Margo

Thanks, Pausanias and Mucky, this is just what I wanted to know. Unfortunately, I don't have five days to wait in London. I will be in Edinburgh a few days later--I wonder if that consulate has walk in service? It doesn't say on the web link.

Robespierre

Sometimes it pays to be a stranger in a strange land ;-) where manpower loading isn't well-understood

asalamy

Has anyone had a positive experience (i.e. timely) with applying for additional passport pages at the US Embassy in London since they only do it by mail now? They say to allow 5 days, but I'm starting to get a bit nervous with travel planned for Friday.

amp322

My passport has random stamps all over the place. The guys just open it to anywhere, and stamp in random places. Pretty soon, I will not have any fully blank pages. Only ones with single stamps spread out throughout the booklet. If there is going to be a rule about keeping entire pages free before embarking on certain trips, the stampers should keep them together.

Sounds like getting extra pages at the US Embassy in Prague is the way to go. I'm sure it's quicker than waiting for the agencies here to help you!!

sandi

With the exception of certain countries in Africa or Asia you don't need but a bit of clean space for a stamp. More often than not, Immigration stamps (if they do) wherever they want.

For extra pages, download the application from the US Passport site and return with passport. Best by FedEx with a prepaid return envelope. Until the recent backlog you could get this back within two-three weeks; nowadays it can take longer. You can send with extra expedite costs and hopefully have returned within 2/weeks.

If you're not traveling to some exotic destination where full pages are required, wait till the backlog slows and try then.

There is no charge to add pages which are glued in behind the current ones. When it comes time to renew, simply ask for the 48/page rather than the 26/page passport.

ggreen

hamlet, I noticed in my new passport that they did away with the ole "arrivals" and "departures" - maybe they finally realized the futility??

Pages now just say <i>Visas</i> at the top of each page, with a faint vertical line to, I guess, delineate between the comings and goings. (The pages are also now all 4-color with depictions of classic US landscapes, and patriotic quotes at the top of each from the likes of JFK and FDR... An eagle and the &quot;We the People&quot; quote from the Constitution grace the page opposite my photo and details. Personally I find it all a bit much - I'd rather my tax dollars go for something more useful, say, employees to expedite the passport renewal process??)

Gardyloo

Just a word to the wise that you should keep track of empty visa boxes on your passport - we had to argue our way into South Africa 3 days ago as my wife's passport didn't have enough boxes for the numerous stickers and stamps required of the SA authorities. They wanted to deny her admittance but we finally prevailed to have him stamp one of the &quot;amendments&quot; pages instead. Took an hour in the immigration office while our bags went round-and-round in the less than wonderfully secure bag claim area.