My partner and I recently renewed our US passports - he recieved his before I did mine, as he had a trip to England looming. He received one of the new, electronic passports - a bit different than the old p'ports, with the new logo on the front cover.

Mine came a few weeks ago, looking almost exactly like the old passports - no EP logo anywhere.... back cover is identical to my old p'port.

I cannot get a hold of the US passport agency - as has been the case with many of the US folks on this board! Phone calls are routed through endless vox mail or eternal waits... their website is useless and emails go unanswered.

Does anyone here feel this may be a problem for me, or should I just not worry? Traveling to Greece in mid May...

thank you!

Hi dj,

On the Passport Office website it says that all of the old-style passports are valid until they expire.

yes, I KNOW they are good until they expire...

this, in question, is a brand new renewal, received within the last week. When everyone else I know has received the new electronic p'ports with the logo on the cover....

"yes, I KNOW they are good until they expire..."

"Does anyone here feel this may be a problem for me, or should I just not worry? "

No need to worry. If you have a new passport, which will expire in 2017, you are good until 2017.

The new ones are being issued in phases, but I don't recall what defines the phase. If they issued you the old type, it's still official.

Djuna, I recently renewed my US passport and I also received one that is apparently w/out the e-chip. I'm going to Europe next week, and would like to know if having a passport w/out an e-chip hindered your travel in any way? Or if it turned out that your passport did in fact have an e-chip even though it doesn't seem to?

Just think if you have an e chip passport, big brother knows where you are all the time.

Interesting...this post made me go and check mine. I applied in February and my daughter and husband applied at the same time. Husband's was expedited because he had a business trip in April that he needed it for. His has a barcode in back, but is just like the one that had expired otherwise. Other than checking the name spelling, etc. on mine and my daughter's (which came 2 months later), I really didn't look at them too carefully. I decided to pull them out and look based on this post and apparently ours have the e-chip. How do I know? The cover is a different weight--much sturdier for lack of a better term, the VISA pages are different and the back page says "This document contains sensitive electronics. For best performance, do not bend, perforate or expose to extreme temperatures." Very interesting to see them side by side like that. I wonder if having it up against my body in a body wallet all day long in the summer heat will be considered "exposure to extreme temperatures?"

Djuna, I think you are worried over nothing (and, BTW, they are going to know where you are with the older, scannable passports, too).

>...if you have an e chip passport, big brother knows where you are all the time.<

Every time you use your PP, BB knows where you are.

Why do you think he cares?