PASSPORT EMERGENCY - HELP!!!!!

[Davie]

Well, I really screwed up. I have a plane ticket to London on Wednesday and I just found out my passport expired two weeks ago!!

Has anybody used a passport expediting service? In particular, does anybody know of a reputable service in New York City?

Thanks.

 

[gpalmer]

The right place to go for info is: http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html There are services available that you have to go to regional centers for, but I believe these take two days for service. I would start by grabbing the number from this site http://travel.state.gov/npicinfo.html and calling them ASAP, this has the emergency number to call listed. I'm sure they can take care of you, but you will probably have to go through some aggravation.

EDIT - BTW, as far as I know, the passport expediting services are just collecting extra money for things you can do yourself and are just an extra layer of people and contacts to go wrong. Ultimately, the best you can do is to go straight to the horse's mouth and deal with the US Government. (Excepting for your International Driver's Permit, which you go to AAA for - Ignore the ads that tell you they will get you the IDP for a fee, there are only two companies the UN has approved to issue IDP in the US and AAA is the one that is available everywhere)

 

[braillediver]

I believe everything is closed Monday also?

Bummer.

Seems like you’ll have to be whereever needed first thing Tuesday if it’s even possible in the time frame available.


Good Luck

Mitch

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer BTW, as far as I know, the passport expediting services are just collecting extra money for things you can do yourself and are just an extra layer of people and contacts to go wrong. Ultimately, the best you can do is to go straight to the horse's mouth and deal with the US Government.

This sounds reasonable but I'm going to have to hope that you're wrong since in that case my good is really cooked -- I called the automated reservation number to see a passport agent in New York (which is now required for expedited service) and there isn't even an appointment available until over a week after I'm supposed to leave. So I'm going to have to hope that I can rely on one of the private services that says they can get it done in a day or two. This is America, so you should be able to get anything you want if you're willing to pay enough, right??!!

I just found out that somone I know used one of these services in New York City called "It's Easy" (that's right...) Seems to have worked fine for her, though she couldn't recall if her time frame was as tight as mine...

 

[raymondlin]

In England here you can get a new Passport in the same day if you go to the office in person. Should be able to do the same there.

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davie This sounds reasonable but I'm going to have to hope that you're wrong since in that case my good is really cooked -- I called the automated reservation number to see a passport agent in New York (which is now required for expedited service) and there isn't even an appointment available until over a week after I'm supposed to leave.

Maybe they can, since your hold up is seeing a person rather than getting the forms processed it's possible they can get them in there and make it happen. Good luck!

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer Maybe they can, since your hold up is seeing a person rather than getting the forms processed it's possible they can get them in there and make it happen. Good luck!

After spending quite a bit of time on line, it seems that the situation is that the government *can* process the passport the same day, but you normally *can't* get an appointment to request that they do this without waiting for several days. Apparently the passport office has changed their policy recently to not accept people off the streets without an appointment. As far as I can tell, you pay the expediters to pre-process your application and get it to the actual government office when you need it there. It's frustrating to have to pay someone else to do it, but I guess ultimately I have myself to blame (@#$%!!!)

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davie After spending quite a bit of time on line, it seems that the situation is that the government *can* process the passport the same day, but you normally *can't* get an appointment to request that they do this without waiting for several days. Apparently the passport office has changed their policy recently to not accept people off the streets without an appointment. As far as I can tell, you pay the expediters to pre-process your application and get it to the actual government office when you need it there. It's frustrating to have to pay someone else to do it, but I guess ultimately I have myself to blame (@#$%!!!)

Well the secret is that there are a few regional centers located out there that can handle you and can pull off the fasssst stuff, mine is in San Francisco, I'm not sure where yours is. But if the expeditors can just trot in there and drop off the goodies then you should be home free. I had to wait three hours in line the other day to get mine as a rush order, but they got it to me in a week after promising it would be here in two weeks. Of course, they also screwed up and made it a 24 page book instead of a 48 page book. And even though it was their mistake they wanted me to go to the Regional center and wait in line to get a replacement. I just gagged on that, and accepted the 24 pager but overall I think they were pretty reasonable about things and for a government agency, they seemed pretty decent.

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer I just gagged on that, and accepted the 24 pager but overall I think they were pretty reasonable about things and for a government agency, they seemed pretty decent.

I'm sure they deal with desperate travellers like me all the time, so it makes sense for them to have some way of dealing with them.

We've got a regional center in lower Manhattan. I'll give 'em a call on Tuesday morning if I haven't arranged something by then. The rules say no walk ins, but it would be worth a shot.

 

[Davie]

Well, I've talked to a couple of expediters and got the scoop. So just in case anybody wants to know...

It appears that you are in fact paying the expediter for the appointment. They have standing relationships with passport processing centers and can get your paperwork on the right desk when you need it there. If you can get an appointment yourself then you can save yourelf the expediter's fee, but appointments may not be available for several days or even more than a week.

If you don't live in a big city where you can walk your papers in, there are many services that will handle the whole thing through Fedex in two days (e.g., if you Fedex the documents to them on Monday for early morning delivery the next day, they'll have the new passport back to you by the early morning Fedex delivery on Wednesday). One woman I talked to said that they'll even meet you at the airport with you documents if you're willing to pay them enough.


So I go into It's Easy passport bright and early tomorrow and they should have it all taken care of (for $150 on top of the government fees). I guess I won't be buying any headphones in London...

 

[KYTGuy]

Last time I had to make a Pier-head jump to go save a ship in Thailand, I was able to show up at the agency and "walked " through a renewal in a matter of a few hours...this was a few years ago, but I am told that this service is still available. It costs a considerable bit extra, though. This is only available in a few MAJOR cities in the U.S. - I was In Los Angeles. It was after hours - got the final approval near 2200 hours.

 

[gpalmer]

Thanks for the info Davie. Interesting about the trip to Thailand, KYTGuy. That must have been one of the regional centers and they apparently will do wonderful (and expensive) things if you have the need and an itenerary to show them.