Renewing passport rant
- Thread starter Donald
- Start date
Or they could be like Tom McCann's.....lot's of loafers...
You pay a guy and he takes care of it. LOL. Service fee/bribe. Tomato, Tomahto.
I had to go to China on short notice. Three months to get a visa. My work sent my passport and $700 to a guy and I got my passport with a Chinese visa back in 4 days.
This. While traveling through Sky Harbor last year the TSA officer said that airport alone is short 100 officers
He forgot to mention $40 for the Passport Card (in addition to the Passport Book). I always get the additional Passport Card which is only good for LAND crossings (Canada or Mexico). I always carry my Passport Card for two reasons.
1. For identification.
2. For when I travel to NYS, incase I want to cross the border to visit friends in Canada.
1. For identification.
2. For when I travel to NYS, incase I want to cross the border to visit friends in Canada.
There are way too many variables. They have a standard backlog at each regional office, but obviously they also allow those paying an expedite fee and have proof of upcoming travel to jump the line.
I remember doing mail in renewals a couple of times and it took 2-3 weeks. One mail renewed passport clearly said it was printed at the National Passport Center. My first adult passport was printed in San Francisco back when the location was always listed. These days it just says it’s from the State Dept. no matter where it’s printed. And I think they can just send the print jobs now to where there’s less of a backlog, such as someone applying where it’s processed in the Los Angeles office but then sent electronically to the Chicago office for printing. And obviously the mail in renewals can probably do the same.
It’s interesting now that there’s two addresses for mail in renewals. One address in Irving, Texas accepts applications from six seemingly random states (California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Texas). The other in Philly accepts mail in renewals from all other states and Canada.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html
https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds82.pdf
My parents just asked for some help with their applications. I used the DS-82 online form filler, which then downloads a PDF file to print the application. The form then has a bunch of info encoded in a 2D PDF417 code. But I checked the code and it doesn’t have everything collected on the form. But on the write in form (I think it’s possible to pick one up at a Passport Acceptance Facility as well as print it to fill in) that space is still there but blank.
Not me, but my family members have gotten rush Chinese visas to visit friends. I’ve visited with them a few times but never really rushed. I don’t think they have an official expedited fee or process. Once my wife was told it would be 5 days at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, but then went in and asked nicely (I was there) after two days. The clerk then checked in a file cabinet and found my kid’s passport. The visa was issued the day after she brought it in and was about to just sit in a file cabinet for 5+ days.
Interesting place too. Falun Gong is typically in front of it. I see it just driving by Japantown which is more or less across the street. There’s no more parking on that block except for police, after someone tried to firebomb the front door at night. Only caused cosmetic damage. I walked in once where I forgot my Swiss Army knife in my pocket and was told it was OK to take it in even though it was found with a metal detector.
State Dept says one can get an emergency appointment for life or death issues. I suppose a relative on a deathbed or for a kidney transplant would count. We’ve done the urgent travel thing and managed to get the passport and visa within the 10 days of a flight, but ended up postponing the trip. But they clearly say no walk ins.
I will explain.
If you work in a place like the federal government, the goal is to continue to grow the number of staff. This gives you more seniority, because there are more people below you. It also grows your voting block. Headcount must always increase.
So if you do things quickly, that undermines the need for more people. It will anger your coworkers, etc. People that work hard are written up for some made up transgression. So nothing moves fast.
Things can move fast if they have to and your willing to pay, but the average smuck gets to wait.
If you work in a place like the federal government, the goal is to continue to grow the number of staff. This gives you more seniority, because there are more people below you. It also grows your voting block. Headcount must always increase.
So if you do things quickly, that undermines the need for more people. It will anger your coworkers, etc. People that work hard are written up for some made up transgression. So nothing moves fast.
Things can move fast if they have to and your willing to pay, but the average smuck gets to wait.
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2021
- Messages
- 791
That's true of a lot of jobs. Maybe most. It's not limited to the govmint.
My son (under 16) got a 5 yr passport with std delivery took like 5 weeks early 2022. Maybe there’s nothing to check for children. As for me, I royally screwed up last July 2022 and booked an European trip and then realizing my passport was going to expire within month of travel. Did the expedite at agency and the only available offices was NH with the rule you can only make an appointment 2 weeks before travel or they wont schedule. I live in NY. So I kept appointment and called several days later exactly when travel.state.gov opened for service and another opening was available in CT and scheduled 3 days before I leave. Paid all the expediting fees and got the passport in hand taking probably 5 hrs total time. Very nerve racking!
Mine expired so I had to start over in late '14 or early '15 (can't recall). The official wait time was months... rec'd ours (wife and I) in around 3 weeks.
travel agencies that deal with Chinese visa and travel usually can get them really quick as they know the right contacts and the palms to grease .
I don't think there's any specific reason why an expired passport is treated any differently. For mail-in renewals it's up to 15 years from when an adult passport was issued. In person it's the same (more or less) if it's a renewal or new passport, where past 15 years is treated as a new passport application.
The biggest problem with child passports (and possibly adult passports) is that often they don't have any photo ID, their appearances change, and there is occasionally birth certificate fraud - even with children. Just basically obtaining someone else's birth certificate to use to get a passport.
Officially a "new" passport takes longer than a renewal. In my case, mine was officially a "new" passport since my previous had been expired for too long. Hmmmm, looking at their website now, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/processing-times.html, they no longer distinguish between renewals and new passports when it comes to time.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
All the passport places in Phoenix show no availability for the next 2 months when you go to book online. I just applied for mine a few days ago. I had to book an appointment at the post office in a small town 65 miles away in the middle of the desert. I did expedited and it showed 7-9 weeks too.
But I know a few people who did it last winter and they ended up getting them in 3.5-4 weeks, whether they were filed normally or expedited.
But I know a few people who did it last winter and they ended up getting them in 3.5-4 weeks, whether they were filed normally or expedited.
It didn't take me that long to get a TS clearance (twice). I've also gone through the FBI background check in order to purchase a gun (MANY times) and those were always completed while the dealer was still on the phone. Right now, today, immigrants are coming into the US and they're processing and releasing them in a matter of minutes. It's simply insane that it takes 7 to 9 weeks to get a passport to leave the country!
I've only thought of it in terms of an in-person application (DS-11) vs a mail-in renewal (DS-82). And there's the currently suspended online application that's kind of equivalent to a mail-in renewal.
I never heard of any published difference in terms of processing times for mail-in vs in-person other than obviously paying for an expedited passport as well going on person to an actual State Dept passport agency office with verifiable travel plans. Also the time it takes to mail in a passport.
My understanding is that the majority of people who want to renew a passport do it in person. I don't know if it's a mistrust of sending everything through the mail (which is what happens anyways) or just that people haven't heard of it. But it costs an extra $35 now.
