differing visa situations

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    stevescoots
    Participant

    I recently had a costley experiance regarding visa’s, I wonder if others have found similar situations around the world.

    I am a holder of a china resident visa, which was in my full passport. I have to be in china to renew it. Normally i used to fly to HKG on my new passport and cross the border on foot where China immigration used my valid visa in my old passport (full but valid) but used my new one and stamped it for entry, done this a few times. This last visit I was flying direct and it was a good job I phoned UK immigration first. Whilst I could enter china ok the Airlines would refuse me onto the plane as in thier opionion any Visa must match the passport actually being flown on….

    I ended up having to pay almost £500 to get a single entry Tourist visa in my new passport in 4 hours just so I could get on the plane to get there. Furthermore it cost another £900 to do my resident visa in new passport, The old one valid until 2012 but thanks to UK flight rules I had to renew early. Wouldnt travelling be much easier if immigration services or airlines actually understood visa requirments better.

    not so much a compliant, more a highlight of usual beauracratic nonsense!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Steve – is this not a similliar discussion to the old argument about USA visas. I still retain a USA Multiple entry B-1/B-2 visa valid indefinitely in an old passport, allowing me a 6 month visit I recall.

    I have more chance of flying to Mars and back than being able to have the still valid visa recognised (and there is no wording on the visa stamp to say it is conditional on the validity of any particular passport).

    My brother, who merely asked the question to a USA immigration officer, got a simple answer, the officer ripped the page out of the old passport and said as the travel document was no longer valid and therefore he was removing the visa!


    stevescoots
    Participant

    Yes there is similarity. where the inconvieniance comes it and potentialy a big problem for anyone who does not check fully is that the state that matters, China Authority, alow the use of a valid visa if its in the old passport.

    The UK authority/Airlines at the point of departure do not, effectivly they use one blanket rule for all nations. Its not a problem for me just a cost but for some they may get caught out by this.


    Cedric_Statherby
    Participant

    Martyn

    I also had the old US B1/B2 visa valid for multiple entries indefinitely. For a few years after the expiry of the passport it was in, I was able to continue to use it by showing the new passport along with the visa in the old one. But one day it was refused at Heathrow – huge inconvenience as it meant I could not fly pure and simple, and lost that trip completely (BA did however refund my full fare, as it was flexible).

    I did quite a lot of digging, because I was so annoyed, and the position appeared to be that the US authorities changed the rules so that to be valid, a visa had to be (a) unexpired – naturally – and (b) in an unexpired passport. (b) was the new condition and was tied up with tightening of rules after 9/11 And nowadays of course their ESTA premits are only valid for 2 years anyway.

    I guess “indefinitely” on our visas actually meant “undefinitely until or unless we change the rules”. Which realistically a state must be allowed to do!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    The additional problem that the USA visa issue/esta provides is that I would like to buy a car in the States where I have a home. However, at the moment with a 90 day visa, my state driving license remains valid for…….90 days……….making it extremely difficult to obtain a fair price for car insurance. If I get the 6 month visa, that will only allow me a driving license for………….6 months.

    It seems that that the Americans are restricitng their own trade as I know many English people caught in this trap, who all want to buy cars but are refused driving licenses for longer that the validity of their visas.

    What makes no sense at all is that you would think the American authorities would prefer people to drive on an American license, purely so they had a recognised and valid USA ID.

    This is America 2011

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