Is there any reason to keep an expired, cancelled passport after a new one has been issued?

For example, if the effective passport is lost or stolen, would having an old one help get a new one?

If you have a copy of your old one which everyone should have, the passport # can help expidite getting a new passport.

Yes because if you have the old passport, it shows you have already demonstrated that you are a U.S. citizen - assuming that's the country you're talking about.

Yes, because your photo is of you 10 (or 20 or 30) years younger!

New passports come with a passport ID card attached. It can be carried separately.

The other aspect of new passports is that they contain a microchip.

The instructions said to look for the symbol that indicated passport lines set up for the new ones because they can be quickly scanned.

I cannot resist this dig at TSA. I wonder if they will help at the Canadian border where I have been questioned 3 times DESPITE having a passport. Silly questions like: What's your name? Where do you live? How did you get this passport?

bob ~ new passports w/ID card and microchip? When did they start to be issued?

I keep my old expired passport as a souvenir - it's chock full of colorful visas, residence permits, work permits, etc. It's it reminder of all the fabulous (and not so fabulous) places that I've visited and lived.

You keep your old passport to look at the stamps you used to get traveling in Europe.

Based on Gomiki's question, let me clarify just a little. I should have said a passport information card was attached to the folder of information that came with my new passport.

The new passport arrived just a few days ago, so it is of January 2008 origin.

I ASSUME it has a microchip because the enclosed folder has this to say:

Your new US passport contains a small integrated circuit (or chip) that conforms to the latest international passport standards. This Electronic Passport prvides:

* Automated photo verification

* Faster and more accurate immigration inspections; and

* Greater border protection and security.

There is also some other comments about securely stored information, contactless chip technology and digital signature technology.

Although the point about greater border protection might be open to debate, I concluded from the rest of the verbiage that my new passport was microchipped.

Hi BB,

>What good is an expired, cancelled passport?

It is a nice souvenir if it has stamps.

>For example, if the effective passport is lost or stolen, would having an old one help get a new one?

No, because you have made copies of the first pages of your new passport or you have written down your PP number and put it in a safe place.

Assuming you are an American, it can be used as proof of identity and employment eligibility when completing an I-9 form.

Bob - How long did it take for your new passport to arrive after it was mailed? My husband needs to renew his and I'm convinced he's waiting for a good hair day before having his picture taken, so the delay in getting moving on this! We leave end of May, but from what I understand, the waits aren't nearly as bad (if at all) as they were last year at this time. I would hate to send him a postcard saying 'wish you were here', but may have to if he doesn't get motivated to renew.

I cannot give you a good answer to the question about how long my renewal passport was in transit. I have the envelope in front of me and I see no date-time stamp on it.

I don't know if the date and time of mailing is embedded in the confirmation code or not.

The passport came via priority USPS mail from the facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

USPS says that the average delivery time for priority mail is 2 - 3 business days. Hmm.
If a holiday is thrown in there, delivery time could be 4 to 5 calendar days because little moves on Saturday!!

I would suggest that you not delay on the passport renewal. As we approach warmer weather more people will be renewing passports in anticipation of summer travel.

The requirement to have passports for travel to and from Canada and the Caribbean caused a surge in new applications last year. I have read where that surge has probably crested, but that passport applications for both new and renewed passports will remain higher for the next few years than it was pre 2007.

Given that passports are valid for 10 years, I don't see that trying to squeeze out an extra month in validity over a 120 month life span is worth the anxiety produced if you guess wrong on the timing.

Why wait. You have to have it.

I would keep the expired passport for the reasons suggested above but also if you happen to have any visas in it. When I went to get an Indian visa for my passport there was a family there quite upset because they would not be allowed to get a new visa for India without showing the old, expired original. It doesn't take up too much room, tuck it away in a desk drawer just in case.

I still have my very first passport, which dates to 1955. I have kept them all. I have no visas per se, but my 1955 passport contains my old residence permit, my Aufenhaltserlaubnis, for West Germany. It is dated 22 Dezember
1955.

The passport itself has all the stamps from the many border crossings I made during a 6 week ramble around Europe.

Yes, it is a keepsake.

Interesting how the size of the passports have changed over the years. They are now shorter by about an inch than they were.

Also, the face that looks back at me is considerably different as the passports go by.

At age 22 I looked slightly younger than I do now some 53 years later.

Not only do we retain them as a keepsake but they helped in recent litigation.

We were contacted as member of a class action against credit cards institutions for excessive fees overseaes. I am sure a number of you were contacted.

We looked over old passports to recall where and when. Usually class actions result in high fees for the attorneys, slaps on the wrist for the defendants, and little for the plaintiffs but we can always hope.

I sent my U.S. Passport renewal application by express mail on January 5th. I got back my new passport on January 17th, that is a 12 day turn around time without having to pay the expedited processing fee.

The new passport feels about twice as thick as the old one. It is very stiff, too.

Regarding the "card" that came with the passport: I think it is just a reminder to yourself -- you write your passport number and the expiration date on it. It says "This card is not proof of U.S. citizenship."

I have a friend who applied for a passport 3 months ago. She has had other passports but they were expired and she can't find them.They want more & more information. I would tell your husband to apply ASAP as you never know when there culd be a holdup.We are flying to Canada in a little over a month & have our plane tickets & a B& B for a week & I'm a nervous wreck. I think if she could have found one of her expired ones she might not have had so many problems.