Your Passport

The photo is 13 years old, it's from when I was a goth. I had long black hair, purple eyeshadow and a nosering in it. It gets lots of funny looks as I'm going through airports.

My green card is much cooler. It's not green, it's white, and it's got secret computer chip coding stuff on the back of it. An interesting fact about my green card: the shirt I am wearing in my photo is exactly the same shirt from the cover to 13 tales from urban bohemia. Oooh, isn't that exciting?

The USA stamp is the crappiest. The Japanese one is the most ornate.

still waiting for effing poland to get accepted into the EU.

(goes to check)

yes, it is my photocard. I do look like a thug in my passport, though. I could pass for an Eastern European spy, if it weren't for the visible upside-down Belle and Sebastian badge on my lapel. However, it's better than before, in which I had a purple tie-dyed shirt, lank, unwashed chin-length hair and a slightly obscene pout.

I only have the USA. I used to have Canada and the USSR, which are cooler. Sigh.

I agree, N., the one in my passport only has the words "Admitted: Houston" and the date in library-stylee datestamp format. The Canadian one is better coz it at least says Canada and has a maple leaf. It's odd how the EU passport makes a big deal of the "this passport contains x numbered pages" malarkey in all the different languages, but the customs officials blatantly disregard what's there already and stamp on whatever page they want.

When I applied for a passport I gave my birthplace as 'Edmonton, London', but wished I'd just said 'London' as the passport came back with just 'Edmonton', giving many ppl the impression that I was born in Canada. This was because I remember being told how my father had given his birthplace as 'London' for my birth certificate and was told this was insufficiently detailed. He replied, quite reasonably, "I can't remember it was a long time ago."

As my picture, it was the first one I had done in the newer, posher (or so it seemd in 1996) PhotoMe booths where you get the chance to choose which pic to actually use. It's mnonochrome and I look v. sombre, perhaps in response to hearing that yr not supposed to smile. I look very dark around the eyes, but maybe not enough to make me look like a Goth.

I have lots of stamps, let's count - USA (23), Australia (3), NZ (1), South Africa (1), Japan (3), Singapore (2), Estonia (Nooooo-oooo!!). I seem to have a valid Australian visa too.

Most of these stamps date from 1997-2000, when I travelled lots with work. I hated the job more than I could say, but I discovered some great record shops!

Can't we do anything right??

kind of red, not too well-used, with -- yep -- an embarrassing photo. still, not long before i can change it.

Mine has: a couple of pages of full page Australian residents visas, which are kinda cool, the horrible US Visa Waiver stamp (and associated shitty bit of paper stapled in), an awesome full page full colour Indian visa, and two or three apparently indestructible Virgin Atlantic hand luggage stickers on the back. Good times.

Very boring, nothing apart from US visa waiver stamps. A bit battered by use.

an awesome full page full colour Indian visa

I have a few of those. Personal visa of pride: Myanmar. Not out of love for regime or anything, just not a lot of people have them. Oh dear, that's not something good at all :(

Not much in it. Two older passports were more interesting but:

1. Lost the first one in New York

2. Boiled the other one to smithereens in a washing machine in Portugal, trying to do a wash while still drunk from the night before

I've just got my third passport. Wow that makes me feel old. Haven't used it yet, it remains pristine for the time being. Happily to change in January. The other two have lots of stamps in them though.

Pretty new-ish with the electronic chip in it which means only lining up for two minutes in Melbourne compared to oh, fucking hours in LA. Not much except for US and New Zealand stamps. My old one was better with some cool EU stamps.

Mine is coming to the end of its life.

From the front:

Green Virgin security dot (cover)
stray staple from somewhere
Japan customs sheet (stapled)
Japan
Malaysia
Hong Kong
US A2 (expired) and shitload of A2 stamps
another staple
Sri Lanka
Barbados
Thailand
Samui
some Thai handwriting for about half a page
yet another staple
Goa
Big Full Page India Visa
US A2 (valid) and a shitload of A2 stamps
just one more staple
Cambodia
Big Full Page Cambodia Visa
Canada
Jordan (including a laminated postage stamp and giant CONTACT POLICE STATION WITHIN 14 DAYS stamp)
Pile of Virgin security stickers

business or pleasure?

Both. Thanks for asking.

a pleasure doing business

The only stamps I have are from Barbados.

I was promised an Albanian one but it didn't materialise. Fucking bastards.

some stamps from US and Ukraine

UK 2x, Holland, Canada on the latest.

Lost one in Glasgow years ago and it was confirmed by US immigration on the last trip that I will be asked for the circumstances of that loss and my mother's maiden name for THE REST OF MY LIFE whenever I re-enter the US.

Mine only has exit and entry stamps for the UK and is about to expire, which means I went almost 10 years ago now blimey. Only OS trip Ive done :( I'll get to the US some day soon.

