Mar 1, 2022, 6:35 am
Last edit by: CKDGM
Passport Agency Appointments (same day expedited service)
Appointments for same-day expedited service often go quickly. It is best that you schedule your appointment with the passport agency exactly 14 days before your trip. You will want to call the passport number before the center opens at 8am EST as they will have just opened up one day (14 days out) of appointments at all agencies. Appointment times start at 8am. It is important that you have enough buffer in your travel schedule. For example, if you make an appointment for a new passport at 11am and your time of travel is at 2pm, there will not be enough time for you to get your passport. If you book the 8am slot you may have to wait until the end of the business day to get your new passport or it may only be a few hours.
You will want to have your date of travel, time of travel, your flight itinerary number, name of destination, full name of applicant, and applicant's birth city, and the zip code of where you live (to help them find the closest available center with open slots). Use the following steps to increase your chances of success to booking an appointment as they can go very quickly:
Credit: chgoeditor
Known office locator numbers (not complete)
Note: The office code (first two digits of your application locator number returned by Passport Status) is the office reviewing your documents and approving your application. It isn't necessarily the address you mailed the forms to (always Irving or Philadelphia for renewals) nor the facility where the book is physically printed and mailed (often Tucson or Hot Springs).
10: Boston
11: NYC
12: Honolulu
14: Stamford, CT
15: Portsmouth, NH
17: Aurora, CO
18: Chicago
19: Washington, DC
20-29: Portsmouth, NH
34-39: Charleston
40-42: New Orleans, LA
45: Portsmouth, NH
50: Los Angeles, CA
51: Miami
53: Seattle
54: Minneapolis
55: Dallas
56: Detroit
57: San Francisco
58: Philadelphia, PA
61-64: Tucson
65: Hot Springs, AR
67: San Juan, PR
68: Portsmouth, NH
69: Portsmouth, NH
71: US embassies/consulates abroad (possibly Portsmouth, NH)
74: Atlanta
75: St Albans, VT
76: San Diego, CA
77: Buffalo, NY
78: El Paso, TX
79: Houston, TX
80: Special Issuance Agency ("Issues diplomatic, official, service, and no-fee regular passports, and facilitates visa processing for those traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.")
95: Online
A list of agencies and their locator numbers is listed on this page under the heading, "List of passport agencies and centers with locator numbers."
H/T Nayef, txviking, and various individual posts both here and on Reddit. If you have a locator not in the above list, check the return address agency name or postmark/ZIP on your returned citizenship docs, or passport card if you applied for one, which may be the processing office, although the address itself is likely to be a PO Box in Sterling, VA in all cases (which appears to be a lockbox location that processes mail for all locations). The passport books are printed in fewer locations, often Hot Springs and Tucson, and may not correspond to the agency where the processing steps occurred. If it doesn’t match the list above, please add or correct.
Appointments for same-day expedited service often go quickly. It is best that you schedule your appointment with the passport agency exactly 14 days before your trip. You will want to call the passport number before the center opens at 8am EST as they will have just opened up one day (14 days out) of appointments at all agencies. Appointment times start at 8am. It is important that you have enough buffer in your travel schedule. For example, if you make an appointment for a new passport at 11am and your time of travel is at 2pm, there will not be enough time for you to get your passport. If you book the 8am slot you may have to wait until the end of the business day to get your new passport or it may only be a few hours.
You will want to have your date of travel, time of travel, your flight itinerary number, name of destination, full name of applicant, and applicant's birth city, and the zip code of where you live (to help them find the closest available center with open slots). Use the following steps to increase your chances of success to booking an appointment as they can go very quickly:
- 14 days before your trip, you need to schedule an appointment with the passport agency.
- At 7:55 am call the passport number 877-487-2778 (This have to be exactly 14 days before your plane ticket or less. If less, it will get harder to find an appointment)
- Click 1 (For English)
- Click 2 (New Passport)
- Continue to Click 7 to repeat, and keep doing this while watching your watch or using Time.gov to get the exact time down to the second.
- When your it hits exactly 8:00 am Click 2 (for traveling within 14 days option)
- There will be a delay of 3-4 second and you will wait for the next available agent. If you are very lucky, you will be put straight through to an agent. You may be waiting few minutes or maybe as long as 15-20 minutes.
