I am having a melt down!! I have post dated my passport to travel in my married name and just went to apply for our visas as we are honeymooning in the USA and it says you can't apply until the passport is valid!! I just phoned them and they said I will have to apply for it the day of issue (so wedding day!!!!) and occasionally it can take 72 hours!!! So Im going to have to get H2B to do this at midnight the night before as I wont have computer with me, I wont sleep until I know its done and I wanted a good nights sleep! going to be completely panicking that it wont go through - and if it gets put to 72 hours we wont be able to go on honeymoon!! I'll lose the honeymoon and all the money. Im in bits I cant believe when we booked it the travel agents (in fact there were 2 of them!) didnt warn me!! They knew I was going to be changing my passport as we sat and chatted about it and they booked it in my married name!!! I would never have post dated it if I had known about this, I cant cope with stress!
What will I do if it doesnt work?! This has just put a black cloud over everything I will have this over me for the next 2 months :(
CommentAuthorWhovianbride
Is you current passport not got time left on it? You can still use you passport in the old name till it runs out.
Met June 2009 on my Birthday,Met again July 2009 and got
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August 2011 Got our own place, 2011 Had our Baby Girl,
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CommentAuthorShowgirl
I didn't think you needed a visa for travel to the USA as they are part of the visa waiver scheme. I thought you just had to apply and pay for an ESTA thingy and then you're good to travel.
CommentAuthorEllenH27
Can't use an old passport, once your new one has been issued, not sure where you should go from here. maybe contact the travel agent and see if theres anyway they can help? xx
CommentAuthorSJJ
No the passport office cut up the old one :( I just cant believe noone warned me! Yeah its the ESTA im trying to apply for showgirl, it cant be done until date of passport issue :(
Making frantic phone calls now to see if can change my passport back and tickets etc this is going to cost so much money :(
I'm really sorry to say this as I'm a travel agent but we are not allowed to discuss rules around passports as we're not trained in passports so we are always told to tell customers to contact IPS the passport governing body before applying etc x
The only thing I do know is that even if u did have your old passport it would be in your maiden name and with your old passport number, so that esta wouldn't be valid with your new passport anyway as if u get a new number u have to apply again even if you've got any time from the two yr visa on it x
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CommentAuthorElinor Claire
I was advised to book in my maiden name as I can use my current passport. If it's possible I think changing your passport back is probably your best bet. You'll lose more money if you're not able to go on your honeymoon.
30th August 2014 was the best birthday ever.
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CommentAuthorSJJ
I have spoken to travel agents and it would be 30% cost of holiday to change, passport office have never had the situation before apparently and I would have to send everything off with a cover letter for them to "review" no guarantees. So going to have to sit and wait until wedding day and keep fingers crossed there is no delay! :( i spoke to the US embassy and they have reassured me a bit about it.
I do understand its not the travel agents responsibility but its just that she actually told me the minute I got my new passport I should apply for the ETSA. So its not that they didnt inform me, its that they gave me the wrong info and i trusted them as thought they would know more than me :(
Nothing I can do now but hope, keep your fingers crossed for me!! Thanks for the advice, its great to have a sounding board on here xx
CommentAuthorLyndsey M
I applied for an ESTA in Sept last year and it only took about 5 hours to be approved, I know its not a risk you would ever want to take but I hope they can maybe assure you it will go through on time?
Can the ESTA people do some sort of check to see that it will go through, or able to rush it in anyway?
CommentAuthorSJJ
No they said they couldnt which is a shame, but I could phone them up if its taking a while. Thanks thats reassured me a bit! Do you need the ETSA when u check in or is it just when u land? x
CommentAuthorAlexN29
I applied for an ETSA recently and I got it approved in the same day. How many days do you go on honeymoon after the wedding?
CommentAuthorSJJ
2 days after! x
CommentAuthorAlexN29
You'll be fine! Don't worry about it :)
CommentAuthorlala "mod" bunni
Hun all you need is an ESTA which can be done online in 10 mins
Hi Lala, the problem is I cant apply for it until the wedding day, and it can take up to 72 hours to process and we fly less than 48 hours after :( x
CommentAuthorInDreamland
Don't worry yourself about it hun. It takes 10 minutes to apply for and I got mine within minutes of applying.
72 hours is worst case scenario and is probably not the norm. Everyone I know get theirs approved within hours.
Married the love of my life on Saturday 11th May 2013 xxx
Had our dream perfect honeymoon in Hawaii!
CommentAuthorElizabethF49
Have you applied for an esta before?
Do you have any criminal convictions? When do you get married? We applied for our and got what I assume is a standard reply email stating it can take up to 72 hours etc, by 9am the next morning I have approval for me my oh and our ds, I know it's easy for us to say but try not to worry.
After 7 years and 11 months he proposed to me 18.10.13
Our son is 5 years old and our world
Getting married 15.08.15.
Life hasnt been easy but we have each other :)
