QUESTION: My old passport has already expired. My visa to travel to the United States is still valid but is in my expired passport. Do I need to apply for a new visa with my new passport?

ANSWER: No. If your visa is still valid you can travel to the United States with your two passports, as long as the visa is valid, not damaged, and is the appropriate type of visa required for your principal purpose of travel. Both passports should be issued by the same country and should be the same type of passport. When you arrive at the US port-of-entry (POE) the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immigration officer will check your visa in the old passport and if s/he decides to admit you into the United States they will stamp your new passport with an admission stamp along with the annotation “VIOPP” (“visa in other passport”). Do not try to remove the visa from your old passport and stick it into the new valid passport. If you do so, your visa will no longer be valid.

QUESTION: My visa will expire while I am in the United States. Is there a problem with that?

ANSWER: No. If the Department of Homeland Security CBP Officer at the POE admitted you into the United States for a specific period of time, s/he will note your authorised period of stay on your admission stamp or Form I-94. Upon arrival, CBP will scan your passport and generate Form I-94 as an electronic record. You will be able to remain in the United States during your authorised period of stay, even if your visa expires during the time you are in the United States.

QUESTION: I changed my name. Is my US visa with my previous name still valid?

ANSWER: If your name has legally changed through marriage, divorce, or a court-ordered name change, you will need to obtain a new passport. Once you have a new passport, the Department of State recommends that you apply for a new US visa to make it easier for you to travel to and from the United States.

QUESTION: I have a non-immigrant visa that will expire soon and I would like to renew it. Do I need go through the whole visa application process again?

ANSWER: Yes. You will have to complete the visa application process each time you want to apply for a visa, even if your visa is still valid. There are some situations where a visa applicant may not need to be interviewed when renewing a visa. See the US Embassy Jamaica website for more information.

For more information about visas, please visit our website jm.usembassy.gov/ and the website of our authorized service provider at www.usvisa-info.com. Keep on top of Embassy news on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/US-Embassy-Jamaica and by following @USEmbassyJA on Twitter. We also answer general visa questions on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

— For safety and security reasons, the US Embassy asks that all individuals arrive at the embassy no more than 15 minutes before their designated appointment time.