passport is damaged and NOA2 just received

[nimble 0]

Hello VJ team, really need your advice here.

My fiancee's K1 petition was just approved at CSC and sent to NVC for onward processing to Mumbai Embassy, India. In order to have our paperwork ready and in anticipation for Packet 3, my fiancee went to the passport office to get her police clearance. The officer there said her passport was damaged and she would have to apply for a new one before they could do anything. The only damage is a slight smudging on the passport issuing authoritys stamp and sign.

What happens now? If she gets a new passport, her K1 petition has another passport number. It will take as many as 3 months to get a new passport, in the meanwhile she cannot even complete Packet 3. And the petition expires in 4 months. And when she does fill in forms DS156 and DS230, the passport numbers will differ.

Should we just go ahead and use the old passport numbers and send in Packet 3 so the process is not held up? Or should we wait until we get the new passport and then continue the process? We would just be holding up the already long timeline that this takes....

[YuAndDan 153]

A few things, go back to the office to get police report and see a different officer, another officer may be less picky about the smudge.

The consulate has the authority to extend the petition's expiration date, so dont lat that 4 month limit scare you.

There is a form letter that you can send to the consulate requesting them to extend the petition.

SEE: http://www.visajourney.com/examples/extend-approval.doc

[bszoom42 0]

And even if they issue a new passport, she should get her old passport back (and will need to bring the old and new to the Embassy Interview and VFS). Changing of the passport number is not a big issue; simply notify the US Embassy of the situation.