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)
Jul 29, 2019, 12:35 pm
#391
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
Aug 1, 2019, 12:42 pm
#394
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 16
another datapoint
June 22: Sent in application for standard renewal
June 26: Application delivered
June 27: Check cleared
July 26: Received processing email
July 29: Received application approved/printing email, with expected delivery on or around 8/4
August 1: Received passport (tracking says it was sent on July 30)
June 26: Application delivered
June 27: Check cleared
July 26: Received processing email
July 29: Received application approved/printing email, with expected delivery on or around 8/4
August 1: Received passport (tracking says it was sent on July 30)
Last edited by incognito888; Aug 1, 2019 at 12:44 pm Reason: added standard vs expedited info
Aug 3, 2019, 10:24 am
#395
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 8
It takes more than 8 weeks for our infant's passport
Around 6/9 (Applied at @USPS, pictures taken there)
6/11 Application received
6/12 Check cashed
6/28 New picture requested (I guess they didn't like the positioning)
6/30 New picture sent
7/29 We got it expedited
8/10 Approved
8/12 We got the passport :-)
edit: 8/6 Called the number and its expedited and with the "agency". Starting to worry, about 10 days left before our flight.
edit: 8/9 its more than 8 weeks now since the application was received and more than 8 days since it was expedited - still nada.
edit: 8/10 its finally approved and it was shipped - estimated delivery on 8/13, 3 days before traveling.
Around 6/9 (Applied at @USPS, pictures taken there)
6/11 Application received
6/12 Check cashed
6/28 New picture requested (I guess they didn't like the positioning)
6/30 New picture sent
7/29 We got it expedited
8/10 Approved
8/12 We got the passport :-)
edit: 8/6 Called the number and its expedited and with the "agency". Starting to worry, about 10 days left before our flight.
edit: 8/9 its more than 8 weeks now since the application was received and more than 8 days since it was expedited - still nada.
edit: 8/10 its finally approved and it was shipped - estimated delivery on 8/13, 3 days before traveling.
Last edited by Lostintravel; Aug 12, 2019 at 3:33 pm
Aug 5, 2019, 12:37 am
#396
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 1
July 2nd: Appointment at USPS in Tampa FL
July 6th: Application received and processing
July 30th: Application processing
July 31st: Passport printing and shipped.
August 2nd: Passport delivered.
This was using standard delivery for 2 people that never had a passport prior.
July 6th: Application received and processing
July 30th: Application processing
July 31st: Passport printing and shipped.
August 2nd: Passport delivered.
This was using standard delivery for 2 people that never had a passport prior.
Aug 5, 2019, 6:52 pm
#397
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: The Indo Jungle
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Spire
Posts: 1,319
With travel within two weeks went in at 8am with no appointment, passports at 2pm---and my new record, one of the passports had an error so I got a new corrected passport in 23 minutes!
Aug 5, 2019, 11:40 pm
#398
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 52
Standard: 4 weeks from west coast.
Dusting off the old account! This thread was quite helpful when determining whether to expedite or not!
July 5th: USPS counter with application and documents in LA (lost passport and needed to make an appointment)
July 30th: Passport status still stuck at NOT FOUND
July 31st: Email with tracking that my passport has shipped.
August 2nd: Received passport
August 5th: Received personal documents
This was a faster turnaround than I had anticipated given I had to reapply rather than renew. It seems as though the verification of my documents was the hold-up. They went to the Charleston Passport Center in Virginia, my check was cleared there on the 31st and the passport shipped from Arizona on the same day!
The one odd thing is the quality of the image on my passport. It looks as though there was ink transfer or it was a bad scan of my photo. The original was normal on a white background but the passport image looks like it has a bad rose-tinted Instagram filter. My partner had his renewed last year and his image is perfectly clear!
July 5th: USPS counter with application and documents in LA (lost passport and needed to make an appointment)
July 30th: Passport status still stuck at NOT FOUND
July 31st: Email with tracking that my passport has shipped.
