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I removed a visa sticker from my passport. Is my passport considered damaged?

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    Denied entry to where?
    – Traveller
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 6:41
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    On a related note, why did you do that?
    – Anish Sheela
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 8:33
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    Travelling to Bangaladesh? Even with some pushback, you will be allowed entry by border control, as its a right to enter your own country.
    – Anish Sheela
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 8:34
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    @AugustineofHippo Compare the 2 circular red/white/yellow marks at the bottom of each page. The one on the left is clearly different. It looks to me that the visa removal lifted the surface coating of the page and revealed the white interior of the sheet. Also look at the horizontal line at the top of the page where it says VISAS. That line is incomplete, also indicating page damage.
    – Peter M
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 12:45
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    why did you remove the sticker? Generally removing anything official from your passport (including visa stickers) seems like a very bad idea
    – Tristan
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 14:16

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Your passport has been damaged, by the standards set by the Bangladesh government:

Any willful damage to passport or unauthorized changes/corrections on a passport will render it invalid.

Removing a visa sticker is obviously an "unauthorized change", and therefore your passport is now invalid.

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Yes. This passport is considered damaged, as you messed with the pages. You have to get a new passport, claiming it as damaged. You will be denied entry (except in Bangladesh). Or, may get a lengthy interrogation on why you did that (can happen when you try to enter or leave Bangaladesh). Safest option is to just replace the passport, before leaving the country.

Let me elaborate. Your country's official notices a visa being torn up. What are you trying to hide? Did you visit Syria and joined ISIS? Or did you visit Israel for a business meeting? Usually a person not wanting to have a record of visiting a country means a very suspicious thing, as border agents are concerned.

Ok, let's consider the case where you are applying for a visa. The officer will definitely see this page and will conclude that you are trying to hide something and will deny your visa automatically, as you are deemed risky. See the linked question for an actual case.

Personally, some of my entry seals were damaged in my old passport due to water damage from rain. I had great difficulty convincing immigration official to leave the country, even though it was clearly evident that it was an accident. I replaced the passport before the next trip.

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    While I agree with your last sentence, you seem to be very sure of your answer yet haven't given any sources for your information. Have you got any sources to say that they "will be denied entry" and that the passport "is considered damaged"?
    – Midavalo
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 18:15
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    I don't feel like that statement needs support @midalvo.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 1:42
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    @Midavalo Passports are official documents of the goverment that issued it. In most cases it also belongs to that goverment (often stated directly somewhere in the passport). The visa pages are reserved for official use. Most countries have laws that official documents that have been tampered with or badly damaged are invalid. The same for the willfull damage of property that doesn't belong to you. Quoting the sources for such fundamentals is not required (Ignorantia juris non excusat - Wikipedia).
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 5:46
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    Just elaborated a bit more. Israel case was mentioned as Bangladesh specifically mentions its passport is not valid for Israel.
    – Anish Sheela
    Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 9:49
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    @MarkJohnson, That maxim only means that not knowing the law doesn't excuse not obeying it -- it doesn't mean that one would magically get that knowledge automatically, without learning it from somewhere; or that unsourced claims on the internet would automatically become trustworthy just because someone drops a latin quote. Or in other words, even if it's obvious and fundamental to you, it doesn't mean it's obvious to everyone else.
    – ilkkachu
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 19:24
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On whether your passport is considered damaged: in theory, yes

Whether you will be denied entry: really depends. I had a BD passport with missing pages. A couple of countries created 0 problems. After going all around the world, it was the BD immigration which saw the detached pages and denied me my flight. As it happened, that was the only time I kept the pages in my passport.

After days of trying to work with the useless Bangladesh Passports, I just booked a flight and superglued the pages.

Funny how $2 could have saved me thousands of $$$. So yeah, most likely there'll be a problem if the detached sticker is provided with the passport. You could consider gluing it back.

Now, if you're applying for a visa through the embassy of the countries which issued that sticker, good luck.

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