- If you did not click 1 exactly at 8 am, you may have to wait for more than an hour and half
Credit: chgoeditor
Known office locator numbers (not complete)
Note: The office code (first two digits of your application locator number returned by Passport Status) is the office reviewing your documents and approving your application. It isn't necessarily the address you mailed the forms to (always Irving or Philadelphia for renewals) nor the facility where the book is physically printed and mailed (often Tucson or Hot Springs).
10: Boston
11: NYC
12: Honolulu
14: Stamford, CT
15: Portsmouth, NH
17: Aurora, CO
18: Chicago
19: Washington, DC
20-29: Portsmouth, NH
34-39: Charleston
40-42: New Orleans, LA
45: Portsmouth, NH
50: Los Angeles, CA
51: Miami
53: Seattle
54: Minneapolis
55: Dallas
56: Detroit
57: San Francisco
58: Philadelphia, PA
61-64: Tucson
65: Hot Springs, AR
67: San Juan, PR
68: Portsmouth, NH
69: Portsmouth, NH
71: US embassies/consulates abroad (possibly Portsmouth, NH)
74: Atlanta
75: St Albans, VT
76: San Diego, CA
77: Buffalo, NY
78: El Paso, TX
79: Houston, TX
80: Special Issuance Agency ("Issues diplomatic, official, service, and no-fee regular passports, and facilitates visa processing for those traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.")
95: Online
A list of agencies and their locator numbers is listed on this page under the heading, "List of passport agencies and centers with locator numbers."
H/T Nayef, txviking, and various individual posts both here and on Reddit. If you have a locator not in the above list, check the return address agency name or postmark/ZIP on your returned citizenship docs, or passport card if you applied for one, which may be the processing office, although the address itself is likely to be a PO Box in Sterling, VA in all cases (which appears to be a lockbox location that processes mail for all locations). The passport books are printed in fewer locations, often Hot Springs and Tucson, and may not correspond to the agency where the processing steps occurred. If it doesn’t match the list above, please add or correct.
Current US passport wait? (Merged Threads)
Mar 13, 2023 | 6:41 am
#2281
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SFO, OAK
Programs: UA GS 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 179
I would definitely recommend reaching out to one of your congresspersons as well (I don’t think you need to contact more than one — I think they all use the same channel to communicate with State). When we did so last year, we got a response that mentioned “congressional appointments” at our agency, which suggests some locations may have a separate pool for those requests. They may also have some ability to bump your existing application for someone to look at sooner. If nothing else, their staff will probably be more responsive than the call center.
This whole system is absolutely designed to ensure maximum stress and minimum results. Like I've said before DO NOT apply online - be grateful that option is currently closed. Good luck to others. I'll post back on Friday if I magically received my passport in time or not.
Mar 13, 2023 | 1:40 pm
#2282
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: AY Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 8,614
I contacted my Representative last Friday, and used the developer tools over the weekend to check status. Nothing.
Today, I received acknowledgment that a caseworker is working to assist, and I now see "exception" noted in the file.
Hoping this means we'll see movement soon.
Thank you for the tips.
Today, I received acknowledgment that a caseworker is working to assist, and I now see "exception" noted in the file.
Hoping this means we'll see movement soon.
Thank you for the tips.
Mar 14, 2023 | 10:54 pm
#2283
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K & 2MM, MR Titanium
Posts: 570
We submitted an online renewal on Jan 18, and received the "received" e-mail on Jan 30th. We chose expedited processing, and the "received" e-mail indicates a 3-5 week processing time from the date of submission. We're now at 7 weeks past submission and the status still shows as "received".
We have travel in 3 weeks, on April 2nd. Is there anything I can do now, other than request a refund for the expedited service fees? I can't get through on the phone.
We have travel in 3 weeks, on April 2nd. Is there anything I can do now, other than request a refund for the expedited service fees? I can't get through on the phone.
Mar 16, 2023 | 8:34 am
#2285
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: AY Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 8,614
I contacted my Representative last Friday, and used the developer tools over the weekend to check status. Nothing.