August 2nd: Received passport
August 5th: Received personal documents
This was a faster turnaround than I had anticipated given I had to reapply rather than renew. It seems as though the verification of my documents was the hold-up. They went to the Charleston Passport Center in Virginia, my check was cleared there on the 31st and the passport shipped from Arizona on the same day!
The one odd thing is the quality of the image on my passport. It looks as though there was ink transfer or it was a bad scan of my photo. The original was normal on a white background but the passport image looks like it has a bad rose-tinted Instagram filter. My partner had his renewed last year and his image is perfectly clear!
Aug 9, 2019, 9:28 am
#399
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 2
Renewal (non expired) taking significantly longer than 2 new applications
This is in regards to two first time applications for my husband and daughter (Toddler, 2) and one renewal passport with a name change for me that was not expiring for another year.
First Time Passports (Standard processing):
July 05: submitted applications
July 09: Received notification that they were in process in Philadelphia
July 10: Checks cashed
July 25: Received approval notification and shipping notification
July 29: Husband and daughter's passports delivered along with separate envelopes of supporting documents
My renewal with name change for non-expired passport (standard processing):
July 05: submitted application with marriage certificate and non-expired passport (good until April 2020)
July 09: Received notification that they were in process in Philadelphia
July 10: Checks cashed
August 2: Called Passport office since my renewal was still in process just to get an update. They noted it's not common that renewals take longer than first time passports but they noted there shouldn't be an issue receiving it by the time we need to travel.
August 9: Still noting in review
We're leaving 31Aug2019 for Mexico. I realize that I still have a bit of time (3 weeks) and the Passport Office noted I should have it in enough time, but does anyone have experience with renewals/name changes taking significantly longer than first time passport applications? I'm just getting nervous that I won't have it, and extremely frustrated that I could have traveled in my maiden name without even needing a new passport for another year.
First Time Passports (Standard processing):
July 05: submitted applications
July 09: Received notification that they were in process in Philadelphia
July 10: Checks cashed
July 25: Received approval notification and shipping notification
July 29: Husband and daughter's passports delivered along with separate envelopes of supporting documents
My renewal with name change for non-expired passport (standard processing):
July 05: submitted application with marriage certificate and non-expired passport (good until April 2020)
July 09: Received notification that they were in process in Philadelphia
July 10: Checks cashed
August 2: Called Passport office since my renewal was still in process just to get an update. They noted it's not common that renewals take longer than first time passports but they noted there shouldn't be an issue receiving it by the time we need to travel.
August 9: Still noting in review
We're leaving 31Aug2019 for Mexico. I realize that I still have a bit of time (3 weeks) and the Passport Office noted I should have it in enough time, but does anyone have experience with renewals/name changes taking significantly longer than first time passport applications? I'm just getting nervous that I won't have it, and extremely frustrated that I could have traveled in my maiden name without even needing a new passport for another year.
Aug 9, 2019, 11:14 am
#401
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 2
What office was yours sent to?
I can’t believe that a renewal of a non-expired passport is taking double the time as two first time passports, one being a toddler.
I should have just booked my ticket in my maiden name and used my current passport and saved myself this headache.
I can’t believe that a renewal of a non-expired passport is taking double the time as two first time passports, one being a toddler.
I should have just booked my ticket in my maiden name and used my current passport and saved myself this headache.
Aug 11, 2019, 8:34 pm
#403
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 264
Standard Renewal
6/18 - Mailed to TX processing center
6/20 - Received
7/26 - Received letter dated 7/22? stating photo was rejected
7/27 - Mailed new photo to address in VA
8/9 - Passport approved and shipped
~7 weeks including a rejected photo
6/18 - Mailed to TX processing center
6/20 - Received
7/26 - Received letter dated 7/22? stating photo was rejected
7/27 - Mailed new photo to address in VA
8/9 - Passport approved and shipped
~7 weeks including a rejected photo
Aug 16, 2019, 1:00 am
#405
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
This article has background indicators on what is going on with passport processing and why things take longer than they used to take in say from 2000 to early 2017:
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/20...s-fall/159141/
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/20...s-fall/159141/