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I am employed in Thailand with Thai based company. I resigned from my previous employer (Thai based) as I got a better opportunity and gave them my notice period.

However previously I submitted to them my passport for a Schengen visa to the company travel co-coordinator. When I asked for the passport they kept saying it is not with them as it has been forwarded to the embassy for visa processing. But from internal resources I came to know that it was never submitted for any visa and it was still with the employer. When I pressured them to return my passport, they said it still has a valid USA visa (B1/B2) and you cannot enter the USA on this visa for another company to work as it was issued through them.

I forced them to return my passport. But they removed the U.S. visa stamp/sticker which was in it. I asked them for it and at first they kept saying that they didn’t know about it. Later they said they disposed of it as they couldn't allow me to utilize this visa.

Is my visa no longer valid, as my previous employer stated?

If I visit the US Embassy and inform them about the loss of the stamp, can they re-issue a new stamp?
Or will I have to apply for an entirely new visa?

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    Your question is quite confusing. Is this a summary: your Thai employer (current or former) removed the US B-1/2 visa sticker from your passport? If so, yes: make an appointment the US Embassy to determine your options.
    – Giorgio
    Oct 7, 2016 at 17:25
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    You should report this to the police. The employer has no ownership of the US visa; they have no right to prevent you from using it. Removing it from your passport is (in most jurisdictions, at least), a crime. You should also report it to the US embassy. You may well need to apply for a new passport, since the removal of the visa sticker probably invalidated your current passport.
    – phoog
    Oct 7, 2016 at 17:33
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    @Sushi the only people allowed to make modifications like that are government officials. If you can see evidence on the page where the visa sticker used to be that a sticker was removed from that page, the passport is liable to be refused by a sharp-eyed border officer. If it's impossible to tell that the passport has been tampered with, then you may be able to get away with using the passport. The removal of the visa sticker is still a matter for the police; if you report it to the embassy, as you should, they will probably tell you to make a police report before they can issue a new sticker.
    – phoog
    Oct 7, 2016 at 22:37
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    @phoog is right on target in his first comment: report it to the police, report it to the US Embassy, report it to the agency that issued your passport (your country of citizenship; you didn't indicate which).
    – Giorgio
    Oct 7, 2016 at 23:35
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    Your old visa was valid right up until your previous employer physically defaced it (and your passport) by removing it. Now it is no longer valid and in all likelihood, your whole passport is probably compromised since it might be damaged to the point where it looks suspicious. Your previous employer had no right to do this and is probably guilty of a crime of some sort.
    – brhans
    Oct 11, 2016 at 13:50

2 Answers 2

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There is a high concern about fraud when it comes to lost, stolen, or damaged visas. The State Department instructs people to re-apply for a new visa if their visa is damaged in any way.

Having a visa removed from your passport by someone else, I would think, qualifies it as stolen, if not damaged (physical harm to the document which impairs its value). Stolen visas are supposed to be reported to the police and the consulate or embassy that issued the visa, according to the State Dept's FAQ webpage above.

Since there is no way to reinstate a previously issued visa in your passport after it is reported lost or stolen, and you have to apply for a new one, then it can be inferred that your visa is no longer valid. The consulate in HK reference may not be the issuing consulate in your jurisdiction, but the information refers to U.S. visa regulations in general, which would apply to consulates and embassies all over the world.

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  • I agree. I would report this to the police as vandalism.
    – phoog
    Aug 20, 2019 at 11:23
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Email the US embassy in Bangkok or and simply tell them that your [country] passport was stolen and the US visa that was issued is missing. Ask them if you can get a replacement visa and what steps are needed. All the circumstances around how the visa was stolen or damages is mostly irrelevant drama. Keep the email simple and avoid ranting.

You may have to reapply for visa, but you may be able to get it expedited vs having to do the entire process. Hopefully you made a copy of this visa. They will likely tell you to get a police report. The police report is where you tell them a summary of the circumstances regarding your stolen visa. The only thing you know for sure is that you gave your boss your passport with a visa inside and when it was returned, the visa was removed from it.

In the future, keep the passport yourself. You are only supposed to hand them the passport to conduct a specific task (mainly for identity purposes or to make a copy) and then it is returned to you immediately. Very few countries actually allow the employer to hold the passport indefinitely until you leave.

If your passport is still undamaged (no pages actually ripped out or torn), you can likely still use it without suspicion. But if you want to make an extra trip to your own country's embassy (likely in bangkok, pattaya, or phuket), you can ask them if you need a new passport. Good luck.

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