Another Passport Question

If you mutilate your passport you will no longer have a passport.

Your passport is US government property. It is unlawful to alter or mutilate it. You may amend contact information in the space provided.

This information is written in the passport under IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR PASSPORT (heading is all caps).

Would you get into trouble? Who knows? Could you? Yes. Could the US government or any other government refuse to honor an altered or mutilated passport? Probably.

Nigel types faster than I do.

I just checked my passport and it has 14 double-sided pages. Did you request additional pages to get such a thick passport?

Joy,

When I renewed my passport last year, a few months before its expiration date, I had to contact the U.S. State Department because I had a question. The agent informed me that anyone can renew their passport at anytime before it expires. He even mentioned that some people renew their passport days after they receive their new one, for the mere reason that "they don't like their passport photo".

So, you can renew your passport, if you wish, & request the one with 28 pages (14 double sided)
You'll just have to pay the applicable fees.

Thank you for your replies. I didn't read the pages of small print, but suspected I would not be allowed to remove pages. I guess I will just live with it for the next two years! I can't see paying the money to renew it now when I can wait until 2018. And, no I did not request the extra pages. That is just what was issued to me in through the American Embassy in Zambia.

I find myself right now in the unenviable position of having to renew my passport (after having renewed it only last year). Somehow, when stored for the last 6 months in my home safe, my passport got damp and the pages started curling up and it appears to have some sort of mold on some of the pages. I can't figure out how this happened because the safe is stored in a closet in my home office and has never been flooded or even got wet that I can recall at all.

Anyway, long story short, I looked on the State Dept. website to determine if my "damaged" passport would need to be replaced. The criteria in some cases is pretty subjective (in particular an accidentally "washed" passport), but I decided to go ahead with a renewal because, in the end (per the State Dept) the decision to reject or accept a "damaged" passport is left to the discretion of the individual border control agent at the point of embarkation/entry. I don't want to chance getting to the airport only to have a border agent reject my passport because he/she is having a bad day or needs a cup of coffee etc.

Hi all:

This is slightly off subject but it does pertain to replacing a stolen passport. During this past March I was in Dublin when a skillful pickpocket lifted my wallet and passport while I was riding the LUAS tram. Fortunately my hotel was one block away from the US Embassy and I was able to get a replacement limited term passport in less than one hour. The folks at the embassy charged me $75 for the passport and $60 to have the application expedited (I was moving on to Belfast that afternoon). So a week ago I filled out the paperwork to have the passport replaced with a standard ten year one. The fee printed on the application, which I did not have to pay 'cause I paid in Dublin, was $110 plus $60 if I wanted expedited service. It was $135 in Dublin vs $170 in the USA. Are the folks in Dublin not up to date or did I get some type of special deal or what?

I have been getting my passport from the US Consulate in Frankfurt the last 3 times and checking it quickly, it only has 28 pages. They never asked me if I wanted one with more pages. This wasn't an option at all.

If you need to replace your damaged passport, you will need to submit the following in person:
The damaged passport;
A signed statement explaining the damaged or mutilated condition of your passport book and/or card;
Form DS-11; and
All documents required by Form DS-11, including citizenship documentation (i.e., birth certificate).

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/FAQs.html

A passport is a travel record, which allows other countries to decide whether or not to give you entry into their country. The pages are used to show visas and stamps of entry/departure. By removing pages, how would the immigration officer know what had been on those pages? I bet if you told him/her they were blank, he/she would laugh in your face. They would likely suspect that you had removed those pages to eliminate evidence of travel to a country that would be problematic. Imagine if you had Syria stamps and visas on those pages and decided to remove them.

The passport pages are also numbered, so it would be easy to tell if pages had been removed. While it has already been answered - you would not only likely get into trouble, you would likely be detained and/or be stuck somewhere without a valid passport. I guess people should just realize the purpose of a passport.

Just leave your passport in your hotel or get a new one if it bothers you that much.

Replacing a lost passport is far simpler and quicker than replacing a damaged passport.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/lost-stolen.html

http://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/damaged-passport-replacement.html

Thank you all. I will definitely leave the passport as is.

Keep in mind that you can no longer (per notes this renewal) get additional pages for your passport book. I was close to running out of pages in my old passport, so I got the big one. Hope I need the extra pages!

Everything has gotten stricter post 9/11. I used to travel around Asia a lot. I kept my passport in a money belt but in humid cities it got a lot of sweat on it - to the point where the plastic over the picture was partially delaminated and the whole thing looked pretty ragged. I thought it looked like I had tampered with it and worried someone might give me a hard time about it. No one ever did.

Today, I have no doubt I would need to get a new passport.