Today, I received acknowledgment that a caseworker is working to assist, and I now see "exception" noted in the file.
Hoping this means we'll see movement soon.
Thank you for the tips.
Today, I received acknowledgment that a caseworker is working to assist, and I now see "exception" noted in the file.
Hoping this means we'll see movement soon.
Thank you for the tips.
Mar 16, 2023 | 11:29 am
#2287
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: AS; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Gold; NEXUS
Posts: 1,175
The periodical backlogs for US passports got much worse following WHTI requiring Americans to have passports for all flights into and out of the US. Staffing up and being equipped for peak demand based on how many passports are anticipated to be expiring would run up my passport costs a lot— no thanks, as I would rather not see my US passport costs jump up because of that too.
There are other “western countries” that have been a mess too with getting passport applications in and passports out. At least with the US passport applications, there are emergency routes to get applications in and turned quickly. A variety of the “orderly” European passport issuing authorities are more hostile toward urgent passport needs by their nationals than the US State Department.
The way the human eye still works, reviewing ink-on-paper vs other material tends to be more accurate and sustainable at stretches than reviewing digital material vs digital material.
There are other “western countries” that have been a mess too with getting passport applications in and passports out. At least with the US passport applications, there are emergency routes to get applications in and turned quickly. A variety of the “orderly” European passport issuing authorities are more hostile toward urgent passport needs by their nationals than the US State Department.
The way the human eye still works, reviewing ink-on-paper vs other material tends to be more accurate and sustainable at stretches than reviewing digital material vs digital material.
This after the website has demonstrated serious security issues - displaying a login for their Oracle backend, amongst reliability issues where the site just dies for hours at a time with no explanation. No idea if that is because they are operating on a shoestring budget, lack talent, have difficult legacy systems to integrate with, or what.
I am at 11 weeks myself, going on 12 weeks. I applied in December thinking that I would be beating the rush - I guess not. Having had enough and worried that my application was slipping through the cracks, I paid for expedited handling and was put into "Fulfillment" two days later from "Adjudication". Hopefully I get my book soon.
To say that the online program is a failure to date is being too kind.
Mar 16, 2023 | 1:50 pm
#2288
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SFO, OAK
Programs: UA GS 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 179
I have posted some steps on Reddit that should give you insight into your passport's status: https://www.reddit.com/r/Passports/c...raffic_to_get/
Basically, log into your MyTravelGov account. Once you reach the page with your application info, open your browser's developer tools pane (usually done by pressing F12). Click on the "Network" tab in the developer tools pane. In the main browser window, click on your passport application number and wait for the dialog to load that lets you change your address.
You will then see an entry on the network tab called "GetExisitingAvailActionsData". Click that. Then click on the "Response" section of the request. You will see your status embedded in the JSON payload. It'll probably be one of the statuses mentioned on that reddit thread. You want to see "Fulfillment" or "Closeout", both of which seem to imply that the review process has completed and your passport has shipped, or is in the process of shipping.
This seems to offer significantly more detail into your passport's status than what the phone agents have, or at least what they are willing to provide.
Basically, log into your MyTravelGov account. Once you reach the page with your application info, open your browser's developer tools pane (usually done by pressing F12). Click on the "Network" tab in the developer tools pane. In the main browser window, click on your passport application number and wait for the dialog to load that lets you change your address.
You will then see an entry on the network tab called "GetExisitingAvailActionsData". Click that. Then click on the "Response" section of the request. You will see your status embedded in the JSON payload. It'll probably be one of the statuses mentioned on that reddit thread. You want to see "Fulfillment" or "Closeout", both of which seem to imply that the review process has completed and your passport has shipped, or is in the process of shipping.
This seems to offer significantly more detail into your passport's status than what the phone agents have, or at least what they are willing to provide.
Mar 16, 2023 | 2:35 pm
#2289
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: AS; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Gold; NEXUS
Posts: 1,175
So, the good news is that my status using this amazing approach (thank you sullim4) switched over to "Closeout" yesterday. But I never got any shipping notification on USPS informed delivery this morning. And also got no tracking number from MyTravel website either. Has anyone else whose status showed "closeout" ended up receiving their passport without any notification on USPS informed delivery?
