US passport renewal/ what happens with the visa?

Hi,  I did this about a 8 months ago.  I remember it was relatively painless, but I did have to go to the US Embassy twice, once to turn in the paperwork, and the other to pick it up and pay.  Bring two forms of ID to the embassy.   There may be a by-mail option, but I haven't heard of it. 

I filled out a form on the Quito US Embassy website and made an appointment to turn in all the paperwork and passport size photos.
It only took about 2 weeks to get my new passport.  They're supposed to email you telling you to pick it up, but they never emailed me, so I had to write to them and ask if it was there.

I have a 1-year, 12:8 visa. so I didn't bother transferring the visa to the new passport because when I went to renew my visa, it would go on my new passport.  The woman at the Embassy said I may be able to transfer my current visa to the new passport, but I would have to do that at the Ecuadorian visa office and not at the US Embassy.  She seemed to think that carrying both passports would be fine and transferring would just be a headache.

During the period I had my visa on my expired passport, but possessed a new passport without a visa, I just carried both around when I needed to show the visa.  The only time though I ever needed to show my visa was to get the Ecuadorian price at the Teleférico.  Looking back, I could have just shown them my expired passport with visa and they would have given me the discount without having to see my valid passport.

thanks, John (it's christine btw). yeah I decided going to the embassy is the best way because I can pay directly there. do you need more than one photo?

Hi Christine.  Long time, no see.  I can't remember if it was just one or two photos. They get pasted on the form you fill out. When I got my pictures taken at one of the foto stores around town, they printed out 6 of them so you'll probably end up with extras anyway.   Make sure they print out US passport photo size (2" X 2").  The place I went to kept insisting they were printing out the correct, USA size, but they were too small.  They might have been printing out Ecuadorian passport size photos.

Christine:
I had to renew my USA passport in February and transfer my Ecuadorian visa to the new passport. To make a long story short, transferring the visa effectively represents applying for a new visa as all the same documents and recent photos have to be presented. The only good news is transferring the visa only costs $60. Technically, Ecuadorian law requires the new visa be applied for within 30 days of the new passport being issued.

FYI, I had a Canadian friend tell me he shows his old passport (with the visa) when entering and exiting the country and only had one official comment that he has to transfer the visa to the new passport. I was reluctant to run the risk of being stopped.

When renewing USA passport, I suggest you request, at no additional cost, the one with extra pages to avoid paying a fee to add pages later. To those applying for an initial Ecuadorian visa, I recommend you first apply for a new passport if yours will expire within a few years.

Welcome back fdmcg, hope you enjoyed your vacation.  Glad to see you are back giving your incite and info to the forum.

ditto