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)
Apr 20, 2021, 7:37 am
#1156
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 19,510
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I was able to successfully update the GE information online the following week. How the sluggish USPS delivery system can outpace one government computer ‘talking’ to another government computer is perhaps one of life’s great mysteries.
Apr 20, 2021, 8:59 am
#1157
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
Your questions are exactly why we have this thread.... it seems to vary greatly based upon to which processing location the application was sent. Some are being completely processed and returned in about 3 weeks while most others (like mine) are taking as much as 8 to 10 weeks. No way to know "exactly."
Apr 20, 2021, 11:10 am
#1158
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Plat, Hyatt Silver, Hilton Gld
Posts: 17
you cannot rely on the online status system alone, it is up to each passport agency to update it and they don't always do so. I applied for a renewal March 18, Application delivered March 24 and up until now my status is still Not available, I called the National passport information center and they had my application in the system already, they told me which passport agency was processing my application and gave me an application locator number, so by all means call them and don't rely on the online system
Apr 20, 2021, 2:55 pm
#1159
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: SW WA
Posts: 3,888
I'm getting concerned that mine is still "in process" when you guys are getting things through. Mine has been "in process" since 3/17, with my check having been cashed on 3/18. Should I be worried that there has been absolutely no movement?
Apr 20, 2021, 3:18 pm
#1160
Join Date: May 2006
Location: PMD
Programs: UA*G, NW, AA-G. WR-P, HH-G, IHG-S, ALL. TT-GE.
Posts: 2,911
If you look at my timeline you’re 3 weeks behind me. On that speed you won’t hear anything until 4/27.
Apr 20, 2021, 3:35 pm
#1161
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 22
No you should not be worried at all, the reason why some people get their passports before others is based entirely on where your application is sent to be processed. After your application is mailed to either Philadelphia PA or Irving TX, it is scanned and sent to a passport agency such as Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Charleston South Carolina, Minneapolis Minnesota etc. and based on the workload of the agency that your application is assigned to, it will determine how fast your application is processed
Apr 20, 2021, 6:33 pm
#1162
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 280
Yet another minor passport application from me. This time I'd like speed so I requested all the possible improvements, speed-ups initially. We shall see how it fares.
April 17th.
Deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing back and forth. The child doesn't have its federal name, i.e. SS identifier, so an additional paper attesting to this was also added. It was sent to Philadelphia.
I should add that it was not as straightforward as I thought to schedule a passport application appointment at a local post office for the next day. The local ones I checked were booked until Thursday next week at the earliest and I eventually, luckily found a slot in the suburbs not too far away. Unexpected obstacles all along the way!
I shall provide updates.
April 17th.
Deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing back and forth. The child doesn't have its federal name, i.e. SS identifier, so an additional paper attesting to this was also added. It was sent to Philadelphia.
I should add that it was not as straightforward as I thought to schedule a passport application appointment at a local post office for the next day. The local ones I checked were booked until Thursday next week at the earliest and I eventually, luckily found a slot in the suburbs not too far away. Unexpected obstacles all along the way!
I shall provide updates.
Last edited by crescatfloreat; Apr 20, 2021 at 6:57 pm
Apr 20, 2021, 6:38 pm
#1163
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 81
Just got our acceptance email today, in total it took about 7 weeks (assuming the return priority mail is on time).
Passport book renewal, regular processing, didn't go through any special contact channels after mailing:
3/06/21 - Mailed from CT (USPS Priority Mail) to Philadelphia, PA processing center
4/05/21 - Got email notification from State Dept for "in-process"
4/06/21 - Check cashed
4/19/21 - Got email notification for "approved", second email ~2 hours later for "shipped" with tracking number
4/25/21 - Estimated delivery date
Passport book renewal, regular processing, didn't go through any special contact channels after mailing:
3/06/21 - Mailed from CT (USPS Priority Mail) to Philadelphia, PA processing center
4/05/21 - Got email notification from State Dept for "in-process"
4/06/21 - Check cashed
4/19/21 - Got email notification for "approved", second email ~2 hours later for "shipped" with tracking number
4/25/21 - Estimated delivery date
Apr 20, 2021, 6:52 pm
#1164
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 81
No you should not be worried at all, the reason why some people get their passports before others is based entirely on where your application is sent to be processed. After your application is mailed to either Philadelphia PA or Irving TX, it is scanned and sent to a passport agency such as Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Charleston South Carolina, Minneapolis Minnesota etc. and based on the workload of the agency that your application is assigned to, it will determine how fast your application is processed
Apr 21, 2021, 5:10 am
#1165
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 81
Our's was in Pre-Shiment Info Received, Awaiting item straight to "Out for Delivery". The Out for Delivery status changed a few mins back at 6:45 AM today. We should be getting the two passport books today. The label cites its coming from Houston, TX.
