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)
Jun 22, 2021, 1:13 pm
#1336
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 21
Jun 22, 2021, 7:34 pm
#1338
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3
First time US Passport applicant here base in San Francisco, CA. Did the expedite and 1-2 day shipping fee due to my upcoming travel in August 2nd.
6-14 applied in person in USPS 1300 Evans Lane in SF
6-18 application received
6-21 my personal check payment was cleared in my checking account
TBC
6-14 applied in person in USPS 1300 Evans Lane in SF
6-18 application received
6-21 my personal check payment was cleared in my checking account
TBC
Jun 23, 2021, 8:16 am
#1339
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 10
Hi Everyone,
thought I'd add my in - process application:
Applied in person (minor child) for an expedited passport renewal on 5/20. Was told by the friendly and seemingly very knowledgeable P.O. person not to worry, that things were speeding up and that we would get it back in time for our travel 6/28. We were not offered the option to pay for the express return shipping and did not think to ask for it at the time - which is now annoying me to no end, since we've always paid for that in previous appointments. Also did not get a tracking number.
5/28: check dropped, and this is the date the system claims they got the passport.
6/21: called the state department line, after three hours on hold was told that it was 4-6 weeks processing from when they receive it, and that most applications were now taking the full 6 weeks. Husband swears that at the time we filled out the form, it said 4-6 weeks overall processing. Was also told that in San Francisco, which is our closest agency, there are 17 appointments per day (did she say 70? I had a fairly poor connection), so basically, no chance to get one of those. Like other posters here said, she also told me that appointment slots become available 10 days out. She reminded me of all the holidays that were also adding time to the clock. I asked her about leaving on a different passport (we also have EU passports). She said we wouldn't have the exit stamp that we needed to get back in and there would be no record of us leaving, so she said she wouldn't risk it. But if we have the passport by then, which we should (returning August 1st), I am not worried about her being let in. But I am worried about being allowed to board with the German passport only when we leave the US.
Anyhow. Contacted our local congressperson yesterday afternoon, hopefully we'll hear something. Spoke to a friend, who did the same thing (passport application for a child) in a different state, just a week before we did, and they got theirs back 4 weeks to the day they applied, which makes me hopeful that things might move soon.
Sending good vibes to all who are waiting!
thought I'd add my in - process application:
Applied in person (minor child) for an expedited passport renewal on 5/20. Was told by the friendly and seemingly very knowledgeable P.O. person not to worry, that things were speeding up and that we would get it back in time for our travel 6/28. We were not offered the option to pay for the express return shipping and did not think to ask for it at the time - which is now annoying me to no end, since we've always paid for that in previous appointments. Also did not get a tracking number.
5/28: check dropped, and this is the date the system claims they got the passport.
6/21: called the state department line, after three hours on hold was told that it was 4-6 weeks processing from when they receive it, and that most applications were now taking the full 6 weeks. Husband swears that at the time we filled out the form, it said 4-6 weeks overall processing. Was also told that in San Francisco, which is our closest agency, there are 17 appointments per day (did she say 70? I had a fairly poor connection), so basically, no chance to get one of those. Like other posters here said, she also told me that appointment slots become available 10 days out. She reminded me of all the holidays that were also adding time to the clock. I asked her about leaving on a different passport (we also have EU passports). She said we wouldn't have the exit stamp that we needed to get back in and there would be no record of us leaving, so she said she wouldn't risk it. But if we have the passport by then, which we should (returning August 1st), I am not worried about her being let in. But I am worried about being allowed to board with the German passport only when we leave the US.
Anyhow. Contacted our local congressperson yesterday afternoon, hopefully we'll hear something. Spoke to a friend, who did the same thing (passport application for a child) in a different state, just a week before we did, and they got theirs back 4 weeks to the day they applied, which makes me hopeful that things might move soon.
Sending good vibes to all who are waiting!
Jun 23, 2021, 8:52 am
#1340
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 3
Hello guys I've been lurking for few days and decided to post. Thank you for the recommendation on contacting representatives. I heard back from our Representative's good office after emailing her last night. Although it sounds like an automated email, i am very hopeful to hear from a caseworker soon. I emailed Sen Feinstein but have to yet hear from her.