The current theory is that they are taking the info in the online database and moving it over to the paper database. Note they aren't actually writing the applications out on paper, it's just that the data is stored in separate databases.
Mar 16, 2023 | 3:44 pm
#2290
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SFO, OAK
Programs: UA GS 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 179
Check the paper status website. https://passportstatus.state.gov.
The current theory is that they are taking the info in the online database and moving it over to the paper database. Note they aren't actually writing the applications out on paper, it's just that the data is stored in separate databases.
The current theory is that they are taking the info in the online database and moving it over to the paper database. Note they aren't actually writing the applications out on paper, it's just that the data is stored in separate databases.
Mar 16, 2023 | 6:51 pm
#2291
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA EXP >3 Million miles,HH Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 3,437
Data points..daughters application
Applied online Feb 5
Status received Feb 5
in process status ..personalized email March 13
shipped Status March 16
Not able to access the application page to view tracking information ..get the hmm..Can't find the page message.
Traveling in April so feel a little better but want to have in hand. This post thread has been great to share info but also adds to anxiety over the process for those if us who loken not having a passport to mot having a DL ..or worse. Wish there were some stats on what % of renewals are made within the stated window so we could better assess whether what we see are outliers or a systemic problem.
Will post once actually received.
Applied online Feb 5
Status received Feb 5
in process status ..personalized email March 13
shipped Status March 16
Not able to access the application page to view tracking information ..get the hmm..Can't find the page message.
Traveling in April so feel a little better but want to have in hand. This post thread has been great to share info but also adds to anxiety over the process for those if us who loken not having a passport to mot having a DL ..or worse. Wish there were some stats on what % of renewals are made within the stated window so we could better assess whether what we see are outliers or a systemic problem.
Will post once actually received.
Mar 16, 2023 | 6:57 pm
#2292
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA EXP >3 Million miles,HH Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 3,437
Also submitted online (Jan 28th), chose expedited processing, website showed in process already Jan 30, and the “received” email also said 3-5 week processing. Now at 6 weeks and still in process, State Department website currently says 5-7 weeks for expedited , and also aware of reports that online applications have been delayed by technical issues. Still have time until travel, but more concerned they may stop work altogether on the online applications given the technical difficulties.
Mar 16, 2023 | 8:11 pm
#2293
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K & 2MM, MR Titanium
Posts: 570
I agree. As someone still waiting for my passport record to show closeout/fulfillment/printed/mailed, I find it odd why there are no clear directions on the application page what are the steps in the process and the corresponding status markers. Perhaps it is related to having two different systems operating at the same time (online and mail in), but still it would seem easy to provide useful guidance about the process to applicants.
Mar 16, 2023 | 11:52 pm
#2294
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 278
Looks like all of you are doing a lot better than me. I renewed online on Jan 5 with expedited processing and it still shows "in process." That's ten weeks when they are quoting up to seven for expedited, and were saying less back then.
At this point, I've pretty much decided there must be some red flag, even though my Global Entry renewal last year was processed in less than 24 hours. Or they just don't want to issue passports to people with my political and/or ethnic background.
At this point, I've pretty much decided there must be some red flag, even though my Global Entry renewal last year was processed in less than 24 hours. Or they just don't want to issue passports to people with my political and/or ethnic background.
Mar 17, 2023 | 8:21 am
#2295
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: AS; Hyatt Globalist; Hilton Gold; NEXUS
Posts: 1,175
Looks like all of you are doing a lot better than me. I renewed online on Jan 5 with expedited processing and it still shows "in process." That's ten weeks when they are quoting up to seven for expedited, and were saying less back then.
At this point, I've pretty much decided there must be some red flag, even though my Global Entry renewal last year was processed in less than 24 hours. Or they just don't want to issue passports to people with my political and/or ethnic background.
At this point, I've pretty much decided there must be some red flag, even though my Global Entry renewal last year was processed in less than 24 hours. Or they just don't want to issue passports to people with my political and/or ethnic background.
The only way I got movement on my application was to pay the $60 expedite fee. I suspect being a December application, paying it in March got it bumped up in the queue. I was moved from adjudication to exception and then to fulfillment in 2 business days after paying the fee.