Often1

My most recent passport renewal was decidedly not urgent. I got the new passport back in three business days.

Combat Medic

I've used Atlas Visa Services with good results in the past.

QueenOfCoach

Are you anywhere near one of the regional passport offices?

http://travel.state.gov/passport/npi...ncies_913.html

If so, then call and make an appt. Bring all applicable documents with you, including tickets indicating immediate travel. Go, stand in line, submit docs, and you can get your passport within 24 hours.

You can also hire a passport expediting service to stand in line for you. That's useful if you are not near one of the regional agencies.

I heard a story of a heart surgeon who was needed for life-saving surgery. He stopped by the Los Angeles passport office on the way to the airport and got a passport within an hour. Regional passport offices are fully equipped to make passports on site.

nerd

There is no need to make an appointment (at least, not at the NYC office.)

Stand in line with those that have made an appointment - no one checks to see if you're on any sort of list. You'll get into the waiting room with all of the other unwashed masses (kidding).

(This was my experience 3 weeks ago.)

Apache1984

I live in NYC and I am strongly considering starting a 3rd Party Passport Expediting service for a teacher recruitment program I own and operate. I absolutely refuse to use a 3rd party passport expeditor when my comp may could follow the proper steps (can't find those steps) in order to expedite the passports internally. Honestly, the 3 rd party expeditors would scare off the teachers I've recruited because of the expeditors high fees... So I want my company to become a third party expeditor Agency for the teachers we hire.

I have searched google for countless hours, attempted using google's "advanced search option", and still the trail came up dry..... So I went to the U.S. State Department spoke with just about everyone in that 20 story tall building and no one knows the proper procedural steps. NO ONE!!! I checked with homeland security and they didn't know the answer or just felt like saying I don't know because they didn't feel like explaining it. I even called other 3rd party expeditors that have sucessful 3rd Party Expediting Services advertised online and they wouldn't even hint at the proper procedure in order to establish a 3rd party passport expediting service. Either some a little fishy/corrupt is going on or I an the dozens of U.S. State Department staff reps. are missing something very obvious.... Look, I'm a grad student fresh out grad school and I'm doing something entrepreneurial with my life in order to get other people my age jobs overseas, teaching...... I need to process 30 to 50 to 100 passports a week and there is NO WAY I'm using a 3rd party expeditor when my company can establish our own 3rd party passport agency...

DOES ANYONE KNOW THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS!?!?

WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN ORDER TO STARTING A 3RD PARTY PASSPORT AGENCY?????????

1. What Agency licenses the 3rd Party Passport Agencies?

2. What is the proper procedure for applying for a license to become a 3rd Party Passport Agency?

3. Can anyone put me in contact with someone who might know the answer to these questions? A GOVERNMENT LAWYER, IMMIGRATION LAWYER PERHAPS?

It seems as if every person in the U.S. State Department does the same mundane task everyday and that's their job. So when I come in with a question like "How do I start a 3rd Party Passport Expediting service", they have no idea what to say and just send me to a different office or a different floor.. I can't find ANYONE that knows the answer......

This is a call for help...

I'M TRYING TO SEND U.S. COLLEGE GRADS TO CHINA TO TEACH FOR 3 MONTHS on working Visa issued by China. (that is not the complicated part)... I PLAN ON EXPANDING THE BUSINESS BUT IT'S CRUCIAL THAT I ESTABLISH my company as a 3RD PARTY PASSPORT AGENCY.

I've never been in a chat forum before, so please try to help me in anyway you can.

Thank you so much in advance,
Pete

darthbimmer

Maybe you "just do it." The run-arounds you're getting tell me that there probably is no special licensing.

QueenOfCoach

I don't think you need any kind of license, other than a normal business license.

Here is what I believe to be the case. Anyone can carry in the paperwork and get a passport for anyone else, so long as certain procedures are followed. What you need to do is learn how to follow those procedures.

My suggestion is to look at the passport expeditor websites and see what they are requiring of their customers. Typically, the customer has to apply in person, then put the application with the acceptance officer's stamp in a sealed envelope, then send that sealed envelope to the expeditor, along with a letter authorizing the expeditor to act on their behalf.

The requirements are spelled out in the expeditors' websites. Read them carefully and I think you'll figure it out.

I am not a lawyer.

darthbimmer

Similarly, look at the US State Dept website and the consular websites of countries you'd be arranging visas to visit. These agencies detail the requirements for obtaining passports and visas. Most of them (that I've seen) have a brief mention of how you can obtain documents for a third party such as a family member or friend. I have gotten visas that way before, both for someone else by carrying their paperwork to the consulate, and by giving my paperwork to someone else to hand-carry. I have also used expediters on 2 or 3 occasions. They're only doing the same thing my friends and I have done for each other, except they're charging money for it.