Damaged passport - now in US

[kmanoj32]

HI friends, i got my h1b stamped in Chennai 2 years ago when my passport was fresh and not damaged, but after the stamping, there was a little water damage to the passport.. i travelled once a year back and now i'm in the us again (came 2nd time 4 months back). both times, the machine had problems reading the visa but i was allowed anyway. now, i ahve to go back to india for visa stamping, and many of my co-workers told they had to apply in tatkal for fresh passport because of damaged passport -- the front page had bubbles under the plastic sheet.

iwould like to know the procedure for applying for a new passport in the Indian embassy at Washington DC -- if you had any experience, please guide me through this :-)

how much time it will usually take, what forms i have to take there, etc... the embassy website is unfortunately not clear on the process :-(

i also have a B1/B2 stamping together with my H1 stamping, if i apply for new passport in lieu of damaged passport, will i get my old passport back? and what will happen to the B1/B2 visa?

please help me since i have to travel to India in about a month's time with only 1 week's vacation. so applying for tatkal passport in India is ruled out...

sorry for the long post...

[shervin143]

Answers below.

HI friends, i got my h1b stamped in Chennai 2 years ago when my passport was fresh and not damaged, but after the stamping, there was a little water damage to the passport.. i travelled once a year back and now i'm in the us again (came 2nd time 4 months back). both times, the machine had problems reading the visa but i was allowed anyway. now, i ahve to go back to india for visa stamping, and many of my co-workers told they had to apply in tatkal for fresh passport because of damaged passport -- the front page had bubbles under the plastic sheet.

i would like to know the procedure for applying for a new passport in the Indian embassy at Washington DC -- if you had any experience, please guide me through this :-)
>>> You can find all informaion regarding passport renewal in the below link.
/indian-passport-services-in-usa/


how much time it will usually take, what forms i have to take there, etc... the embassy website is unfortunately not clear on the process :-(
>>> It usually takes 3 - 4 weeks.


i also have a B1/B2 stamping together with my H1 stamping, if i apply for new passport in lieu of damaged passport, will i get my old passport back? and what will happen to the B1/B2 visa?
>>> They will return your old passport back with the new passport. The old passport will be stamped VOID. But the visa in the old passport will be still valid until the effective expiry date. So, you will have to carry both the passports while travelling.


please help me since i have to travel to India in about a month's time with only 1 week's vacation. so applying for tatkal passport in India is ruled out...
>>> That is a good decision. Passport renewal in U.S is much fast and easy compared to India.

sorry for the long post...

[kmanoj32]

Answers below.

thank you very much Shervin :-) I will try my luck there...