I accidentally left my passport in my pant when I came back from Amsterdam and it went through the washer and dryer. It's pretty rumpled up, the front cover is trying to pull away from the photo page. Would a customs agent accept my explanation that it went through the laundry, or would they suspect me of trying to fuck with it? Should I get another before I travel out of the country again?

yes they'd most likely accept your explanation. yes you should get another

(this has happened to friends and customs let it slide but made it *very* clear that they needed to get a new one asap)

I had put off renewing mine and then heard all the tales of woe about how long it was taking. I finally sent it off with the hope I'd have it back sometime in April so we could go to Canada in May, and it came back in about 2 weeks.

Rock, if you had one of the newer rfid ones, the chip would be destroyed by the washer + heat, so they'd want you to get a replacement.

My photo looks something like Glenn Campbell's mugshot. Plus I walked around with it on rainy and humid days, without any proper protection, and the photo has since become dotted with inkspots.

It's never gone through the wash, but it still looks ragged enough that it would probably behoove me to get a new one before my next encounter with an especially conscientious customs agent.

I don't think this has a chip. It's a year from expiring anyway, might as well get a new one.

I take modest comfort though in knowing that I'm not the only one sporting a less-than pristine specimen.

Until the day comes when I ultimately embark upon my future career as hash-smuggler, it's not a particularly huge concern of mine.

i have two, which means no stamps

IE on the way in to EU countries: short line, no stamp
US on the way back: short line, no stamp

...except i do have a Sealand stamp in my US passport :D

it looks water-damaged (from sweat, i think), the picture is old as hell (high school, long hair, goatee), and there are no stamps even though i've been to switzerland and italy a couple of times each.

I wish more countries would stamp passports. Especially if they had interesting stamps. I've travelled quite a bit (though sadly not for a while as I've got lazy) but I only have two or three stamps in mine and they're all boring unremarkable immigration ones.

ireland has a nice big stamp

the best is when you get visas, tho

HURRAH!!!!!

You know how whatever it is you are looking for is always in the most *obvious* place possible?

I've been looking for my lost passport for SIX MONTHS.

Today while tipping out my handbag to take it and wash it, I opened the inner zipper pocket I never open coz all I ever keep in there is condoms and when was the last time *I* needed a condom - and THERE was my passport.

ha, always a great feeling to find something you thought long lost

I wish I could find my passport ;_;

Nice one. Do you have to halt a replacement process now, or were you holding out?

It's true. I remember once getting in a right state because I couldn't find my passport. I was on the phone to one of my brothers imploring him almost to the point of tears to turn the house upside down to find my passport because it HAD to be there. As it turns out, the jacket that hung on the bannister, next to which I was making the phone call, had my passport in its inner pocket.

Once I wasn't so lucky and couldn't find it at all, so ended up travelling to Italy on my brother's passport. No one batted an eyelid, even though my brothers are seven years younger than me, apart from the Italian passport control fella on the way back.

'Ees YOU?' he said increduously.

'Huh YEAH' I said, raising my eyebrows and rolling my eyes slightly to imply the great stupidity of anyone who could possibly suspect someone of travelling on a passport other than their own.

He waved me through.

£77 to renew this thing kmt kmt kmt

plus £8.17 "post office handling charge" KMFT

my passport just expired

my unexpired US visa is in the old passport, i think i now have to carry both old and new passport when i go to the states? paying £77 for that KMFFFTTTTT

to get a renewal u just need to send the old one in but i want to keep it but getting a new one from scratch is a pain in the ass waaa

i think they're meant to send the old one back. i've become v attached to the various stamps and visas in there, don't want a blank slate

#firstworldproblems

its tough

just sent away for a renewal last night, 80 quid for ten years isn't bad tbh

oh shit they do send the old one back phew!

Oh crap this reminds me I have to finish my application to renew my German one. It's this big dumb process and I need to get some original forms and some things notarized and it all has to be taken to the embassy in person. I have half of the stuff they need already submitted but I need to get the other half done now. At least this one will be good or 10 years. My old one was only good for 5 because I was under 25 when I got it or something weird like that.

im sure thatll come in handy

At this point it's mostly good for getting to use shorter customs lines when traveling but that's certainly something.

so weird how DL pictures usually suck, but I can't think of a bad pp picture I've seen.

u get to choose yr passport pic, where at the dmv they just take it w/a super sucky camera and youre stuck

i worked at photolab where we took passport pictures and people were always asking for reshoots

The one I took for this one was horrible. I thought I looked like a serial killer but then the lady at the embassy said something about how it was a great picture and I should be in hollywood and I couldn't tell if she was mocking me or not. I felt like The Griswolds in European Vacation when the French concierge makes fun of all their pictures.

Mine recently expired. I suppose I have to get a new picture? It says I can renew through the mail and my old passport picture is accurate enough!

Pretty sure you have to get new pics, sorry

general rule of thumb: whatever option costs money is the option that Immigration will recommend

Recently renewed my passport. The previous one contained stamps from just one trip to Ireland in 2000.

The passport before that one expired after a single use in 1981. On that trip I flew to London as the cheapest possible way to cross the ocean, after which I took a bus from London to Athens. This meant I got to cross a lot of borders and so it contained many stamps from countries I 'visited' for a few hours en route.

