managed to water damage my visa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kathryn41 · May 13, 2011

The links are to NON-IMMIGRANT visas - you don't have a non-immigrant visa. You have an immigrant visa. An L-1 visa is a type of employment visa and an L-2 is for a dependent of an L-1. The second link discusses non-immigrant visas only.

Contact the consulate. You may need to bring in passport type photographs. Be sure to tell them the type of visa that you were issued. The process for a non-immigrant visa is vastly different and much shorter than for an immigrant visa. Good luck.

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

Somebody please tell me how long it takes to get a new visa, the embassy helpline won't tell me anything and I really need to know. They really need to warn people about this, my mother told me she's spilt drink on her passport in the damn plane and that would just about destroy the photo in these visas.

Inky · May 13, 2011

Contact the consul, bring your passport in they will print a new visa and you are done.

You may want to speak to a counselor though, you are taking this way to hard.

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

Kathryn it's not possible either to contact the consulate, they only have a really expensive phoneine where you ring and themn they give you a code for an email that bounces back a message saying "we'll respond in 3-5 days" well I can't last that long. I literally can't.

Things destroyed this week through spitting/spilling stuff on them= Macbook Air keyboard, US visa. What else?

Not possible to simply contact the consulate

Kathryn41 · May 13, 2011

This is for the Ghaunzou Consulate but in response to a question about an immigrant visa being damaged (in this case during canceling an old passport)they respond:

Note: if, when canceling your old passport, your national passport authority has inadvertently damaged the U.S. immigrant visa, that visa is no longer valid and cannot be used for travel to the U.S. In such event, please bring your passport and visa package to the Consulate any day, Monday through Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m., with an explanation letter in both Chinese and English. Although it should be no problem to reissuue your visa, payment of an additional visa application fee may be required.
http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/iv_faqs.htm#46

So, if one Consulate has a process in order to re-issue a damaged immigrant visa, you can be assured others do as well. As it notes here, you need to include an explanation of how the damage happened and you may be required to pay an additional fee. You do not have to re-do the whole process.

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

no help on any site nor any FAQ on any US embassy website or anything anywhere says how long it takes to get a new visa nor the cost of it. Probably because people doing such styupid tings is uncommon, even though I wonder why because I marvel at the stupidity required to print such important things with water soluble ink, and not include any warning, even I have both a lazer and ink sublimation printer that not only print with waterproof ink but the ink sublimation one prints with the quality of a professional photo. I don;t understand how they can do this, it's like they do it on purpose. What professional body uses inkjet in 2011?

"payment of an additional visa application fee may be required." which is a flabbergasting fortune. Over being retarded.

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

Time to give up I think and finally be beaten by it, no point of this now but to stop pretending there's nothing wrong with me in order to get visas and demand the NHS remove the cyst on my brain that's caused my life to be a misery and litany of failure. Looks like I'll be here for the duration anyhow.

americaandnorway · May 13, 2011

Have you *tried* calling the embassy before jumping to conclusions?? I'm sure it happens to people all the time - just call them and calmly explain what happened. It's not a big deal.

Kathryn41 · May 13, 2011

Kathryn it's not possible either to contact the consulate, they only have a really expensive phoneine where you ring and themn they give you a code for an email that bounces back a message saying "we'll respond in 3-5 days" well I can't last that long. I literally can't.

Things destroyed this week through spitting/spilling stuff on them= Macbook Air keyboard, US visa. What else?

Not possible to simply contact the consulate

Regardless of what happens 3 to 5 days are going to pass anyway whether you do something or do nothing.

You have a choice. You can continue to wail and complain that things are hopeless and that there is nothing you can do so you don't even try - - in which case, I can guarantee you will not be completing your visa journey.

OR - you can do something constructive to resolve the problem. Instead of thinking of all of the things that you can't do - think of the things that you can do. If you can't phone them, then email them. Go in person and sit on their door step and ask an officer if he will take in a letter explaining your problem.

Even if the number is expensive it is probably cheaper than any of the other options you are considering. If it takes 3 to 5 days those 3 to 5 days are going to pass regardless. You might as well get the process started and then the time will pass and you will get an appointment to get the visa replaced. Sure, it may add some extra time but that is time invested in your future. You can choose to invest your time in your future living here in the US with your husband - or you can invest your time in doing nothing and staying separated.

