Visas in old passport
 

As I am left with only 2 page in my existing 60 page passport, I applied for the fresh one just recently. I have few valid visas in my existing passport - PR of Australia, multiple entry visa of USA - and I do not like to go through the pain of having them again in my new passport.

I am told that as long as I carry both the passports, I will not be required to have the fresh visa in new passport - meaning that visa in old passport will be sighted and stamp will be affixed in the new passport during immigration formalities.

This is to reconfirm however as I cannot afford to have hiccups here. Any inputs / thoughts would be appreciated.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

I would contact Australia House, I recently changed my passport into my married name, they advised I have to send my new passport in to have a visa label put in it as it needs to be in my current passport.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Went through customs at Brisbane old and new passport, visa in old passport, lady said my visa was linked to my new passport already, no stamp in new passport, no problems at all..................

Singapore Airlines, checked it out at Heathrow, prior to leaving Blighty....;)

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Australia has no problem with the visa being in the old passport - other countries may have different rules though; I'm thinking mainly of the USA who can be a bit more anal about visa/passport details. Might be worth posting on the US forum :)

Re: Visas in old passport
 

We had DD's old and new passports and ended up with a 40min wait while they rang Canberra to confirm she had a valid visa. Wouldn't let us on the flight until they had confirmed (thank goodness we are totally OCD about being hours early for check in!). We had it put in the new passport once we got back to Aus - not doing that again!!!!! Immigration said that the two passports do not link unless the passport holder contacts them to tell them. The UK passport office doesn't inform them.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Nor should they. Visas for other countries aren't a concern for the UK Passport Office. Lots of people on here do travel with their visa label for Aus in their old UK passport, but extra time at check in is always a good idea :)

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Looking at the Australia house website there is a form you fill in and email them along with a scanned copy of your new passport.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Thank you, can you please share the link?

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Well that took all of 30 seconds.
http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/visaevid.html

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Same thing happened to us with my partner's visa. We'd been told it would be fine by DIAC but the Thai Airways check in agents at Heathrow wouldn't let us check in until they'd spoken to Canberra. All fine in the end but a bit worrying at the time.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

I had a similar experience in the US when trying to fly back to Australia. It wasn't about visa being in the old passport, there was some kind of a flag on my visa. And it was a very nerve wracking experience whilst they call Canberra and left me waiting for what felt like an eternity.

OP - There is no way I would travel with my visa in an old passport unless I absolutely had to. It really does not take much to transfer it over and the pain of doing that will be far less than the check in pain at an airport.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

It is fine with DIAC - just means you may have to wait at check in while they confirm it with DIAC cos it won't show automatically on the computer - thats linked to the passport number DIAC have on file.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

Just to jump in on this thread.... We are now Australian Citizens and have valid UK Passports.

Do we need to have Aussie passport to utilise the Citizenship, or can we travel on UK passports an our citizenship status will be linked to the passports.

Also, what about the RRV's? If we are Australian Citizens, do we need to ensure the RRV's are up to date?
We will get Australian passports, but plenty of life left in the UK ones at the moment.

Thanks
Neil.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

You should get Australian passports. You don't have a visa anymore and cannot get an RRV even if you wanted one.

Re: Visas in old passport
 

So, until we get the Aussie passports......, are we ok on UK passports with valid RRV's, which is what we have at present?

We travel in 3 weeks and not sure if we get Aussie passports in time?