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I currently have my US Visa in an old expired passport and a new passport. I want to renew my passport and then my US Visa shortly after, so that the visa is in the new passport and their new expiration dates become close. I have a few years left both in the visa and the passport.

While from my research there's no official restriction in doing so, are there any drawbacks I should keep in mind? For example, will this "raise a flag" in the visa renewal interview or at immigration?

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    One not so serious drawback (thus only a comment, not an answer) is the waiting time to schedule your visa renewal. There are consulates in Brasil already scheduling appointments to the end of 2023 (Nov or Dec).
    – gmauch
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 11:43
  • @gmauch Do you have a source? A visa-related services website (not the best source, I know, but the one I know) says lead times for renewal are under two weeks for many consulates. Appointments for new visas are definitively harder, though. In any case, arguably that's not a drawback for renewing "earlier than usual" - if anything, that's an argument for doing so, IMO.
    – throwaway4580
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 13:40
  • @throwaway4580 you can look up wait times for visa interviews for each consulate on the Department of State website. Many are well over a year. While visa renewals can get an interview waiver, there are conditions attached, it’s by far not automatic.
    – jcaron
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 15:22
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    For the record, the DoS link is travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/… as of this writing. Renewals that are eligible for an interview waiver currently have 1-30 days wait times in Brazil's consulates/embassy. As mentioned by @jcaron, note that an interview waiver for renewal is not guaranteed and is ultimately up to the discretion of the officers who process your application. FWIW, many visa consultancy services state that not getting a waiver is "rare".
    – throwaway4580
    Commented Mar 1, 2023 at 18:16

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No, it's fine. Since your visa application will be for the new passport, the validity/expiration of the previous one is irrelevant, and since your old US visa is close to expiry, it's perfectly normal to renew that too.

The one obvious reason most people don't do this is that renewing a passport long before expiry is effectively throwing away money, but these days this expense seems trivial compared to the massive cost and hassle of applying for US visas. (I know people who have spent thousands on travel and accommodation to apply at embassies with slightly less insane queues.)

The one issue you may run into is that some countries don't let you renew your passport until one year or so before expiry. Of course, you can always work around this by losing or destroying your passport (oops, went into the washing machine!), but then you're stuck without a passport for a while.

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    They will most definitely know about the old one. But probably not care. It is a waste of time and money though
    – littleadv
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 6:14
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    @littleadv carrying two passports is mildly inconvenient; it could be that OP finds the inconvenience sufficient to justify the expense even if most people wouldn't. Lambshaanxy: "they will neither know nor care about the old one" is a baffling statement. First, don't they ask about old visas in the application? Second, even if they don't, they'll surely look in their database and find the old visa. It's entirely likely that they'll ask "why are you applying so early?" but I suppose that answering "because I want to have my visa in my current passport" is likely to be enough.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 7:50
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    @phoog the OP asked for drawbacks. Wasting time and money is a drawback.
    – littleadv
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 7:53
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    @phoog I think you're taking my figure of speech a little too literally: of course they're aware OP had a previous visa and a previous passport, but the expiry date of the old passport is irrelevant to a new visa application for a new passport.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 8:06
  • @littleadv It's true that I would "spend" perhaps 50-100 USD in "unused valid visa/passport time" for the convenience of carrying a single document, and it's definitely a tradeoff - but I'd say "waste vs not waste" is really a personal decision. (In my particular case, there are other conveniences other than the single-passport aspect, but I think even if it was only that I might still go for it)
    – throwaway4580
    Commented Feb 25, 2023 at 13:46

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