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 doesnt 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 doesnt match the list above, please add or correct.
Current US passport wait? (Merged Threads)
May 3, 2023 | 9:38 pm
#2446
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriott LTP, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,029
An update. Both of my kids' applications just got approved. I checked the status at 4:30pm today and was still "in process." I got an email update for one of the applications at around 8pm. I checked online again, and both applications were approved. Now waiting for UPS.
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
May 3, 2023 | 10:05 pm
#2447
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH LTDiamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA MM LT1P
Posts: 21,158
An update. Both of my kids' applications just got approved. I checked the status at 4:30pm today and was still "in process." I got an email update for one of the applications at around 8pm. I checked online again, and both applications were approved. Now waiting for UPS.
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
David
May 4, 2023 | 11:33 pm
#2450
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriott LTP, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,029
An update. Both of my kids' applications just got approved. I checked the status at 4:30pm today and was still "in process." I got an email update for one of the applications at around 8pm. I checked online again, and both applications were approved. Now waiting for UPS.
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
It's such a mess.
Last edited by naumank; May 4, 2023 at 11:48 pm
May 5, 2023 | 3:37 am
#2451
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
Something weird just happened. In late afternoon on 5/4, I got a notification that the passports had been shipped (due to be delivered on 5/5). I got the track numbers for both passports. Then just a few minutes ago, I got another email notification and the status changed back to "Approved." I went online to check again. Both applications' statuses changed back to "Approved." But the USPS track numbers still work and both packages are already in the Informed Delivery system. Not sure if anyone else has encountered the same problem.
It's such a mess.
It's such a mess.
“even as the emails and status updates online are too often stale and unrepresentative of what is going on with the app, an update and the emails going out should be reassuring”.
And too often the emails never even happen or even happen when they are basically irrelevant.
May 5, 2023 | 5:51 am
#2452
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 1,374
Something weird just happened. In late afternoon on 5/4, I got a notification that the passports had been shipped (due to be delivered on 5/5). I got the track numbers for both passports. Then just a few minutes ago, I got another email notification and the status changed back to "Approved." I went online to check again. Both applications' statuses changed back to "Approved." But the USPS track numbers still work and both packages are already in the Informed Delivery system.
May 5, 2023 | 7:27 am
#2453
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,960
Something weird just happened. In late afternoon on 5/4, I got a notification that the passports had been shipped (due to be delivered on 5/5). I got the track numbers for both passports. Then just a few minutes ago, I got another email notification and the status changed back to "Approved." I went online to check again. Both applications' statuses changed back to "Approved." But the USPS track numbers still work and both packages are already in the Informed Delivery system. Not sure if anyone else has encountered the same problem.
It's such a mess.
It's such a mess.
If you have a USPS tracking number, I'm sure you're good to go and will get them shortly. I also use USPS informed delivery, and they popped up in there shortly after they were shipped, so I could follow their progress.
May 5, 2023 | 12:53 pm
#2454
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 291
An update. Both of my kids' applications just got approved. I checked the status at 4:30pm today and was still "in process." I got an email update for one of the applications at around 8pm. I checked online again, and both applications were approved. Now waiting for UPS.
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
Submitted at USPS - 3/6
Received by the State Department and check cashed - 3/13
Approved - 5/3
Locator - 62
Was this expedited?
May 5, 2023 | 2:07 pm
#2455
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,699
Apparently it's been sitting in my mailbox since 5/2. Sent by Priority Mail. I was waiting for online status to change to something like "shipped" after "approved", never did. Like others said, check your USPS Informed Delivery (or mailbox 
) as soon as you see approval.
Not one email from passport agency during this whole time.
) as soon as you see approval.Not one email from passport agency during this whole time.
May 5, 2023 | 2:45 pm
#2456
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriott LTP, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,029
Yes, it was expedited. It took 7.5 weeks from the time checks were cashed. I received the passports via USPS Express Mail today, even though the status changed back to Approved from Shipped over night.
I initially made an appointment for 4/6 to apply at a local county's office. Fortunately, I got an appointment at a USPS for 3/6 later. (Where I live in CA, it's hard to find an appointment.) Otherwise. I would be cutting too close to our travel date. I remember when I applied for my first passport back in 2007, I went to the passport agency in Chicago. I had an appointment, but they co-mingled us with folks without appointments. I waited for 5 hours there. Back then, there was a surging demand for passports because Canada/Mexico started to require passports for travel.
I initially made an appointment for 4/6 to apply at a local county's office. Fortunately, I got an appointment at a USPS for 3/6 later. (Where I live in CA, it's hard to find an appointment.) Otherwise. I would be cutting too close to our travel date. I remember when I applied for my first passport back in 2007, I went to the passport agency in Chicago. I had an appointment, but they co-mingled us with folks without appointments. I waited for 5 hours there. Back then, there was a surging demand for passports because Canada/Mexico started to require passports for travel.
May 7, 2023 | 4:33 pm
#2457
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Coast
Programs: AA-EXP (2.6mm), UA-1P, SQ-PPS, EK-Silver, LH-FTL, SPG-Platinum, HH-Gold
Posts: 80
Processing / Expedited / Locator 69 (National Center - but in CA)
Ok - so - chewing fingernails to get kids passport back expedited and make it in 8 weeks with the NH/69 national center being shipped back to CA.
