Passport help!

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Pre-9/11 I was able to get it same day... Appointment in the am and return later in the day to pick it up. No idea if they can do it that quick anymore. You will need to check with your closest processing center as others have mentioned.
 
I don't know when you get back from your July trip, but you should have plenty of time - especially if you pay to have it expedited. Heck, you may want to do it after the May 3rd trip, just to be safe for the other trips.

I have to say I am envious of your travel schedule, too. Have fun!!!
 
I don't know when you get back from your July trip, but you should have plenty of time - especially if you pay to have it expedited. Heck, you may want to do it after the May 3rd trip, just to be safe for the other trips.

I have to say I am envious of your travel schedule, too. Have fun!!!
My concern, which I expressed in my earlier post, is that the May 3 trip is ALSO within the 6-month window, so depending on where he is going he may be in trouble for that one too. Tomorrow.
 
We have had very good experiences with the expedited services. New passports have come back well within the promised timeframe.
 
All good advice. I just know that post-government shut-down, Global Entry renewal is very slow. For my wife, over 8 weeks and still no date for an interview. Not sure if that backlog affects Passports when you send it in. Given the posts here, doing the in-person sounds like your best bet.
 
Pre-9/11 I was able to get it same day... Appointment in the am and return later in the day to pick it up. No idea if they can do it that quick anymore. You will need to check with your closest processing center as others have mentioned.

Well just 2 years ago I was in the same predicament but with an even tighter schedule. I had travel planned within the week and passport was already expired (I thought I had another 2 years). I was able to go to a passport office in the morning one day and pick it up the next day. I spoke with others that were doing “same day service”.

This was in Houston
You have to make the appointment
Bring in all your documentation: old passport, identification card, travel itinerary, etc and they should be able to get you done.

There are online places that’ll do it next day too but they charge an arm and a leg. If you go to passport office, just have to pay the expedited fee but not 300-500 more that some places charge for this service.
 
My concern, which I expressed in my earlier post, is that the May 3 trip is ALSO within the 6-month window, so depending on where he is going he may be in trouble for that one too. Tomorrow.

Yes. I'm interested to see what happens at the airport or on arrival if he does get past the check in counter. Some airlines just make it a hard rule that they won't fly anyone with less than 6 months of validity. I hope it works out for the OP.

All good advice. I just know that post-government shut-down, Global Entry renewal is very slow. For my wife, over 8 weeks and still no date for an interview. Not sure if that backlog affects Passports when you send it in. Given the posts here, doing the in-person sounds like your best bet.

Are you going anywhere internationally soon? You can do an interview on arrival that does not need an appointment. :)
 
In some of the above posts there have been references to pax being denied boarding because the passport was due to expire within six months. There are some countries, many actually, that have that requirement. The airlines are not the ones who determine this factor. What the airlines have to be careful about is not to let someone through who doesn't meet the requirements. The sad part is some of the countries don't always pay attention or heed the requirement. The issue lies when the person returns to the U.S. When immigration checks the passport they may make note if they notice a violation. Normally, you will not even know about it. The airline, however, is fined for the violation.

I used to work at the DFW airport and was aware of the fines. They were not cheap and we got nailed by it a couple of times. For example, Mexico requires a notarized letter from a parent if only one is traveling with their kid(s) under the age of 18. When I was flying to Mexico and aware of a single parent with kid(s) on the plane I would deliberately stand behind them when passing through immigration. More often than not, the immigration official didn't even ask for the letter. When it was presented the official sometimes looked at it, most that I witnessed, didn't even read it. There was a couple of times when those passengers were on my return trip. Again, I stood behind them to see what U.S. immigration would do. Sometimes, not always, the official asked for the letter, even though it wasn't needed for a U.S. citizen to return to the country.

While working at the airport I got to know some of the immigration officials. What I learned is they check a pax documents to see if everything was in order. If a discrepancy was found and verified the airline, which the person departed on, was fined. Therefore, as a ticket agent it was better to err on the side of caution and deny boarding if the documents were not in order or in question. It wasn't fun telling people they could not check-in because their passport was expired within six months or they lacked the notarized letter.
There are a couple of good websites to look up travel info: traveldocs, Timatic (the best one in my view and used by many in the travel industry - however, you have to pay for access to the website), and IATA Central, just to mention a couple. The ultimate place to contact is the airline. It is the airline that has to deal your documents. Avoid contacting the embassy. It was always annoying to hear people state they contacted the embassy for info and were told one thing only to find it was incorrect when they got to the airport. Most people working in an embassy are not airline employees nor immigration officials.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom