<p>If you really need that passport that you have already applied for, try calling your congressman. Daughter applied for renewal in early March, and we are leaving for vacation tomorrow. Our congressman was able to expedite it for us (no additional charge!), and it arrived today.</p>
<p>I’m sorry…that’s what I meant. The individual members are receiving many, many calls from their individual constituents requesting assistance in negotiating the passport backlog. It’s not a movement per se, just a hassle while the Congress is attempting to deal with the issues of the moment.</p>
<p>oops - posted the wrong link: <a href=“http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/08/ap3803347.html[/url]”>http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/08/ap3803347.html</a></p>
<p>Please post here once you do receive your passport or renewal. Please let us know your date of application, date passport was received, and whether it was a first time passport or a renewal. Thanks.</p>
<p>D’s passport renewal:
applied March 22
received June 1
after multiple phonecalls, emails etc.</p>
<p>I did a passport renewal in NYC, expedited service. Passport took 3 weeks to arrive.</p>
<p>My friend did an expedited Passport, it arrived and her puppy chewed it up! The people at the expediting service had a good laugh about it and are now working with her to get a duplicate. Her son leaves in 3 weeks for Europe.</p>
<p>chocoholic, did you begin making calls prior to two weeks before daughter’s travel date? Will anyone speak to you before that point?</p>
<p>After 12 weeks, WildChild’s renewal application and old passport were returned to us because “you can’t renew through the mail if you received the original passport before you were 16”. Took 12 weeks to figure that out. Now we are back to square 1 and he is off to the post office to do it that way. By the way, it was the post office that told him he should just do the mail renewal- that it was easier. Hey-maybe this is a good way to keep him in the country!!!</p>
<p>AAAAaaaauuuuugggghhhhhhhhhh!</p>
<p>worrywart, my experience was that they will talk to you, but they can’t actually take action to expedite until you are 14 days out from departure.</p>
<p>Worrywart, we needed the passport number 6 weeks in advance of travel because my D had to apply for a special foreign university visa that takes 4 weeks, and when I explained that to them they were fine.</p>
<p>However, if I said that she was travelling in 2 weeks, I cannot imagine them asking for proof of ticket. You are just speaking with an agent on the phone, who will then send an email on your behalf to the powers-that-be.</p>
<p>I feel like I’m the expert on this whole passport fiasco. I had to get a passport in May to fly from Detroit to Toronto - hardly worth it, but that’s how I needed to travel for work. </p>
<p>I applied 9 weeks ahead of time - without expidited costs. I just couldn’t believe it could take longer and I didn’t want to pay the extra costs. At the point that my trip was within two weeks, I started calling the passport office nightly - LOTS of time on hold, but be patient. They told me they were doing everything possible to NOT have anyone miss a trip and that while it would be LIKELY that I would get it in time, I shouldn’t expect it more than a day or two before my trip. Nerveracking!!! </p>
<p>Appparently there are several steps (8?) that need to be completed before it is “done”. The operators were actually quite friendly and patient on the phone (except one). Once it was finally picked up out of the “pile” they were able to literally tell me what step in the process it was in and could even quote me exact times that it had been worked on (for example: it was last looked at at 3:42 pm) - amazing. When it was finally completed, they FEDEX’d it and gave me a tracking # - I was literally able to track it hourly on the internet and see it’s path to my door. I received it 48 hours before my trip. Talk about a lot of stress!!!</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid to call, and call often. Ask them to do anything they can to speed the process. They DO NOT want to talk to you though, unless your trip is within two weeks.</p>
<p>Hubby regular service - not expedited
date of application - March 8
date passport received - June 5
first time passport </p>
<p>Me regular service - not expedited
date of application - March 15 (1 wk later - needed raised seal on BC)
date passport received - still waiting
first time passport </p>
<p>We leave on June 29th so I’m hoping it gets here soon as I have a business trip to Miami the week before I leave and we are departing from Miami and won’t be home to try to expedite…</p>
<p>Good luck, laxmom, and thanks for the info.</p>
<p>My S’s application for his passport was sent off early May. Just talked to him and he has received it. His was for military purposes so don’t know it it was expeditied but I would think so. He leaves the country July4. </p>
<p>He 's never gotten a passport before (nor has anyone else in our family). Told me it was pretty cool looking, made him feel like James Bond,LOL</p>
<p>I took my son to the post office yesterday. He’s had a passport since he was 2 months old (it has a really cute picture of him sleeping). I thought we’d be able to do a renewal but they said no, we had to re-apply because he got his last one before he was 16, sort of like what mowc said, except they did send the application out by mail. Are we just going to get it returned mowc?</p>
<p>They said 12 weeks for regular and now I wish I’d paid extra for expedited. We don’t have international travel planned til december, but this makes me nervous. We do have wonderful congressmen though and I’m sure they’d help if we need it.</p>
<p>A very small consolation to those waiting for their passports…</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-06-12-passport-refunds_N.htm[/url]”>http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-06-12-passport-refunds_N.htm</a></p>
<p>After becoming a citizen last Nov., I recieved my passport within a week (expediated).
Not so simple with my Ds passport. Applied mid February, enclosing all needed docs such as my new citizenship certificate, her green card, her foreign birth certificate and so on (also expediated). Guy at post office said all was in order. Not so. Recieved a letter in late March, that her birth certificate was refused due lack of issue #,(this was a valid legal cert. that replaced the country’s previous and original now invalid cert.) and that I needed to send my marriage certificate! (I’ve been divorced for 12 years) + a translation by certified translation co (French to English). I could translate the darn thing myself, but had to pay $300 to have it done by someone in Vermont! since I couldn’t find a French translation service in Los Angeles (everybody seemed to work with only Spanish or Asian languages), the service I did find used the person in Vermont.
All this because my daughter and I have different surnames but the standard documents could already prove she was my daughter. Also had to send the invalid old birth cert.
We finally recieved the passport a couple of weeks ago after some considerable angst about those original irreplaceable documents having been “lost”, and my daughter’s in limbo status without even her green card. Needless to say, she had to cancel her visit with her Dad last Easter break.
It was quite a ride, and believe me, those passports are guarded behind lock and key. I’m not going through that again.</p>
<p>d3 - 6 yo getting her 2nd passport (she’s traveling in Aug) and d1 getting her first above 16 yo passport, her old one expired. - we applied middle of May unexpedited (I was all ready to start calling next month) but recieved the both of them today. I’m not sure but perhaps because we are in NYC close to one of the processing centers. I mean not even 4 weeks wait</p>