baobab

We are due to travel to Belgium later this summer and I noticed that Belgium requires passports to be valid for at least three months after the intended date of departure. Two of our children have passports that will expire eight weeks after our return to the US.

We were all set to renew the relevant passports until I realized that we have to hand over the current passports while applying for new passports. We have an intervening international trip at the beginning of August but new passports take 4 to 6 weeks to process so that conflicts with our early August trip.

At this stage it seems that the options are:
1) Shrug - the Belgians don't really care if US passports are valid for the full three months after departure from Belgium and will probably barely look at our passports [we will be arriving from the UK]
2) Panic, make an appointment with the nearest US passport agency, pay the additional fees for expedited service and drag the entire family down to the agency since the children and both parents all have to be present in person to apply for new passports for minors. No doubt the passport agency has long wait times and the high security lockdown typical of US offices that deal with border security so it will be a fun environment in which to have three children under six.

Any experience or advice?

thanks

baobab