<p>My son needs his passport at college, but it is here at home. We are only two hours away, but aren’t sure if we can get there to drop it off to him before he needs it. </p>
<p>Have any of you ever had to send a passport to your kids at schools? It it legal to do so? If so, what is the best way - mail, FedEx?</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice or personal experiences.</p>
<p>If you’re only two hours, I’d say your driving would be faster than fed-ex. Otherwise I’d say that was your best bet but depends on how the college signs for such packages.</p>
<p>If son has a car, meet halfway.
Otherwise, registered, insured, certified mail.
And photocopy it first.</p>
<p>Before using any form of mail or other shipment that requires the recipient’s signature, have him find out what the policies are for accepting such packages at his dorm or off-campus apartment building. If the people at the service desk won’t sign for a package, sending the passport by any method that requires a signature could be a problem. In that case, the best choice might be to send it Express Mail but sign the little “waiver of signature” box on the form.</p>
<p>Fedex. I have sent mine via fedex multiple times. Very reliable and awesome tracking. Do photocopy first in color. Keep one copy and send two additional copies for your son to tuck into his suitcase and wallet.</p>
<p>Two hours away? I’d drive it there.</p>
<p>Fedex…</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! We would prefer to just drive it down, but aren’t sure that we will be able to do so around work schedules. So we wanted to know what other options there are if it turns out that we can’t get it there (son doesn’t have a car at school). It makes me very nervous to send it in any fashion. </p>
<p>What’s annoying is that they are requiring the students to have them by next Thursday, but most of the kids will be coming home that Friday for a long weekend - and it wouldn’t have been an issue. Couldn’t the school have waited just a few days?? They just had the meeting for the trip and most of the kids didn’t realize they would need the passports so soon, or they would have just taken them back after the holiday break. </p>
<p>Hopefully we can just drive down and avoid any hassles. Also, thanks for the suggestions about the color copies - I hadn’t thought of it (we definitely aren’t world travelers here! lol!)</p>
<p>Just make sure he gets the Passport back home when his traveling is over. My son took his passport with him when he started school in the fall (to prove citizenship so he could work) but forgot to bring it home over winter break. This created some anxiety as we were going to Canada to visit the Grandparents. The Canadians let us in using an expired passport. We were a little nervous that I’d be making a solo drive to Philadelphia to recover the Passport while my husband and son stayed in Niagra Falls if the Americans wouldn’t let him back in. Fortunately we got through with a stern talking to.</p>
<p>Fedex or UPS should be fine. Consider that most of us who have passports had them delivered to us that way from the government.</p>
<p>I used FedX and then told him to being it back to us the next trip home so I could put it back in the security box. Just told FedX not to require a signature. I could track on-line, see it was delivered and confirm with my son via phone that he had received. But this reminds me I need to renew passports this year!</p>
<p>I had to do that last year. Let’s just say I preferred the younger photo!! (even though I probably risked not being recognized any longer!)</p>
<p>DD needed her passport “within the next six days” for a university sponsored trip. A lost passport would have meant no travel. And the apartment complex she lived in wouldn’t sign for mail or packages. So we bit-the-bullet and sent it regular mail. It all worked out, but it was a long couple of days until D called and said it’d arrived. Two hours away? I’d drop it off.</p>
<p>We sent sons to school with regular USPS in a box with other items. Did not insure it, but had tracking so we would know when it arrived at the dorm and so would he. With a 2 hour drive, it is likely that your son will have the package the next day, 2 at the most. Priority USPS (though it looks like you’ll be driving anyway—Such good parents!)</p>
<p>Overnight Fedex would be the easiest and safest. Driving there is a 4 hour round trip, right?</p>
<p>For something this important, I wouldn’t use Priority Mail from USPS. They do not guarantee delivery date.</p>
<p>USPS Express Mail guarantees delivery in 2 days. My daughter had her passport sent Express Mail from east coast to west over this vacation when she lost her wallet. Even at Christmastime, it came in 2 business days.
Only 17.95- a bit cheaper than FEDEX, I think.</p>
<p>Just send it by USPS with tracking. This is how the state department sends passports and it works well. </p>
<p>I find FEDEX to be overkill – you pay through the nose for what the Post Office can do for about a third of the price. Living and working in a very rural area I find the Post Office to be way better value then either Fedex or UPS.</p>
<p>I’d put it in a USPS priority mailer and call it good. But I’m a trusting soul. He’d more than likely have it the next business day.</p>
<p>First thing I do whenever anyone in the family gets a new passport is make multiple color copies and place them in a very safe and secure place. I always carry a copy of my passport with me, separate from my passport, when I travel outside the country. And there is always a copy at home, too.</p>
<p>True story…I mailed (first class) something important to my daughter. It was mailed October 28…she got it TODAY (January 8). It was postmarked October 28 and was delivered to her house with the rest of her mail today…no explanation.</p>
<p>I would NOT mail a passport if I had the option of driving.</p>