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)
Apr 1, 2021 | 9:07 am
#1066
Join Date: Mar 2021
Posts: 3
3/30 Status on Passport Application Status Page: Application Not Found (both applications).
Web page says if online status is "not found" after 2 weeks to call the center. Called around 3:50pm; 42 minutes on hold before speaking to service agent. Agent also did not find either application. Agent stated applications for minors are processed in Philadelphia after going through a postal security screening center which is very backed up; said check in another week and call back if still "not found."
Web page says if online status is "not found" after 2 weeks to call the center. Called around 3:50pm; 42 minutes on hold before speaking to service agent. Agent also did not find either application. Agent stated applications for minors are processed in Philadelphia after going through a postal security screening center which is very backed up; said check in another week and call back if still "not found."
When calling the PP office, you can opt for a call back. That way, you dont have to be on hold for 45 mins. Its quite overwhelming when you dont know what happened to your application. There should be an initial scan of the application before the Philadelphia office forwards it for processing. This will help applicants to know that application is now in the hands of the PP center and not lost. With all the mail ongoing problems and USPS budget cuts, this is just going to get worse.
Hope everything gets sort out for you soon. Just hang in there.
Apr 1, 2021 | 9:13 am
#1067
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Gold
Posts: 15,009
The postal service is indeed backlogged -- I won't get started here about how long regular mail takes internationally from the US nowadays -- and that also has consequences for how things land in Philadelphia with State getting started, but sometime the online status being "not found" at some points in the process doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of how much longer the process will take.
Apr 1, 2021 | 9:24 am
#1068
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
IME, the chances of an domestically mailed US passport application ending up lost and never received by State seems to be much lower than that that of the online status tracker not being a consistent and accurate reflection of what is going on in the process upon initial delivery of the application to State. But that's from years before 2018.
Apr 1, 2021 | 2:23 pm
#1069
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,817
When calling the PP office, you can opt for a call back. That way, you dont have to be on hold for 45 mins. Its quite overwhelming when you dont know what happened to your application. There should be an initial scan of the application before the Philadelphia office forwards it for processing. This will help applicants to know that application is now in the hands of the PP center and not lost. With all the mail ongoing problems and USPS budget cuts, this is just going to get worse.
And a clarification - I did not mail it in. Since our appt was at the Post Office it seemed there was no need. However, it occurred to me the day after that I should have followed the advice here and had them send it priority mail. Lesson learned for five years from now.....
Apr 1, 2021 | 4:48 pm
#1070
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
Major Processing Delays
The state department just updated their website to reflect a 4 week wait until an application status can be checked online instead of the previous 14 day wait after applying. This shows that not only are they overwhelmed with applications but also with nervous people who cannot find their application in the system after 14 days
Apr 1, 2021 | 9:39 pm
#1071
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 1
The state department just updated their website to reflect a 4 week wait until an application status can be checked online instead of the previous 14 day wait after applying. This shows that not only are they overwhelmed with applications but also with nervous people who cannot find their application in the system after 14 days
Apr 2, 2021 | 5:58 am
#1072
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
Passport processing Delays
I think it's safe to say that when a timeline goes from 14 days to 4 weeks they are overwhelmed. But glad your application is processing fast, all the power to you.
Last edited by Steinbeck1211; Apr 2, 2021 at 6:18 am
Apr 2, 2021 | 7:11 am
#1073
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,817
I think the main take-away is use "special" processing (expedited service or submit via priority mail) if one wants to be able to confidently track the application and/or need time sensitive processing. Sending in any other way it will just become "lost" in the shuffle.
Last edited by Section 107; Apr 2, 2021 at 1:30 pm
Apr 2, 2021 | 1:35 pm
#1074
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,817
The state department just updated their website to reflect a 4 week wait until an application status can be checked online instead of the previous 14 day wait after applying. This shows that not only are they overwhelmed with applications but also with nervous people who cannot find their application in the system after 14 days
Your Application StatusApplication Status: Not Found
We did not find a record of an active passport application for you in our system.
If you are checking your status less than 14 days after you applied, Not Found means your application is still in transit to one of our passport agencies and centers. Please check again on this site when it has been at least 14 days since you applied.
If you applied more than 2 weeks ago and cannot find your passport status online, please call the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778 (or TDD/TTY 1-888-874-7793) to check on the status of your application.
Apr 2, 2021 | 1:49 pm
#1075
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
Passport processing Delays
You're right, the actual results status page has not been updated and it's still showing the 14 day time frame. It's very strange because all of the other information sections of the site have been updated to reflect the new 4 week time frame. I called into the NPIC this morning and they are already reading off the new script telling me that it can take up to 4 weeks before the in process status change appears
Apr 3, 2021 | 12:06 pm
#1076
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: MSP
Programs: UA 1K, QR Gold, DL Plat, AC 25
Posts: 4,481
Took about two month on the dot for me to get mine renewed (regular service) -
-Feb 6 - Application mailed to TX (priority mail)
-Feb 12 - Application arrived
-Feb 18 - Application changes to in process
-March 29 - Application changes to approved
-April 2 - Passport arrived
-Feb 6 - Application mailed to TX (priority mail)
-Feb 12 - Application arrived
-Feb 18 - Application changes to in process
-March 29 - Application changes to approved
-April 2 - Passport arrived
Apr 3, 2021 | 12:21 pm
#1077
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
Passport processing Delays
Took about two month on the dot for me to get mine renewed (regular service) -
-Feb 6 - Application mailed to TX (priority mail)
-Feb 12 - Application arrived
-Feb 18 - Application changes to in process
-March 29 - Application changes to approved
-April 2 - Passport arrived
-Feb 6 - Application mailed to TX (priority mail)
-Feb 12 - Application arrived
-Feb 18 - Application changes to in process
-March 29 - Application changes to approved
-April 2 - Passport arrived
Apr 4, 2021 | 10:18 am
#1078
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 102
Passport Delays - USPS
Was wondering if anyone has sent their passport for renewal lately, I sent mine via USPS Priority Mail back on 3/17 but on 3/22 I got a tracking stating that it's been delayed, and as of now 4/4 there's no updated. I've opened a ticket to USPS and the Philadelphia regional post office has emailed me stating they are "looking into it". Feels like there's either crazy delays or it's just gone...
Apr 4, 2021 | 1:07 pm
#1079
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,253
There are all kinds of USPS delays & those have nothing to do with passports.
I would report the passport as missing or stolen and provide the USPS tracking number and the information you have. State will either proceed as though the document has gone missing and direct you to file the new paperwork or decide to wait a bit longer.
I would report the passport as missing or stolen and provide the USPS tracking number and the information you have. State will either proceed as though the document has gone missing and direct you to file the new paperwork or decide to wait a bit longer.
Apr 4, 2021 | 3:58 pm
#1080
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Haze gray and underway
Programs: UA 2MM, HH Diamond, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,871
USPS tracking is at best useless. In the few times I been forced to use USPS and tracking the first accurate track I have received has been days after the tracked package has been delivered. On a positive note USPS has managed to deliver every package even if it was late/delayed.