Last Minute Passport
 

Any experience with last minute passport renewals? I have an appointment on Friday and depart the following Saturday. How long does it typically take when renewing in person? Same day?

You can do it same-day at an official passport office. Unfortunately, you'll only find them in major cities. Also, you'll need to make an appointment, and I think it's consistently a lengthy wait (2 weeks or so). You should be able to call about renewal to inquire about the wait.

If you need it faster, you'll need to pay for an expediting service. There are several private companies (do a Google search) that will sell you a place in line, often the next day, for a fee.

This is of course all ridiculous if you ask me, because I suspect the passport offices have a 2 week wait because the private companies have booked up all the slots.

I was able to get an appointment this week and the passport agency is within walking distance of my office. Do they automatically do it, or do they have to approve your reason for doing it at the last minute?

You have to show them your ticket which is less than 2 weeks from the appointment date.

last time I did this, it only took 3 hours.... I brought a printout of my airline reservation, passport application,
photos, and money(of course). My appointment at the passport agency was 10:00AM. I showed up 30 minutes
early, cleared security, and proceeded to a window. The agent looked over everything and told me to come back at
1:00PM. I went to see a movie because there was a cineplex a block from the passport agency. One movie, one
large popcorn, and three sodas later, I walked back to the passport agency. The passport was ready as promised.
(except my photo on the data page looked awful, despite the fact that I supplied a crystal clear passport photo
taken by a professional photographer :( )

While I was there, a couple showed up without an appointment. They had some sort of family emergency and
had to get passports for that evening's flight. The passport agency took care of them without any fuss.... which
was rare for a government agency. :)

I needed extra pages and I went into the NYC passport office at 8am without an appointment (at no point in time did they ever ask) and went back at 1pm and picked up the passport with no issues. I had to pay a $60 expediting fee, but that definitely beat paying an agency $300+

The NYC passport office was surprisingly efficient and pleasant.

Did you have to show a reason (such as proof of an upcoming flight) for the same-day turnaround?

I had a compelling reason last year to get same-day pages and was declined.
I had run out of completely empty pages, and needed to get several more visas for an upcoming trip which was more than 2 weeks out. Based on the number of visas and their timeframes, I needed the pages in less than 2 weeks.

I brought copies of my plane ticket, itinerary, copies of visa forms, etc. and they rejected me.

So of course I booked a refundable plane ticket to the Bahamas for that weekend, went back a few days later, and got the pages.

:rolleyes:

I don't understand why they make people jump through such hoops. If someone's willing to pay $60 extra to get same-day processing, why question it? Most people are cheap enough that they won't waste the money unless they really need the quick service.

It shouldn´t be a problem in many countries. As long as it looks official and maybe take the invalid passport with you too...but if you read the experience here maybe think twice ;-) but it seems as you don´t have much time to decide anyway...so i wish u the best!

I am assuming that you are U.S. based and have an appointment at a U.S. Passport Agency and not a U.S. Post Office. I have got every U.S. passport issued on the same day, the first one in less than 20 minutes. It has progressively taken longer or has become harder.

1986- May: I got my very first passport in less than twenty minutes. I walked into the office in Philadelphia, with all my documents, photographs and a copy of the ticket. They didn't look at the ticket at all. NO extra fee for expedited service.

Jan-1987: I got my second passport from Washington, D.C. We took the old passport and the tickets. It took a few hours. No extra fee for expedited service.

Dec 2006: For the third passport they charged expedited fee and still did not want to issue it on the same day-- Dec 6th. I had barely 10 days left for the trip and I had to apply for a visa also. They still suggested that I come back the following day. Some begging and pleading convinced them to oblige.

I've gone through the same-day hoops (in Boston.) As mentioned, you have to show proof of imminent travel.

One catch -- maybe no longer valid -- is to make an appointment in advance, but if they are booked, go to the office and wait in line. In Boston, they took "walk-ins" but only after the appointments cleared out.

One the one hand, I can understand having a system of appointments to bring some order into the process. By emergencies and exigencies are not necessarily accommodated by appointments. I don't like to be without a passport in my hand. You lose atl east six months out of useful life of every passport any way.

Possible loophole in last minute passport appointment system.
 

I'm headed to FCO on 11/20. Realized I didn't have the full 6 months remaining on my passport I needed for the trip.

Tried to get an appointment through the Washington Passport Agency to get a last minute passport.

Called after hours through their automated system (which sucks). On the first attempt I requested their "earliest appointment available".

That ended up being for 11/23 - which a week later than I needed the appointment.

I tried again and requested a specific date instead, for this morning, 11/16. SHOCKER, the automated system gave me an appointment for 11am today.

Anyway, passing this along in case this helps someone else last minute!!!

1. You can always walk in without an appointment to a passport agency. Just might take longer.

2. You can always book a flight and cancel within 24 hours, which is plenty of time to go to the agency and then cancel the ticket.