<p>It is about my D’s passport. I know there was a thread on this subject but I need very specific references.</p>
<p>Even so I started to push DW to get DD her passport last December, she managed to finally make the application in late March and refused rush service. DD’s flight to Spain is less than 10 days from now and both DW and DD are still in the “let’s wait and it will be here mode”. It is driving me 100% crazy. </p>
<p>I searched the web and saw many turn to their state representative’s office for help. I would appreciate your experiences on how to go about that.</p>
<p>Get thru to some live person in a passport office, or at the passport office in your post office, and see if you can expedite now. It is a crazy time in the passport world, poorly planned for.</p>
<p>So, basically not one has ever gotten their passport via the house representative’s help. </p>
<p>The ticket and the language school fee are not refundable. But that is not what drives crazy, it is not a whole lot money. It is the atitude from both DW and DD - “be positve, it will be here”, and then just sit and wait.</p>
<p>I assume her original birth certificate is in the mail so unless you get another one ASAP I don’t believe you can get a passport in a day. Your representatives phone # should be on the internet. Find out his office address and go to his office and ask for help. Best you can do.</p>
<p>As a person with a new age-y H, I understand this attitude driving you crazy – combination of passivity, denial and magical thinking; however, this is a fairly global personality trait that doesn’t change that easily. However, it should be easy to adress specifics of this instance. I’m sure you hve receipts etc. I don’t know where you are, but I would walk into to closest passport office. These days even U.S. post offices are issuing passports. Bring all receipts and see if anything is holding up said passport. You may be referred to larger office, though even post offices can rush passports for additional fee. I have gotten a same day passport by going to passport office in Manhattan. this was not quite recently, so I’m sure procedures have changed, but when I need to pursue something I have always found that in-person works better than telephone.</p>
<p>P.S. I could never say merely $3,000. That’s an enviable position.</p>
<p>MOT, my point exactly. I am the type who plan way ahead and like to get everything months before. Somehow both DW and DD are exactly the opposite - they like to wait until the last minutes. </p>
<p>I reminded them many times a in May that they need to do something and always got a blank look - why? had them researched and acted then by applying for expertising (sp?) we would have gotten it by now. </p>
<p>Hopefully this will teach them a lesson. </p>
<p>My problem is that DD is going with someone else. If DD coudl not go, the other person may have to pay for thing scheduled to be shared. We may have to pay those if DD did not get her passport.</p>
<p>I would not sit and wait at this point. I know nothing about the state representative aspect. Here, one applies for a passport at our town office. If I were you, I would go back to where you applied for the passports and tell them the time period you were told that you should have a passport by and that it is past that time (is this true?) and that the travel is in ten days and you need help to check on the passports and if necessary, to expedite them. Ask for any help or advice they can give you.</p>
<p>I asked my DD last night to do a research about what else could we do. Her reply - “you are so annoying. The post office lady said it will be here.”</p>
<p>There have been many news reports this season of how overworked the passport office is, due to new and phasing-in requirements for passports for travel in this hemisphere. It is taking many months to receive passports which requested regular processing, and in many cases even expedited requests have taken several months (so even requesting expediting in May might not have worked this year). </p>
<p>Not to throw a wet blanket on things, but I heard an interview with several people waiting in line at a Federal processing facility who had all tried to get their US Representatives involved to help. Occasionally this works, but not for everyone: still, it’s worth a try (and don’t wait any longer to contact your Representative if you’re going to do it, this is a holiday week). If she needs the passport in 10 days and it’s not here, I think it may be time to consider the fall-back position and how to recover from missing the trip. So many people’s plans have been ruined this year by the passport fiasco. I’m sorry your D and her friend may be two of them. Good luck.</p>
<p>It must be so difficult to be the only worried one in your family. It would be very hard for me to persist in trying to be helpful if my efforts were looked upon as annoying.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Your wife should have gotten a piece of paper with info about tracing how the process is going and when you will get the passport. The application for a passport asks for the date of travel. Hopefully your wife filled in that part of the application. I agree with others, you should go back to the passport office (the post office where they originally applied) and explain the situation. Bring along any paperwork your wife got at the time of the application. Ask if you can expedite with extra money at this point. If that doesn’t do it, call your US representative’s office and ask for help. I would not sit and wait for it to magically appear on time. I would be anxious and frustrated too. Start checking into this today.</p>
<p>I have gone through the same thing with my son, my boyfriend regarding passports, though they’ve expedited in the end. “Now” is apparently a fluid concept for some.</p>
<p>There was an artilce in the LA Times about this very issue about two weeks ago. Processing time is now is 12-14 weeks.</p>
<p>The Passport guy basically said that you had to call, and they would give you an appointment to go to the Passport office (in our case, downtown Los Angeles), and they would process same day. However, due to the backlog, they were only making appointments for those people with tix leaving in the next 48 hours.</p>
<p>You can log into the Passport website with name and SSN to find out processig status and the 800 number to call. Good luck.</p>
<p>Getting through to the passport office on the phone is a feat in itself. When I tried calling I got a recording that all lines were busy and to try again at another time. A friend resorted to getting up at 5 am Ca time to reach them by phone.
My son expediated his on June 2 and we still don’t have it. The online status report says you will receive your passport in 2-3 weeks after applying. The paperwork from the post office says he should have it by June 30th, didn’t happen. When I check the USPS online site to track my overnight envelope it isn’t trackable meaning it hasn’t been sent yet. we still have time but it is frustrating.
Have you gone online and checked the status. All you need is your D’s name, birthdate and last 4 digits of her social.
At this point I would be calling the rep plus getting an appointment with the passport agency. I think it says you can get an appt if your departure is in 14 days. Make the appt and hope that you don’t need it.</p>
<p>You are getting excellent advice here. I hope you heed it. Your wife and D who want to just wait and see are possibly losing out on anything that might be able to be done and it could end up too late eventually for them. Time to act and do all you can to look into the status of their application.</p>
<p>I got S’s passport once with our state rep’s help. About 10 days before we were headed to France, I realized that S’s passport was scheduled to expire during our time in France.</p>
<p>S was in camp out of state. With the help of the camp counselor (God bless the Talent Seach staff at U Kansas), S was able to get his passport picture taken and sent to us. Our congressman got S’s passport done in time. I am forever grateful.</p>
<p>Do call your state rep right now and get that help. </p>
<p>There’s such a backlog of passport applications now that continuing to wait and see will probably guarantee that your D will not be able to go on that trip.</p>
<p>Call the 800 number on the passport application form - first thing in the a.m. Be prepared to be on hold for quite some time, but in this case patience is a virtue. If the passport has not been received and the scheduled date of departure is less than 2 weeks away, the passport processing will be expedited (at no extra cost) and sent overnight via the USPS within one week - requiring a signature for delivery. Good luck!</p>