Apr 21, 2021, 6:20 am
#1166
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 2
Yes, but it took a day to go from pre-shipment to being in the system. The tracking history shows the package was received by USPS in Tucson, AZ on the morning of 4/20 and should be delivered in CT on 4/23 (delivery estimate moved 1 business day earlier).
Apr 21, 2021, 8:28 am
#1167
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 280
Yet another minor passport application from me. This time I'd like speed so I requested all the possible improvements, speed-ups initially. We shall see how it fares.
April 17th.
Deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing back and forth. The child doesn't have its federal name, i.e. SS identifier, so an additional paper attesting to this was also added. It was sent to Philadelphia.
I should add that it was not as straightforward as I thought to schedule a passport application appointment at a local post office for the next day. The local ones I checked were booked until Thursday next week at the earliest and I eventually, luckily found a slot in the suburbs not too far away. Unexpected obstacles all along the way!
I shall provide updates.
April 17th.
Deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing back and forth. The child doesn't have its federal name, i.e. SS identifier, so an additional paper attesting to this was also added. It was sent to Philadelphia.
I should add that it was not as straightforward as I thought to schedule a passport application appointment at a local post office for the next day. The local ones I checked were booked until Thursday next week at the earliest and I eventually, luckily found a slot in the suburbs not too far away. Unexpected obstacles all along the way!
I shall provide updates.
April 21st - application delivered in Philadelphia (one day late).
Apr 21, 2021, 10:27 am
#1168
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 81
Got our passports. They even sent the old ones in the same envelope. Thought the expired ones are supposed to arrive a week or more later separately. But we got both the new and the expired ones in the same Priority Mail envelopes.
3/04/21: Mailed application by Priority mail; did not pay to expedite. Mailed from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA
3/07/21: Application received in Philadelphia, PA
3/24/21: Application Status shows up as "Processing" and Check cashed
4/19/21: Approved / Shipped Notification
4/21/21: New passport received (unable to track it at all as the status stayed Pre-Shipment Info received. USPS is awaiting item)
3/04/21: Mailed application by Priority mail; did not pay to expedite. Mailed from Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA
3/07/21: Application received in Philadelphia, PA
3/24/21: Application Status shows up as "Processing" and Check cashed
4/19/21: Approved / Shipped Notification
4/21/21: New passport received (unable to track it at all as the status stayed Pre-Shipment Info received. USPS is awaiting item)
Last edited by dvpatel; Apr 21, 2021 at 11:01 am
Apr 21, 2021, 10:32 am
#1169
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 280
My tracking mysteriously activated after I sent an investigation request to the USPS yesterday...
Apr 21, 2021, 11:11 am
#1170
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,507
UPDATE on Renewal of Minors w/ no special processing
Another touchpoint: renewing for 2 children under 16.
Since the kids are under 16 renewal must be in-person with both parents. Our appt was at the local post office. Took about 30 minutes to process, including taking two photos. In addition to the standard passbook & card fees with regular delivery service (not expedited), we were charged USPS processing fee for both, fees for two photographs, fees for photocopies of 7 pages of forms and documents (I think that should have come out of the USPS processing fee!) and, since paying electronically by credit/debit card - two fees to convert the electronic payment to two money orders. Will provide processing details as available:
3/15 Renewal Applications submitted
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."
4/15 Status on Passport Application Status Page: Application Not Found (both applications).
4/20 Received email notification applications received. Status webpage states: "The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book and card on 04/20/2021. We're now reviewing your application and supporting documents. You requested routine service when you applied, which we are currently processing in 10-12 weeks. Your application locator number is xxx"
Since the kids are under 16 renewal must be in-person with both parents. Our appt was at the local post office. Took about 30 minutes to process, including taking two photos. In addition to the standard passbook & card fees with regular delivery service (not expedited), we were charged USPS processing fee for both, fees for two photographs, fees for photocopies of 7 pages of forms and documents (I think that should have come out of the USPS processing fee!) and, since paying electronically by credit/debit card - two fees to convert the electronic payment to two money orders. Will provide processing details as available:
3/15 Renewal Applications submitted
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."
4/15 Status on Passport Application Status Page: Application Not Found (both applications).
4/20 Received email notification applications received. Status webpage states: "The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book and card on 04/20/2021. We're now reviewing your application and supporting documents. You requested routine service when you applied, which we are currently processing in 10-12 weeks. Your application locator number is xxx"