Urgent passport renewal needed -
 

Hi,
We are leaving for Ireland on May 20th, and my husband just realized that his US passport expired in 2021. He is panicking and wants to use an expediting company who will charge him $750. We are in Tucson, and there is a passport agency office here, but they won't make an appointment so far out from our flight. They say to call on Monday, May 9th. But of course they can't guarantee that there will be appointments available.
The expediter my husband spoke with will be doing the process at the San Francisco passport agency office and said they should have the new one to us by May 18th. Just wondering if anyone has recently gotten their passport renewed as "urgent", and what your experience was. My husband is scared we won't get an appointment.
I would love to save $500 and do the legwork myself. Any thoughts? Thanks!

What can the expediting company do that you cannot? Its the government you are dealing with. Monday May 9th is in a few days.

A thread for https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...-security-222/

Some passport and visa expediting services have good reputations for reliability and others not so much or not at all. IMO $750 is a lot, especially given that you're close to a Passport Agency. How did you learn about this particular expediter?

Be ready to go to the Passport Agency with the required documents, including proof of immediate travel and passport photos, etc.

BTW, some Passport Agencies seem to accept walk in people even if they say otherwise, so you could try to go early in the morning without an appointment and be prepared to wait.

Thank you MSPeconomist for your help. My husband found the company, and I convinced him to cancel with them last night. Just a crazy amount of money. And as the other poster commented, what can the expediter do that we can't, given that the appointments are controlled by the government? I will keep my fingers crossed that we get an appointment.
Has anyone out here on FT used the Tucson passport agency?

If you can't get a Tucson appointment, try Phoenix/Scottsdale, etc. If necessary, a drive and a nice hotel night would cost a lot less than $750.

IME the new passport was ready the afternoon of the next business day when I had travel within two weeks, although same day (morning, available late the same day) is available if needed. Also, the old passport and IIRC a new passport card are mailed to you and arrive in about ten days, but this was preCOVID-19.

The visa services claim to have connections with consulates and/or a bunch of standing appointments, so I would guess that the passport agency you found has something similar in San Francisco, although there's no recourse if something is missing or not to the specifications, versus if you go in person, you can run off to get another passport photo, etc.

If you do need one of these services, I'd want a referral through for example a major employer's travel department or maybe a trusted real human travel agent who books a lot of international trips, although I know that some foreign consulates suggest or require particular services. The highest such fee I've seen for such services (not including an immigrant visa or something similar) was under $500 or maybe $700-800 for VIP concierge service where they complete the forms for you rather than just supposedly checking the materials you provide.

Good luck and please report back.

Go to this thread and check out the wiki for instructions about urgent passports.

My husband learned his naturalization ceremony was the day before we were scheduled to fly to Canada -- and we learned this less than 14 days prior to travel. (14 days out is when you can make an appointment for an expedited passport). About 10 days out we were able to make an appointment for the afternoon after his naturalization ceremony, and he had a shiny new US passport by the end of the day. It's stressful but it can be done.

Call between 3:30am and 7:55am for an appointment as same-day appointment slots may open up around the 8 am hour somewhere at a passport agency office. And in-person applications of this sort typically mean having the passport the same day or maybe the day after the day of in-person submission of application.

Reviving the thread. Need to get an appointment at a passport agency. When I call the main passport agency 1-800 number, the only option I can find that seems appropriate is to talk to an agent between 8-10am. Is thereanother appointment method? In particular - what's this about calling at 3:30am - is there an automates system?

In my experience, the wiki that is linked to has the best instructions. I don't believe there is an automated method.