Canceled passport after k-1 visa

[kolorin 2]

Hello guys, I have a question regarding my fiance visa and I hope you can help me again. As you know besides the yellow folder you receive as part of the package, the one-time entry visa is stamped in your passport.

The problem is that my passport will expire some months after my arrival to the US, and I thought I could extend it, but in the mexican passports office they told me that I have to cancel this in order to get the new one.

Would be fine if I have both passports with me at the entry port on my arrival?

I was thinking to renew it in the US but I don't know how hard can be or if it this service is available in many cities.

Thanks for your help

[HeatDeath 431]

Mexico will cancel your current passport before giving you a new one, as they say.

That would be bad, because cancelling a passport cancels everything in it, including your K-1 visa.

So no, you can't show up at the US border with a current, empty Mexican passport, and a canceled Mexican passport with an unused K-1 in it. It would not be fine. You would not be allowed in.

Canada has a mechanism where Canadians in the US can renew their passports by mail. I would be somewhat surprised if Mexico doesn't have some method of renewing a Mexican passport without having to leave the US. Call the Mexican consulate nearest to your future American home. They'll be able to tell you what the process is, or point you to the right Mexican government website.

Alternatively, ask or search in the Mexican sub-forum here. I'm sure this has been discussed there dozens of times, just as the analogous problem has in the Canadian sub-forum.

Edited July 31, 2011 by HeatDeath

[lovepath 11]

If they told you that you have to cancel your old passport that had the visa in it to get the new passport, then how are you going to have two passports? If is at all possible to renew your passport after you enter the US, then that might be the route with less hassle. Who knows how long it will take the embassy in mexico to print you a new visa on your new passport.

Good Luck.

[Ryan H 3,902]

I was thinking to renew it in the US but I don't know how hard can be or if it this service is available in many cities.

Your best bet is probably this, locate the closest Mexican Consulate to where you will be living in the US and take care of your passport renewal there.

[HFHI 0]

You should check with the US Embassy or Consulate in your country to be safe, but I've read for student visas, it is okay to use the visa in an expired passport when re-entering the US...but it might be stricter for K-1 visas. Good luck.

[HeatDeath 431]

A student visa is multiple entry, and generally good for several years, so if the visa is still valid it might still be good if it is in an expired passport, but even at that, it probably needs to be accompanied with a current passport. I don't know if it would still be good if it is in a canceled (as opposed to passively expired) passport. I suspect it might not be.

Either way, a K-1 visa is single use, and I don't think the consulate will even put it in a passport that is going to expire before the K-1's expiration date, so I would think it even that much less likely that it's validity would survive the cancellation of the containing passport.

[monyfer 27]

I can't speak for the K-1 visa, but my fiance's Mexican passport expired a few months ago, and that passport had his US tourist visa in it. They canceled the old passport and gave him a new passport, but they said they couldn't transfer the tourist visa over, so he has to travel with both. When he came to visit me just last month he came with both and showed both the expired passport with tourist visa and the new passport to customs and it was fine. Again, not sure if it would be different for a K-1 but it was ok for tourist...so...