Travel to the USA

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freitasm

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#568467 13-Jan-2012 15:26

jeffnz: Out of curiosity I ghoogled ESTA and the frist 3 were pay sites the 4th was .gov site. I usually ignore the shaded in first few resyults as they always seem paid advertisements

The first three WERE NOT SEARCH RESULTS. They had a pink background (which appears very light in the screenshot below, so I put a box around then). Those are paid ads (not "pay sites").

Effectively the first search result was the .gov site. People click the ads thinking it's a valid search result, because Google is sneaky and make the background colours just hard to see...

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networkn

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#568470 13-Jan-2012 15:27

yah well that will have to do. For some reasons I always believed that mobile data was abundant in the usa with generous allowances. 500MB is a pittance :)

vexxxboy

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#568474 13-Jan-2012 15:32

interesting if you use Adblock those search results dont come up , the first one is the government agency.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Linuxluver

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#569204 15-Jan-2012 19:51

networkn: Hi There!

My passport expires in April 2012, and I may need to go to the US in the next 2 weeks for 8 days urgently. As I understand it, NZ is one of the countries that your passports extend 6 months past their expiry date. Is anyone able to confirm that? I have tried the consulate 10 times in the last 3 days and can't raise anyone but this document I found states that.

If anyone wants something brought back from the US feel free to msg me. No promises.

Cheers.

You can get a new passport very fast if you're willing to pay. I once helped a friend get one - same day - by driving to the passport office in Wellington in Boulcott St and sitting and waiting. They prepared it on the spot.

That was before the e-passports came in, but there should still be a way to get a new passport very quickly. A 'bad' passport can be a show stopper. You should be able to get a new one well within two weeks if you don't mess around hesitating. It may be the other country (destination or passing through) that requires your passport have 6 months left. This may be why an NZ port won't let you depart with less than 6 months. They are sparing you the risk of a wasted round trip.

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nathan

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#569208 15-Jan-2012 20:01

yes you can definitely pay extra and get a passport the same day

A few years ago I had my passport stolen from my room in the Sheraton Sydney and I was flying out the afternoon I discovered it was missing

Went to the NZ consulate in Sydney and had a passport a few hours later, after paying the rush fee

Then promptly forgot to claim in on my travel insurance

So its definitely possible

bazzer

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#569302 16-Jan-2012 07:55

freitasm:
jeffnz: Out of curiosity I ghoogled ESTA and the frist 3 were pay sites the 4th was .gov site. I usually ignore the shaded in first few resyults as they always seem paid advertisements

The first three WERE NOT SEARCH RESULTS. They had a pink background (which appears very light in the screenshot below, so I put a box around then). Those are paid ads (not "pay sites").

Effectively the first search result was the .gov site. People click the ads thinking it's a valid search result, because Google is sneaky and make the background colours just hard to see...

Pink? That's yellow isn't it?!

eracode

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#569497 16-Jan-2012 15:27

nathan: yes you can definitely pay extra and get a passport the same day

A few years ago I had my passport stolen from my room in the Sheraton Sydney and I was flying out the afternoon I discovered it was missing

Went to the NZ consulate in Sydney and had a passport a few hours later, after paying the rush fee

Then promptly forgot to claim in on my travel insurance

So its definitely possible

I see this was "...a few years ago..". Just wondering if this is still the case with the latest hi-tech NZ passports? They look to me as if they might need special equipment to produce them.

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John2010

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#569818 17-Jan-2012 11:04

eracode:
nathan: yes you can definitely pay extra and get a passport the same day

A few years ago I had my passport stolen from my room in the Sheraton Sydney and I was flying out the afternoon I discovered it was missing

Went to the NZ consulate in Sydney and had a passport a few hours later, after paying the rush fee

Then promptly forgot to claim in on my travel insurance

So its definitely possible

I see this was "...a few years ago..". Just wondering if this is still the case with the latest hi-tech NZ passports? They look to me as if they might need special equipment to produce them.

The Department of Internal Affairs overseas Passport Offices are in Sydney and London.

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