Your other option if your flight is scheduled in the next few days is to proceed to the airport and let them decide if they will allow you to board with the visa and the damage that it has. If they do, then you have no problem. If they don't, then you are just back to where you are right now - in need of making an expensive phone call to get an email code so you can send in an explanation of what happened and ask for an appointment to bring in the damaged visa, your passport and whatever else is necessary.

Kathryn41 · May 13, 2011

no help on any site nor any FAQ on any US embassy website or anything anywhere says how long it takes to get a new visa nor the cost of it. Probably because people doing such styupid tings is uncommon, even though I wonder why because I marvel at the stupidity required to print such important things with water soluble ink, and not include any warning, even I have both a lazer and ink sublimation printer that not only print with waterproof ink but the ink sublimation one prints with the quality of a professional photo. I don;t understand how they can do this, it's like they do it on purpose. What professional body uses inkjet in 2011?

"payment of an additional visa application fee may be required." which is a flabbergasting fortune. Over being retarded.

Now you are going overboard. You can continue to enjoy your misery if that is what you want or you can start to move forward. You are not the only one that this has happened to, guaranteed. There is a solution. It is found by contacting the Consulate.

I would take the additional visa fee part to mean covering the costs of re-printing - not re-doing the visa. Realistically, I would be very surprised if it were even as high as $100 - still much cheaper than doing the process over again - especially when it ISN"T NECESSARY. . Really - vent a little bit more, get it out of your system and then start working to make things right - like you did for the medical.

btw - this is the part of the Consulate post you would be better focusing on: " . . . it should be no problem to reissuue your visa"

Edited May 13, 2011 by Kathryn41

Shenzhen · May 13, 2011

WHY IS IT PRINTED WITH WATER SOLUBLE INK?

I've somehow got splotches of water damage over my photo! I'm screwed!

How bad is it? I took my passport to work to make copies for my wifes interview and it fell out of my pocket into the cooling tower. Lucky I grabbed it before it was totally soaked. I hope yours is acceptable.

FormerlyKnownAs · May 13, 2011

I'm sure you're very upset with yourself, we all would be if this happened to any of us, but you just need to take a few deep breaths. This journey is so difficult and the process takes a lot out of all of us emotionally, I know to reach the end and then have something like this happen must feel huge right now. It's not. It's really really not. Don't fret anymore over this, pull yourself together and move forward, this is really not a big deal even though it feels earth-shattering right now while you're still in the moment. Accidents happen and the consulate knows this, I am certain you can get your visa replaced. You're going to look back at it one day and get a good laugh, I promise.

You've come so far, just some baby steps to go. Don't let yourself fall apart, your other half needs you! (F)

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

I'm sure you're very upset with yourself, we all would be if this happened to any of us, but you just need to take a few deep breaths. This journey is so difficult and the process takes a lot out of all of us emotionally, I know to reach the end and then have something like this happen must feel huge right now. It's not. It's really really not. Don't fret anymore over this, pull yourself together and move forward, this is really not a big deal even though it feels earth-shattering right now while you're still in the moment. Accidents happen and the consulate knows this, I am certain you can get your visa replaced. You're going to look back at it one day and get a good laugh, I promise.

You've come so far, just some baby steps to go. Don't let yourself fall apart, your other half needs you!

My other half is still convinced the visa doesn't need replacing and embassies only say this for the same reason they say "YOU NEED A VISA IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN ARRESTED FOR ANYTHING EVER" even though that's bull... money.

But I can't deal with the uncertainty and the extreme expense of this. I wanted to book my flight on monday after sorting my cat out. I wanted to leave in a month. I've been an emotional wreck over the cat and fixed it. One horrible problem then another. I'm a bonafide screwup. Just checked my email and customers whining from here til doomsday over terribly tiny things compared to this and I can't deal with them, in fact right now I want them all to go to hell. Going to crash and burn any moment soon.

J&N* · May 13, 2011

You're a very very weird person, everyone here keeps telling you contact the darn consulate by phone or e-mail and you refuse to and keep panicking, what do you want us to do?? Go and get you a new visa?? Call them!!

hamtaro · May 13, 2011

"person on the USCIS phone line told me that as long as all number/letters are not smudged and the photo is still clearly you it should be fine"

"they will just tell you to go to the embassy for evaluation

19:09

and the embassy will just tell you to get a new visa

19:10

because you pay them for a new visa

19:10

and they want you to pay them"

Border control:

"they said nobody would make a decision based on a scan, so you would have to bring it to the nearest port of entry to make a decision or a consulate