Jun 23, 2021, 11:03 am
#1342
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,432
Y
u will have no problem whatsoever leaving the US with the German passport in the airline record. The US has no exit controls and the fact that that passport was never used to enter the US will not matter. Do not, however, try to enter the US with that passport. You'll need an ESTA for it and as a US citizen one can't get an ESTA so you won't even be allowed to board. That's not to mention the fact that to enter the US, citizens are required to use their US passports -- the same way Germans are required to use their German passports when entering Germany.
Jun 23, 2021, 11:04 am
#1343
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 8
They didn't give me any tracking. You just need to go online and check it. With regards to shipping fee I only pay the charge going back to me. He said USPS will take care of shipping it to US Passport Services.
Jun 23, 2021, 12:26 pm
#1344
Join Date: Jun 2021
Posts: 10
Thanks for getting back to me - that seems to be the consensus, that leaving will be fine but that we really must get our passport in time for our return. I seem to remember that my husband used to have to show both his green card and his EU passport when leaving the country - but I may I don't remember this correctly.
Jun 23, 2021, 1:30 pm
#1345
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: SFO
Programs: COdbaUA Platinum 2MM
Posts: 5,532
Thanks for getting back to me - that seems to be the consensus, that leaving will be fine but that we really must get our passport in time for our return. I seem to remember that my husband used to have to show both his green card and his EU passport when leaving the country - but I may I don't remember this correctly.
You qualify for this exception if all the following are true:
- You are a U.S. citizen.
- You are currently abroad seeking direct return to the United States.
- You are flying directly to the United States, a United States territory, or have only short-term transit (“connecting flights”) through a foreign country on your direct return to the United States or to a United States Territory.
- Your expired passport was originally valid for 10 years. Or, if you were 15 years of age or younger when the passport was issued, your expired passport was valid for 5 years.
- Your expired passport is undamaged.
- Your expired passport is unaltered.
- Your expired passport is in your possession.
- You wish to depart from the United States to an international destination.
- You are currently abroad seeking to travel to a foreign country for any length of stay longer than an airport connection en route to the United States or to a United States territory.
- Your expired passport was limited in validity.
- Your expired passport is a special issuance passport (such as a diplomatic, official, service, or no-fee regular passport).
- Your expired passport is damaged.
- Your expired passport is altered.
- Your expired passport is not in your possession.
https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...s.html#general
Frequently Asked Questions 2.34
Jun 23, 2021, 3:46 pm
#1347
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 284
Jun 23, 2021, 4:54 pm
#1348
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
Good luck in getting the US passport issued! It sounds as if you're taking the right steps and it's just a matter of time...
Yu will have no problem whatsoever leaving the US with the German passport in the airline record. The US has no exit controls and the fact that that passport was never used to enter the US will not matter. Do not, however, try to enter the US with that passport. You'll need an ESTA for it and as a US citizen one can't get an ESTA so you won't even be allowed to board. That's not to mention the fact that to enter the US, citizens are required to use their US passports -- the same way Germans are required to use their German passports when entering Germany.
Y
u will have no problem whatsoever leaving the US with the German passport in the airline record. The US has no exit controls and the fact that that passport was never used to enter the US will not matter. Do not, however, try to enter the US with that passport. You'll need an ESTA for it and as a US citizen one can't get an ESTA so you won't even be allowed to board. That's not to mention the fact that to enter the US, citizens are required to use their US passports -- the same way Germans are required to use their German passports when entering Germany.Increasingly often, there is an additional systematic electronic exit control by way of biometric exit control to be experienced when flying out of the US. While US and most Canadian passport users can opt out of this, most other adult foreign passport users cannot opt out of that. But this shouldn’t be a big concern either for a US minor using their non-US passport to fly out of the US.
Jun 24, 2021, 10:59 am
#1350
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Southern California
Programs: Alaska MVP 75K, Delta Plat, Bonvoy Ambasador, Hilton diamond.
Posts: 527
The wife thinks I'm crazy for even considering it but there is actually a flight out of SAN @ 1:45pm that works really well for our trip (vs 9am out of SNA the following day)...odds on getting passport printed in time to make the flight at the San Diego Passport Agency from a 8:30am appointment...airport is not far from the passport agency 
.
.