Does the 6-8 week timeframe apply even when you make an appointment and turn up in person, or does that shorten the time at all?

my wife's mother is stuck in india trying to carry out some type of property transaction in her children's behalf, and suddenly this requires my wife have a PIO card; we're traveling to germany on July 14 and cannot give up the passport for 6-8 weeks, but we could conceivably drive to NYC to submit in person if it would be fast enough.

From what I read online, this sounds extremely unlikely to work, but looking for thoughts.

We'll be back from germany on July 25 and could start the process then, but I really hate to leave my mother in law stuck at 108 degrees or whatever it is right now, if there's any way around it.