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I am an Indian citizen holding an Indian passport. I went to VFS to apply for a Schengen visa, and they noticed that the passport cover is coming off. I did not notice properly when they noticed if the binding is coming off or if it is just the cover coming off from the booklet. They did accept my application though. I am traveling to the US with a break in Europe for a week.

I am planning to get a re-issued passport using the Tatkal, but I am wondering if I should get the visas also stamped again in the new passport. As per the page here, the US embassy in Japan seems to suggest "If the photo page on your passport has been damaged (e.g. has become detached, or looks like it may become detached, from the rest of the passport), please apply for a new visa in a new passport, submitting both the damaged and new passport in support of your application." Do I need to apply for new visas and get them stamped in the passport?

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  • Will I be able to get an official answer from their embassies which I can show in the airports?
    – ajp
    Commented Feb 8, 2020 at 10:30

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You can show a new passport and the visa in the old passport - that's OK both with the Schengen countries and the US:

Per TIMATIC, the database used by airlines:

For the US:

A passenger may enter the USA with a valid visa in an expired passport, if also holding a valid passport of the same nationality

For the Netherlands (same rules throughout Schengen):

Valid visas in full, invalidated travel documents are accepted if accompanied by a new travel document

So no, you don't need to get new visas in your new passport.

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  • More specifically, my old passport the visa is slightly damaged. The cover is coming off, but the id page and the visa page are intact.
    – ajp
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 8:20
  • @ajp In that case, if you already have both Schengen and US visas, I wouldn't even bother getting a new passport if I were you, but if you do get a new one, my answer applies: just get a new passport and show it together with the visas in your old one
    – Crazydre
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 10:11
  • (+1) Note that Schengen countries used to handle this differently and it took a court case to harmonize practices.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Feb 23, 2020 at 16:57

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