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)
Oct 3, 2020 | 10:51 am
#782
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 60,787
Last I checked, expedited service was suspended. It's normal service or "life and death emergency" service, the latter being what it suggests -- extreme cases of urgency only.
Oct 3, 2020 | 3:02 pm
#783
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 660
When did you learn that expedited service was suspended? When I called on Thursday, the information was that expediting passports was available again effective September 28. The new expediting is 4-6 weeks (not the 2 weeks that it was previously). Has anything changed since then? Nothing on the Department of State website seems to indicate otherwise. Perhaps I should call again on Monday to find out?
Oct 3, 2020 | 4:46 pm
#784
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 4,151
Fortunately, expedited service by mail is indeed available now, without any emergency requirement.
Oct 4, 2020 | 12:06 am
#785
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 60,787
When did you learn that expedited service was suspended? When I called on Thursday, the information was that expediting passports was available again effective September 28. The new expediting is 4-6 weeks (not the 2 weeks that it was previously). Has anything changed since then? Nothing on the Department of State website seems to indicate otherwise. Perhaps I should call again on Monday to find out?
Oct 4, 2020 | 8:50 am
#786
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
Not good news for all applicants, but good news for applications submitted in the US.
Indeed it was on September 28th when the fee-based expedited processing service for US passports was expanded to apply to more than just applications for "life and death emergencies". That's good news for applicants in the US. Unfortunately for those applying in the US the processing time for expedited passport applications is now said to be more like what standard (non-expedited) passport application processing service time was actually like a year or two ago at this time -- whether it holds up that way or not for the rest of this quarter.
Indeed it was on September 28th when the fee-based expedited processing service for US passports was expanded to apply to more than just applications for "life and death emergencies". That's good news for applicants in the US. Unfortunately for those applying in the US the processing time for expedited passport applications is now said to be more like what standard (non-expedited) passport application processing service time was actually like a year or two ago at this time -- whether it holds up that way or not for the rest of this quarter.
Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 4, 2020 at 8:56 am
Oct 4, 2020 | 6:03 pm
#788
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 152
mine was delivered to philly sept 9 cashed 14th.
Oct 5, 2020 | 11:57 am
#789
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 57
9/9 - applied for new passport at post office in Houston, replacing a lost one, normal/slow service available only but I paid the extra for 1-2 biz day return shipping. FWIW, on the passport application I stated that I had upcoming travel on 10/7
9/11- received 'in process' email
9/29 - starting to worry, called the passport 1-800 number to ask about status; they took my credit card number for $60 to expedite it (they said I would only get charged *if* it was returned within the next 20 biz days, they were very clear that there was no guarantee)
10/2 - received 'shipped' email with a UPS next day air tracking number
10/5 - passport received (1 biz day after 10/2)
10/7 - travel
9/11- received 'in process' email
9/29 - starting to worry, called the passport 1-800 number to ask about status; they took my credit card number for $60 to expedite it (they said I would only get charged *if* it was returned within the next 20 biz days, they were very clear that there was no guarantee)
10/2 - received 'shipped' email with a UPS next day air tracking number
10/5 - passport received (1 biz day after 10/2)
10/7 - travel
Oct 5, 2020 | 3:04 pm
#790
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 60,787
9/9 - applied for new passport at post office in Houston, replacing a lost one, normal/slow service available only but I paid the extra for 1-2 biz day return shipping. FWIW, on the passport application I stated that I had upcoming travel on 10/7
9/11- received 'in process' email
9/29 - starting to worry, called the passport 1-800 number to ask about status; they took my credit card number for $60 to expedite it (they said I would only get charged *if* it was returned within the next 20 biz days, they were very clear that there was no guarantee)
10/2 - received 'shipped' email with a UPS next day air tracking number
10/5 - passport received (1 biz day after 10/2)
10/7 - travel
9/11- received 'in process' email
9/29 - starting to worry, called the passport 1-800 number to ask about status; they took my credit card number for $60 to expedite it (they said I would only get charged *if* it was returned within the next 20 biz days, they were very clear that there was no guarantee)
10/2 - received 'shipped' email with a UPS next day air tracking number
10/5 - passport received (1 biz day after 10/2)
10/7 - travel
Oct 9, 2020 | 2:13 pm
#791
Join Date: May 2016
Location: NYC
Posts: 351
Have been following this thread for a few months and finally pulled the trigger since expedited service is back.
10/5 afternoon - Sent in my application at USPS for expedited
10/8 delivered, In Process according to Passport tracking site. Didn't get an email though.
10/9 Check processing
Will update once status changes
10/5 afternoon - Sent in my application at USPS for expedited
10/8 delivered, In Process according to Passport tracking site. Didn't get an email though.
10/9 Check processing
Will update once status changes
Oct 10, 2020 | 5:59 am
#792
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 152
i paid monday for expedited and my CC wasnt charged. it really stinks. maybe i should told them i have travel in a week and it would have helped. thing is i missed out on a cheap deal in november because i didnt want to book without passport in hand. sigh.
Oct 14, 2020 | 3:18 pm
#793
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 660
I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew the good news--they are now allowing people to make appointments to get appointments at passport agencies within 72 hours of international travel for non life or death issues. It appears that the number of slots they have is limited but this is a major improvement.
Oct 21, 2020 | 2:44 am
#794
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 11,272
I received notification of arrival of my new passport yesterday from the consulate. The total time was exactly 3 weeks. The issue date on the passport was actually the date I applied which I thought was interesting.