4/28 applied in person California USPS office / Expedited
5/3 check cashed (electronically), locator 69, indicating "National Center" in New Hampshire
5/3 status "In Process"
...
6/24 departure from the US (maybe)?
We didn't read the whole notion that it may have been better to just get an in-person appointment 14 days before departure at one of the CA processing centers (SF, LA etc.) - and now we are sort of in this awkward "maybe it will work" moment. We had 8 weeks to departure when we applied - so - right on the cusp...
Question - based on SOME comments it appears that the "69" processing center has been faster than some others (notably 62), and the latest we saw in this thread was a locator 69, 3/23 application that arrived in the mailbox 5/2 (indicating 5.5 weeks turn around from the NH/69 center). Are we deluding ourselves thinking that we can get it in 7 weeks based on those (sparse) datapoints? Can we make an appointment NOW for 5 days before departure (in June) or do we need to simply wait?
4/28 applied in person California USPS office / Expedited
5/3 check cashed (electronically), locator 69, indicating "National Center" in New Hampshire
5/3 status "In Process"
...
6/24 departure from the US (maybe)?
We didn't read the whole notion that it may have been better to just get an in-person appointment 14 days before departure at one of the CA processing centers (SF, LA etc.) - and now we are sort of in this awkward "maybe it will work" moment. We had 8 weeks to departure when we applied - so - right on the cusp...
Question - based on SOME comments it appears that the "69" processing center has been faster than some others (notably 62), and the latest we saw in this thread was a locator 69, 3/23 application that arrived in the mailbox 5/2 (indicating 5.5 weeks turn around from the NH/69 center). Are we deluding ourselves thinking that we can get it in 7 weeks based on those (sparse) datapoints? Can we make an appointment NOW for 5 days before departure (in June) or do we need to simply wait?
Last edited by bb-miler; May 7, 2023 at 4:43 pm
May 7, 2023 | 4:36 pm
#2458
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Coast
Programs: AA-EXP (2.6mm), UA-1P, SQ-PPS, EK-Silver, LH-FTL, SPG-Platinum, HH-Gold
Posts: 80
Apparently it's been sitting in my mailbox since 5/2. Sent by Priority Mail. I was waiting for online status to change to something like "shipped" after "approved", never did. Like others said, check your USPS Informed Delivery (or mailbox ) as soon as you see approval.
Not one email from passport agency during this whole time.
) as soon as you see approval.Not one email from passport agency during this whole time.
May 7, 2023 | 5:20 pm
#2459
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,960
Ok - so - chewing fingernails to get kids passport back expedited and make it in 8 weeks with the NH/69 national center being shipped back to CA.
4/28 applied in person California USPS office / Expedited
5/3 check cashed (electronically), locator 69, indicating "National Center" in New Hampshire
5/3 status "In Process"
...
6/24 departure from the US (maybe)?
We didn't read the whole notion that it may have been better to just get an in-person appointment 14 days before departure at one of the CA processing centers (SF, LA etc.) - and now we are sort of in this awkward "maybe it will work" moment. We had 8 weeks to departure when we applied - so - right on the cusp...
Question - based on SOME comments it appears that the "69" processing center has been faster than some others (notably 62), and the latest we saw in this thread was a locator 69, 3/23 application that arrived in the mailbox 5/2 (indicating 5.5 weeks turn around from the NH/69 center). Are we deluding ourselves thinking that we can get it in 7 weeks based on those (sparse) datapoints? Can we make an appointment NOW for 5 days before departure (in June) or do we need to simply wait?
4/28 applied in person California USPS office / Expedited
5/3 check cashed (electronically), locator 69, indicating "National Center" in New Hampshire
5/3 status "In Process"
...
6/24 departure from the US (maybe)?
We didn't read the whole notion that it may have been better to just get an in-person appointment 14 days before departure at one of the CA processing centers (SF, LA etc.) - and now we are sort of in this awkward "maybe it will work" moment. We had 8 weeks to departure when we applied - so - right on the cusp...
Question - based on SOME comments it appears that the "69" processing center has been faster than some others (notably 62), and the latest we saw in this thread was a locator 69, 3/23 application that arrived in the mailbox 5/2 (indicating 5.5 weeks turn around from the NH/69 center). Are we deluding ourselves thinking that we can get it in 7 weeks based on those (sparse) datapoints? Can we make an appointment NOW for 5 days before departure (in June) or do we need to simply wait?
They also will not even speak to you on the phone at the passport agency (877#) until you are 14 days from travel, counting the travel day (so don’t call on a Monday if your travel is on Monday two weeks hence, because that is 15 days for them). My suggestion is to wait until a couple days before the 14 days and, if it still hasn’t arrived or shown as approved online, reach out to your federal representative for your district. They most likely have a contact link on their website for this exact purpose. If it allows you to include an attachment with your query, then attach your e-ticket as proof of travel.
Good luck!
Last edited by SusanDK; May 8, 2023 at 2:30 pm
May 8, 2023 | 2:02 pm
#2460
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,699
Processing time seems to be changing for the better in general (after the bad publicity). Hopefully yours will take less time than mine.
I agree with Susan that you did the right thing to apply now. Have a backup plan in case, but you pretty much have to wait until 5 days before travel to get noticed (by current rules).