<p>All the mailbox etc stores will take passport pics, and even some PO locations with passport services offer them. Costco is another good place if you’re a member.</p>
<p>My friend tried to expediate his. The passport office made the decision it did not need to be rushed based on his travel plans. He was waking up at 4 am Ca time to call back east. It wasn’t fun.
If your lucky it will come quickly. But I would allow extra time. It is no fun worrying.</p>
<p>My S renewed his passport on January 14th and he got it back during spring break, my D did it on January 26th and she is still waiting for hers.</p>
<p>The passport requirement changes have caused a huge backlog. My friend just nagged a U.S. Senator’s office to help with expediting her son’s just last week. </p>
<p>Re: Digital do it yourself photos – I tried that once because it was so convenient. Head size was exactly like the old passport I was renewing. The clerk was just a cranky old bird who complained about the color, so I had to run out to a photo place anyway. Of course, the subject matter was exquisite, so I was stunned that she’d have any problem with the photo. Save yourself the aggravation & get it taken at a place that churns out dozens of them a day.</p>
<p>The wait time in the New York area is horrendous now. All the information you need is on the website, and since you don’t have specific travel plans you can’t take advantage of the ‘in person’ option (only for those with a ticketed departure date within two weeks) and even then those appointments are hard to come by. If I were you, I’d go ahead and send in my application but don’t expect anything in less than three months, unless you pay the expedited fee, and even then the wait time is now longer (in NY, at least) than the ‘advertised’ wait times. </p>
<p>The 10 year passports are for those over age 16. </p>
<p>Follow the instructions on the website. (One small tip - if you work for a large company, they often have in house people who take care of this for employees - I have no idea how they manage it, but they can get it much faster than advertised times - so your employer may have be able to help you. There are businesses that charge a significant sum of money to do this for you, but the website warns people against it.) </p>
<p>A friend is currently waiting for her passport and was told by the agency that she should not have made travel plans without having the passport in hand. She applied in January for April travel and at that time they were projecting a less than 10 week wait. No one anticipated the avalanche of applications (and wouldn’t you think they would?)</p>
<p>You ^ mean New York CITY area I assume. There’s a whole bunch of New York State to the west of THE city. : )</p>
<p>I subscribe to a fodor’s on-line newsletter and they just sent this timely information regarding passports: <a href=“What to Expect on the Updated Alcatraz Tours in San Francisco Bay”>What to Expect on the Updated Alcatraz Tours in San Francisco Bay;
<p>Wow. Really? : ()</p>
<p>So, what happens when you MUST have a passport to drive to Canada (think Washington, Michigan, NY, etc) and then you must renew it, which requires sending in the old one, and takes 10 weeks to process…so how do you cross whilst they have both the old and the new in the processing line up?? 
</p>
<p>This thread has inspired me to get my passport NOW for Study Abroad. </p>
<p>Question: Can the State Department turn you down for an expedited requests (not through a Passport agency, just the $150 one)? I’m not travelling until September but I need my passport by June-July so I can send it in for visa purposes… I’m a bit worried after having read this thread.</p>
<p>Off to find my birth certificate.</p>
<p>Re: Canada question. So far you only need a passport to fly in and out of Canada. The driving requirement tentatively starts Jan 2008 (it has not been determined yet). So people have time. The problem right now is the backlog from all the recent passport requirement changes. It isn’t normally this slow - and it shouldn’t stay this slow.</p>
<p>Weenie: I know it does not apply now, but I cross a lot, just sent in for passport renewal and am wondering what I would do a year from now whilst awaiting a passport renewal. I am doing it in time, but what will they do with every one later??</p>
<p>tlaktan- my friend was turned down by the state department for an expedited request. They told him it was not necessary in his case. As I said before his passport arrived 4 pm the day before he had a 6 am flight out of the US.
When I was at the auto club last week they said the AAA is predicting 8 hours backup time next january at the Mexico border once they require passports for entrance by auto.</p>
<p>When S enquired about getting a passport, he was told 6 weeks; for an expedited passport, he would have to pay an extra $50. He chose not to pay extra; the passport arrived in 4 weeks. But it seems it varies a lot, according to the experiences of other posters.</p>
<p>somemom: Yeah, I have no idea. I forgot about the renewal problem. Maybe they’ll never really implement it!</p>
<p>Marite, I think it depends on how extensive are the checks; does the applicant’s name false positive against someone else’s name on any of the numerous watchlists/blacklists, etc.</p>
<p>I was at FBI headquarters a few weeks ago and got horribly held up at the check-in area - all of a sudden, I found myself being questioned by like five agents, phone calls were made, etc. They eventually issued my badge but it was nerve-wracking to say the least (I started to have visions of not making it home LOL). And I have been in that building for various meetings many, many times over the past few years - sometimes as often as 2-3 times a month, going through the same procedure every time, and never once a question or problem. It turns out that my name pinged against someone else’s with a similar spelling or something like that - they suddenly thought I was a foreign national, and I think they were trying to decide if my social security number was falsified. So I can imagine that some applicants probably sail right through the process of getting a passport issued, and others, if their names stray too close to someone else’s, might get held up at various points along the way.</p>
<p>So if people don’t go anywhere right away, what do they put until that blank that says “dates of travel”?? Make something up just to get the thing and keep it until something does come up??</p>
<p>Just leave it blank. One other tip: I always leave a copy of the first page of my passport in a file at my office. That way if I am traveling and my passport is lost or stolen, my office can give me the pertinent information including passport number and a replacement can be had much more quickly.</p>
<p>somemom, re: the Canada question. What they’ll do a year from now with drivers is the same thing that they’re doing now to people who are flying, and that is, not allowing them to travel. You won’t get across the border without a passport. People who don’t have one by Jan. 2008 will be out of luck, and frankly, with all the publicity that has been focussed on this issue for the past couple of years, no one should have any sympathy for them! :)</p>
<p>Stickershock already covered this, but for the photo, do yourself a favor and go to a place that has experience in taking passport photos, whether you end up paying $4 or $14. I went to the photo shop, and watched the guy take my picture with a digital camera and it printed out on his desktop printer. My comment was, “gee I could have done this at home.” He asked me if I had a laser color printer. (No - just inkjet). His point was that the passport folks are very picky about the color and quality of the photos. So have a pro do it.</p>