£77 to renew this thing kmt kmt kmt

before i did the conversion i was boggling at how inexpensive a uk passport is

but otm

heh last summer I got pages added to my passport. did it about three weeks after a new policy was implemented that charged $77 USD for the privilege. before that, it was free. fuckers

Renewing an expired passport / renewing a valid passport = costs exactly the same. which seems really assholeish to me.

Immigration are jerks and I hate them always.

Immigration are jerks and I hate them always.

― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, April 13, 2012 4:32 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

;_;

whatever option costs money is the option that Immigration will recommend

sex change

they would if they could make you pay them for the operation

While I'm at it, I might look at dual citizenship too, costs not much more than a passport.

really love going through my passport for the stamps in it, to remember all those trips. which is why i do not want to hand it over once it expires/runs out of empty pages. is that smth you can do?

Ask to keep the old passport and they'd prb do sth like stamp 'void' on the picture page and/or cut the corners off the other pages.

'or cut the corners off the other pages'

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/cia-spies-biometric-tech/

right they clip a corner off the cover, here in canada
i get the 48 page passport now which makes me feel worldly and special but
it's just really easy to rack up stamps going in and out of places

just walking across the border from shenzhen to hk and back = chinese exit stamp + hk U CAN STAY FOR 90 DAYS stamp + hk entry stamp + hk departed + china entry

some of the worst moments of my life have been losing my passport in foreign states---- i never actually LOSE it, i just can't find it. last time i lost it in korea somehow, with zero money in my pocket, just a plane ticket. i tore through the home of the girl i was staying with several dozen times, then did this inch by inch search, sweating profusely, heart racing. funny storrrry. suddenly a vague memory came to me of giving it to the girl to look after or something and i sort of asked her casually, "hey have you seen my passport???"

my passport is always weathered and looks slightly waterdamaged from soaking in lapsweat in a front pocket.

also i like standing in airport customs lineups or whatever and checking out passports.

thanks to seeing this thread a few days ago, i remembered to renew my passport!

they just clipped the upper corner off and let me keep the old one.
it's too bad its time has come to an end - i had a pretty gnarly stamp collection going (for someone who doesn't travel for work):
Thailand
Cambodia
Thailand
Peru
Argentina
Uruguay
Argentina
Amsterdam
Tunisia
Egypt (this one is super nice looking with a little silver reflective sticker)
Istanbul
Munich
Vienna

My passport is mainly full of US entry stamps, US Visas and holes where the uncivilised thugs staple I-94s in place.

currently renewing mine, using this pic from a wedding 'photo booth'

http://i.imgur.com/XIVqR.jpg

sup h8rs

classic passport facial expression

mine will never be revealed itt

ooh btw I learned about travelling with dual passports on the fly

totally got confused by the whole, use my Australian pp to enter/leave, use my american pp to enter. Customs/Border/Immigration ppl at the airports were v helpful in this regard, which surprised me bc their office-bound counterparts are the exact opposite of helpful

you mean use the aussie passport to enter and leave australia, right?
and the US passport to enter the US, right?

makes sense. shorter lines, no time limit on your stay.

sup icey

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/923/2004pp.jpg

xpost - exactly! it makes total sense when you say it out loud but for some reason this was a v difficult concept for my tiny brain to grasp

rip 2002

http://i.imgur.com/KO8mp.jpg

why is this so stressful?

because everything to do with Immigration is always stressful, imo

I am dealing with country A -> use country A passport if you have it. I am so silly about travel. If I had two passports, they'd be labeled or buried in a pouch labeled by country

Luckily they are labelled by country on their front cover :)

some are blue, some are maroon, maybe there are other colors

feel like green could also be a passport color

I would like a red passport

http://repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/passport.jpg?w=500

the real question is why did i wait so long to renew my passport

everyone waits so long to renew their passport. you are not alone <3

this is probably true. otoh i have left this about as long as i could before i made it impossible to actually go on the trip that i have booked. despite the fact that i work about ten minutes from the consulate and have had a completed application sitting in my desk drawer for like a month oh well baring any extraordinary circumstances i should have my emergency passport tomorrow

it is annoying that it takes so gd long to get a non-emergency passport my bf got his in like two weeks w/o any rush stupid canadians

having it is the main thing, don't beat yourself up too much

trip-wise, where are you going?

Just got a new UK passport, I rather like the pastoral scenes and weather symbols. Very practical temperature conversion scale in the gutter margin as well.

I had my UK first adult passport interview today, quite odd. It felt like a mix between a conversation with someone who finds you inexplicably interesting and psychoanalysis. (Maybe that's also what psychoanalysis feels like.) Is this new? Whenever I mention it to people they're surprised that it's a thing.

Argh. I have to renew my (Canadian) passport. Apparently, they'll let me back in with an expired one, but getting back into the Land of the Free™ will be a challenge. It'll be my first time renewing it whilst outside of Canada. Anyone have experience with this?

Idk how hard canada is, but renewing my nz passport while in the US was way easier than expected (except I wanted to change it to my married name but that was gonna make it 10x harder).

Well, the biggest issue for me is if I can still claim my place in Canada as being my place of residence. Think I'll give the Canadian consulate a ring.