Additional Visa Page Inserts to be discontinued December 31st.
The U.S. Passport Office Expects Larger Volume of Passport Applications in 2016.
Traveldocs recommends that you take a look NOW at your current passport. When does it expire? Are you running out of room for visa stamps? Two things that you have to consider. The Passport Office will no longer add extra visa pages to your passport you will be required to apply for a passport renewal when your passport runs out of space for visa stamps this change goes into effect December 31st 2015 and they are expecting a big increase in passport applications in 2016 with no additional staff to process the larger volume.
In 2015 they received 14.6 million applications and in 2016 they project that they will issue 18.2 million passports and cards. This surge of applications is going to increase the number of business days from 6.0 to 9.5 to process application. Therefore it is important to plan for this increase in volume accordingly.
Additional reference information be found in this Washington Post Article 11-19-2015
And prior Traveldocs blog posts. 07-15-2015.
The U.S. Department of State will no longer add visa pages into U.S. passports beginning January 1, 2016. Previously, U.S. passport holders had the option to pay for the insertion of additional 24-page visa inserts when valid passports lacked adequate space for entry or exit visa stamps. The decision to discontinue this service was made to enhance the security of the passport and to abide by international passport standards.
To mitigate the impact on frequent travelers, the Department began issuing 52-page passports to all applicants outside the United States starting October 1, 2014 for no additional cost. Applicants within the United States may choose a 28-page or 52-page book.
Requests for additional visa page inserts will only be accepted at the U.S. Passport Agency until December 31, 2015. At which time applicants will be required to apply for a U.S. Passport Renewal instead of additional visa pages.