My passport is missing an endorsement. Do I need to get it corrected?
I recently renewed my US passport. Under "Endorsements" on the photo page, the new passport says "SEE PAGE 27". However, page 27 is blank, as are all the other visa/endorsement pages.
My previous passport had a similar endorsement, with the endorsement page listing my full legal name (I have middle names which are apparently too long for the photo page). It seems like perhaps they forgot to print this note on the endorsement page in the new passport.
Since it seems like it may be a major hassle to get this passport corrected, especially given the notorious backlog that the US passport office is having at present, could I just go ahead and use it as is? Or am I likely to experience serious problems at US or foreign ports of entry (major delays, refusal of entry, or worse) if the immigration officer notices the missing endorsement? Would I need to offer any other explanation besides "it came like that"?
(The National Passport Information Center refused to answer this question by email, and their call center is too overloaded to be usable.)
Best Answer
I'm a notary in the state of Vermont, USA. I personally believe I can use common sense when it comes to using a passport or similar document to identify a person who is about to sign a document that needs to be notarized. But there are some notaries who believe in a mythical "more but not less" rule. They think that if the name on the document is shorter than the name in the passport, that's OK, but if the name in the passport is shorter than the name in the document, they should refuse to notarize. For example, if the document says Johnathan Q. Davidson and the passport says Johnathan Quincy Davidson, that's OK, but the reverse is unacceptable.
A forum for notaries that has discussed this mythical rule is Notary Rotary. An example of such a discussion may be found at https://www.notaryrotary.com/forums/forums.asp?id=VMT5V6PJ&forumid=1AAA00000003&messageid=2242539&code=63DEC2AFA5D9400EC51CF8A0257D0424&smsg=601506&requestid=09172429001&action=view&format=threaded
Notaries from California seem especially prone to believe this myth.
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What does endorsement mean on my passport?
(CT:CITZ-68; 02-07-2022) a. \u201c Endorsement\u201d means an official stamped, typed, or written indication of the circumstances under which a passport was issued or can be used. The bearer may also be provided with an information notice (IN) that provides more information on the endorsement.What is the endorsement page on US passport for?
These pages are marked \u201cEndorsements/Mentions Speciales/Anotaciones.\u201d Endorsement pages are meant for the use of the US State Department only. If there are any special conditions to your passport, or amendments made to your passport, the State Department will print them there.How do I endorse my passport?
To endorse them in the father's passport, notarized letter from the mother stating that she has no objection if the children are endorsed in the father's passport....Endorsement in the PassportWhere is the endorsement page in passport?
The endorsement pages are not a separate entity from the passport itself. They are normally within the passport, typically towards the back of all the materials. One example of using the endorsement pages, would be for housing a certification of non-citizenship nationality.Exodus: I tried to fly to London on a fake passport - BBC News
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