have done an Eastern Med cruise from Venice to Istanbul and back with three stops in Greece, one Caribbean cruise, and one cruise to Bermuda. We got all three stamps on the Med cruise - two in Frankfurt Germany where we changed planes coming and going (i.e., where we entered and left the EU), and one on landing in the US. We missed our scheduled stop in Croatia, so that might have added one more. We got no stamps on either of the other cruises.

 

I looked at your itinerary, and think 5 pages is plenty ... if you have the RFID chip. :)

 

What do mean by this? Mine just say Visa, and a patriotic quotation, mostly from former presidents.

 

I would suggest you look at entry information for South Africa, for example, which details that if you do not have 3 blank visa pages in a row they may not allow entry. Just suggesting one should check the rules for any particular country.

 

The last 2-3 blank pages (mine has a Thomas Jefferson quote) do not say "visa" on them and may not be counted as blank pages by some countries according to the State Department.

 

Just to clarify, it's not me being fussy, it is info I read on the State Department website. There are some "refused entry" stories on the web. Wouldn't chance it myself.

 

I agree that for any specific itinerary it may not be an issue.

[Lady Chew]

I would suggest you look at entry information for South Africa, for example, which details that if you do not have 3 blank visa pages in a row they may not allow entry. Just suggesting one should check the rules for any particular country.

 

The last 2-3 blank pages (mine has a Thomas Jefferson quote) do not say "visa" on them and may not be counted as blank pages by some countries according to the State Department.

 

Just to clarify, it's not me being fussy, it is info I read on the State Department website. There are some "refused entry" stories on the web. Wouldn't chance it myself.

 

I agree that for any specific itinerary it may not be an issue.

 

The red highlight above is certainly the case for China. When we applied for our China visas last summer, my husband's was refused because he did not have two adjacent blank visa pages .. he had only one or two blank visa pages but they were not adjacent; there were several blank pages in the back, but they were not marked "visa" We had to send his passport in to have additional pages added, it only took two weeks but I don't remember the cost.

I had gone through the HAL website looking for visa info, they recommended a particular company to help obtain visas, and I went through its website ... and it had nothing about two blank pages or adjacent pages ... it just said you need a blank page for your China visa, so we thought we were good. Fortunately we had left plenty of time to get our visas!

[jtl513]

The last 2-3 blank pages (mine has a Thomas Jefferson quote) do not say "visa" on them and may not be counted as blank pages by some countries according to the State Department.

Some countries maybe, but not all. The last page in our old passports (marked "Amendments and Endorsements", not Visa) is what the Russians chose to use in St Petersburg. There were lots of other pages they could have used.

 

The second to last page, marked the same way, was used by Tunisia.

[Hlitner]

Once upon a time the State Department would add additional pages at no cost. But now that they charge for that service it really makes sense to get the extra pages when you renew (or get a new) passport. Right at the top of the form there is an option box to get a 52 Page Passport and it does not cost any more then the smaller version (about half the pages).

 

Hank

[Cqis]

Thanks to all of you. I will send for a new passport. Another issue came up. My passport will expire June 2014. We sail in Oct and return Nov.2013.

As I said I will apply for a new 52 pg passport. DH expires 2017. He said that he will get new pages. He says that we are ok as it is. NO WAY. I will take care of his passport,like I always do.

 

Thanks again.