Damaged Passport (Photo Page)

[Harry442]

Hi there, I'm new here, and would like some help and advice please.

I'm due to travel abroad in the next couple of weeks (Germany and Ireland), but my passport is slightly damaged.

The pages are curled ever so slightly, and the 'laminated photo page' is curled quite a bit, and the corner of the lamination page has been separated from the 'paper'. The photo itself and the numbers at the bottom of the page are still in fine condition and are perfectly legible.

My questions o requests for advive, are therefore as follows:-

Will I be able to travel with my passport in the above state?
Will gluing the 'photo page' be sufficient?

If the above two questions are 'No's', how much is, and how long does it take to get a replacement passport?

Many thanks in advance for nay info or advice you may be able to provide.

[ymwoods]

If you travel up to the passport office then you can wait a few hours and pick it up same day. Otherwise for (I think) £90 you can have it posted and takes 5-7 days.

Not so sure about the damage though, I would hazard a guess that glueing is a big no no as it may be seen that you have tried to glue the pages back after tampering with them.

[thehawk]

You can attempt to travel but it is really at the discretion of the immigration officer at your destination that will really matter. Mine is a bit tattered and it's starting to get a lot of further inspection.

[UpTheIron]

Harry442 said:

Will gluing the 'photo page' be sufficient?

I would expect that any kind of repair / tampering would make it's acceptance less likely.

[andy_s]

I had the same thing, was quizzed for a domestic flight over it at check-in, they said I could have replaced the photo. I questioned whether leaving the page flapping apart was the hallmark of the master forger but my attempts at humour fell on deaf ears. I was then quizzed about it on the way back into the UK, this time because I had glued it - the glue obviously shows up under UV light and then they did think I was a crap master forger.


They rec'd I get a new one which I think is the answer you're looking for.

[Simon Brooks]

depending how far north you are the passport office in Peterborough are very helpfull and may be worth a call to see if they can get it replaced in a few hours for you. got to be better then arguing the toss with boarder staff

[Harry442]

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

So I think I'm better to get a new one (if I can in time for my journeys), but I'd need to get it done 'same day', so does anyone know if you can do this, and if so, how much it would cost?

Thanks.

[f13ldy]

I was told as long as the photo can't be removed then it is still OK. Mine was peeled up to the corner of the photo, so much that I could move it around inside its setting.

However, this didn't stop US immigration having a long hard look at it and trying to pick it apart.

It was after that I decided to get it changed.

[MikeDH]

My old one had been through the washing machine, had curled up, seperating photo page, was glued back together with Pritt Stick.

Only comments I ever got was on the ten year old photo, and how much better I look now.

Guess I was lucky!

[Harry442]

I've spoken to a couple of people, and it seems that it's best using it for travel due to the damage only being minimal. The damage also doesn't affect the numbers at the bottom of the page, and there's no way that the photo itself could have been altered.

Does this seem like a decent way forward, and are the checks for Germany and Ireland extremely stringent? Or is it likely that due to the photo and numbers being un-affected, I'm best using the passport and being polite and apologetic etc?

Thanks

[andy_s]

You get away with it as long as you get away with it....