Slightly damaged passport

[Skum1988]

Hi All

When I was in Malaysia, my passport (France) was slightly damaged due to heavy rain which means that my picture on the passport is a bit damaged due to water (my face is still entirely visible).

When I tried to apply for a 6 month multi entry visa to China, the agency told me that my visa application would most likely be rejected due to that minor defect. Also one of my friends told me I might not be able to enter the U.S because of that.

I have been travelling extensively throughout Asia and no country has ever refused me entry because of this. As I am living in Hong Kong I wonder if it's really worth it to apply for a new passport or keep this one, and if I renew it is it still ok for HK immigration as all my visas and stamps are on my current passport.

Thanks in advance for your insight

[MerMer]

Do you want to take the risk? Save yourself a headache down the line and get a new passport. I had a similar situation last year and I'm glad I replaced it - I travel a lot and have peace of mind. You can leave your visas in your old passport - there was a thread somewhere about that.

[Morrison]

welcome to planet China, it's like that.
Some hotels will probably even refuse you and all hell wil break loose.
I know from experience, had passport and credit card affected .

You might face similar problems trying to visit North Korea, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine.

I travel extensively.

[Stoob]

Assuming it is a machine readable passport I wouldn't have thought the visual appearance of the info page was so much of a problem. But I agree that it is probably better to change.

I used to travel extensively.

[SannyJ]

There have also been some reports recently about people being refused check-in for flights going to Indonesia due to damaged passports.

My advice is, if you want to travel with a peace of mind and not run the risk of being refused boarding and hence loose money, just apply for a new passport. Less headaches