<p>There are quite a few local places that folks with a bit more time can use. The post office is handy, but many state Us & community colleges also process passports. That’s where my kids got theirs’ done–S at flagship U (he wasn’t a student there) and D at her local CC (where she happened to be a student). We weren’t sure how soon D would need hers, so we paid for expediting & she got it in about a week or two instead of the 6-8 weeks it said it MIGHT have taken. For peace of mind, the $60 was well spent.</p>
<p>My kids were both > 18 when they got their passports, so they are still valid.</p>
<p>We were lucky in using the expedited service that the US Post office uses and got ours quickly, but this is not guaranteed. Ours went through Philadelphia. In NYC I have many times seen long lines outside the building where the passport agency is and people are waiting for the same day service. If you have had a previous passport I would think you can get it the same day from the agency.</p>
<p>toledo - sounds like the prudent thing to do is suck up a long day and and go to the regional office. add it to your mental family scrapbook of “remember the time… ?”
heck you could get good milage out of this at family dinners for decades ;)</p>
<p>Congressman was able to expedite S’s passport when we had a similar situation a few years ago. We gave the passport to the congressman, who sent it to his office, and they were able to get S a new one within the short time period that we needed it.</p>
<p>mafool – I’m going to have my son try your suggestion for his passport, to see if he can get a new one in less than two weeks (yes, I should have realized it expired a long time ago, but I didn’t, what can I say?). Hope it works!</p>
<p>Check out the following link. Your S can get a passport in less than 2 weeks albeit with some hassle. The good news is that there’s a ‘passport agency’ located in SF if he chooses to go that route.</p>
<p>Tks ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad – he isn’t close to SF, can’t take the time off to drive down, so will try the service, which I guess you can express mail the docs too, and they take it to the passport agency for you? They say they can get it done – will let you know!</p>
<p>You call the passport office phone number for appointments and make an appt to go in person. You can fill your forms out on line and print them off to carry with you along with your old passport, birth cert, 2 photos and an itinerary’/invoice showing you are leaving very soon. Sometimes it is not easy to get an appt quickly, though. If he can get in, they will expedite it the same day so you have to hang around and come back to pick it up. Hopefully the office isn’t too many hours from where you live. Good luck</p>
<p>I had to travel at the last minute to Mexico for work, passport had just expired the month before. I made an appt at the local passport office and got my passport in 3 days. Hassle having to go back in to pick up the passport, but if you don’t have a need for it that day, they make you come back. I think they required documentation showing you had planned travel within two weeks. I was very impressed with the efficiency and courtesy of the folks at our local passport office.</p>
<p>Make sure you find out what type of payment is accepted at the site you are going to.</p>
<p>We used the county clerk’s office for a non-urgent passport application. The woman in front of me wanted to use a credit card and swore that the government passport website said credit cards are accepted. The clerk told her that other places might, but that she would need (2) checks or cash if she wanted to do it here.</p>
<p>The website states that some places accept credits and some don’t. You should contact your passport office for exact details. I paid with two checks, and so, that wasn’t an issue. I applied at my township’s office, and it was a fairly quick and painless effort. It just took forever to get the passport from the government.</p>
<p>Everything worked out fine. It did take the better part of a day to get it through our regional passport office in Detroit. Even though you have an appointment, you still have to wait in line. After we submitted all the paperwork, they wanted us to leave and come back the next day to pick it up. We insisted on getting it that same day. They told us to come back in three hours, which we did. When we returned, they said it hadn’t been processed, because they forgot to ask us for some more information. We waited another hour and finally got the darn thing. We also got a lecture on how stupid we were to be vacationing in Mexico, even though we were going to Puerto Vallarta.</p>
<p>Update – both of my sons got their passports. The service we used for the one worked great. The other son went in person to a regional office. And now we are already back from our trip. Vacation over. Sigh. </p>
<p>This is SUCH a useful site, so many knowledgeable people post here. Amazing. Thank you!</p>
<p>Does anyone have recommendations for a passport expeditor company? We need a passport in less than two weeks, and the offices are way too far away. I see lots of ads for passport expeditors, but it’s hard to tell which are legit.</p>
<p>If anyone has used one of these companies with good results, company names/web sites would be appreciated. Thank you.</p>
<p>I used this one for my daughter when she needed her visa expedited as did a friend. Not cheap, but they had everything in order with time to spare. You do not need to live in Atlanta to use them.</p>
<p>[International</a> Visa Service - Same day service for visas, passports and other travel documents, located in Atlanta, Georgia.](<a href=“CIBTvisas”>http://visalady.com/)</p>