New Passport, New Visa Need to know info.

[heifeng]

Hello, I recently got a new US passport while in China and I thought I would share with you some of the need to know info. (As of this July-August 2007 at least) My situation of course could be slighty different from yours, so keep that in mind when reading this.

I was told by the US Passport hotline when I was in the US I would need to apply for my new visa in the US, but I was ACTUALLY able to do so while in Beijing. My passport wasn't really that close to expiring at all (hence I still had a valid Chinese visa), but I decided just to go ahead and process a new passport so I wouldn't run into the problem of not getting a visa because my passport was approaching it's last year of being valid or something...plus I was nearly out of pages already. The US embassy in Beijing processed my Passport in exactly one week. It was very efficient. I was impressed.

However here is the important part: When you pick up your passport they will stamp it with 'CANCELLED' and add the date it was invalidated and punch holes through it. They WILL return it to you on the spot. Your visa's inside are now INVALID. Now you may ask, wtf do I do now...well here is the key, (probably no matter what your nationality) according to Chinese article sumthin sumthin or rather you have TEN days from your passport being invalidated to process a new visa in your NEW PASSPORT. This is important b/c beyond the 10 days you are technically overstaying your visa and may be fined. (to make a long story short, through some issues with my school I exceeded these 10 days and thus had to stand in the long 'overstaying' your visa line at the PSB that handles visas near yonghegong. I then almost got fined 500 yuan...but luckily after sitting down....chilling for a bit...watching the clock, and then going to a different officer, she waved the fine THIS time but wrote me up an official warning...So you see, these ten days from the date that your old passport/visa is invalidated is important. (I think that technically you can just 'wait' to pick up your NEW US passport after it's ready if you don't have your stuff in order yet to process your new visa, because once you get your new passport the old one is INVALID for travel. In hindsight I wasted about 1 month on my visa being to eager to pick up my shiny new E passport, but due to the recent US passport processing delay I was trying to do everything in advance...maybe too much so...anyway, remember 10 days to get what you need to get done DONE...long lines at the PSB are no fun..)

However, don't throw away your old passport just yet! You need to hold onto that b/c it has your most recent entry stamp into CHINA. They look at this when you register and when you leave the country.

So anyway, this issue was stressing me out for a while, hopefully it adds some insight into this mysterious 'process' of getting a new passport while in China. As of this minute on this day at least....

[roddy]

For reference, with UK passports they give you both passports back and don't cancel the old one. Basically you are free to use the old one until it expires, or switch to the new one whenever you want. This meant I got a new passport at the British consulate at the Kerry Center in Beijing, got an exit stamp in my old passport when I left China at Shenzhen, then used my new passport to enter Hong Kong. The Hong Kong border guy queried the new passport as either he noticed it didn't match the one on the passenger list or that it didn't have a China visa in it, but showed him the old one and he was perfectly happy and stamped the new one. Then got my new visa in the new passport in Hong Kong and just used that since then.

[cdn_in_bj]

For reference, with UK passports they give you both passports back and don't cancel the old one.

That is interesting. I guess they aren't too worried about your old passport getting "lost" and reappearing on the black market?

[heifeng]

For reference, with UK passports they give you both passports back and don't cancel the old one.

Yeah, I think that is why my school was convinced I could just wait until my old visa was expired despite the date marked on my passport when they cancelled it... I guess if your old passport doesn't get cancelled, then there is no real problem or 10 day deadline...

[adrianlondon]

When I got my UK apssport renewed in the UK, my old passport was returned with the corner of the front cover cut off. I think this effectively marks it as expired, no?

[roddy]

Moved a post about extra pages to the relevant topic.

I guess they cancel old passports in the UK then, but not overseas? Don't know, all I know is that I got mine back intact.

As for the old one getting 'lost' - given that they'd be expiring fairly soon anyway and you could just as easily report any passport 'lost' and get a new one, I guess they're not bothered.

[nomad]

heifeng

I had a similar experience in the UAE but the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi stapled my old passport to the new one, so as not to invalidate the UAE residence permit. Never had a problem entering or exiting the UAE, but made for a thick passport to carry around.

Thanks for the heads up in China though.