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Featured Replies

On 9/26/2022 at 3:11 PM, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

I'm kind of perplexed at how there are literally zero appointments available in the greater Austin area to renew a minor? I mean, the county office and every post office show not a single one, and won't show past October anyway. And I hadn't realized the Travis County passport office has gone to appointment only.

Has anyone gone to the Global UT one, where you just walk in? They say they only take a few each day and you should get there before they open, so sounds like a barrel of fun. 

I work at UT, and park in San Antonio garage, which means when I get to campus at 7 am every morning I pass the global office, and I see the line 25 people deep. It’s not every morning, so I assume they only take folks some days, but the line is always deep at 7 am. People in chairs. Good luck.

  • 2 weeks later...

Passport was lost in the mail in 2020. That’s fine so I did the process all over again. I started in June and then was asked in July to send a response about what happened to the passport. I said it never arrived and was lost in the mail. Fast forward to about 10 days ago. I call because I want things to be finished so I talk to them and it arrived this week. 

Now that that is taken care of I will thoroughly enjoy spending the entire month of January in Tahiti surfing and enjoying the South Pacific. If I can elongate the trip into February I’ll do that.

as reported upthread, I got my new passport several weeks ago, but they have yet to return my old one.   I want it, because I traveled a ton over the last decade, and it's fun to flip through and check out the stamps.

14 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

as reported upthread, I got my new passport several weeks ago, but they have yet to return my old one.   I want it, because I traveled a ton over the last decade, and it's fun to flip through and check out the stamps.

Plus, if you’re famous it is worth a lot of money.

https://sports.ha.com/itm/boxing-collectibles/memorabilia/1970-s-muhammad-ali-passport-with-philippines-zaire-stamping/a/714-81798.s

$53k for Muhammad Ali’s with stamps from Zaire and The Phillipines.

My wife's renewal came in right under 5 weeks. Old passport still mia but I thought that was pretty quick for a non-expedited renewal. 

  • 2 months later...
On 10/4/2022 at 9:43 PM, UnivTex34 said:

I work at UT, and park in San Antonio garage, which means when I get to campus at 7 am every morning I pass the global office, and I see the line 25 people deep. It’s not every morning, so I assume they only take folks some days, but the line is always deep at 7 am. People in chairs. Good luck.

not to mention the days/hours available are doing school time, so you have the added hassle/annoyance of taking them out of school to get it done.

Haven’t read the thread but my wife (and since then some friends) used the appointment finder service and got Global Entry/Precheck renewed within a few days. Tangential to this discussion.

  • 6 months later...

Not sure where we are on the expedited records or anything. But 1 hour 20 minutes for my wife’s passport.

She had been sitting on an expired passport for about 2 years. July 19th her boss told her that she had a Toronto trip August 1. That day called the Passport hotline and scheduled an appointment the morning of the 1st, but Portsmouth, NH not Boston. Woke up at 5 AM drove there with her packed bag, got in line (2nd person) for the 7 AM opening. Turned in all her paperwork. Had her passport in hand by 8:20 AM. 

Sigh.  Without a trip booked AND your passport expiring in short order, you can't get an "emergency passport appointment."  The boy's passport expires in the spring.  But he lives overseas.  We're going to sort out how to apply for a renewal in Edinburgh as soon as he gets back to the UK next month, because otherwise....he'll have to find a way to get an emergency appointment when he's back at Christmas.

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Sigh.  Without a trip booked AND your passport expiring in short order, you can't get an "emergency passport appointment."  The boy's passport expires in the spring.  But he lives overseas.  We're going to sort out how to apply for a renewal in Edinburgh as soon as he gets back to the UK next month, because otherwise....he'll have to find a way to get an emergency appointment when he's back at Christmas.

book a refundable flight duh

just got my renewed passport back a couple of days ago. they received it 4/19. took a shit ton of time

Edited by El Tri
oops just read where his passport doesn't expire until the spring

7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Sigh.  Without a trip booked AND your passport expiring in short order, you can't get an "emergency passport appointment."  The boy's passport expires in the spring.  But he lives overseas.  We're going to sort out how to apply for a renewal in Edinburgh as soon as he gets back to the UK next month, because otherwise....he'll have to find a way to get an emergency appointment when he's back at Christmas.

 

Won't his upcoming passport expiration affect his ability to travel? Usually most countries want you to have 6 or 12 months left on your passport before they let you enter the country.

Make sure to check your personal info. Mine came back with the wrong name.

We get to fill out another form, send another picture, and fucking wait again due to their fuck up.

I’m glad we weren’t at the airport when this happened. It took 15 weeks to get the fucked up version.

15 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

 

Won't his upcoming passport expiration affect his ability to travel? Usually most countries want you to have 6 or 12 months left on your passport before they let you enter the country.

UK requires 6 months.  His expires on March 31, so it will have over 6 months on it when he returns in late August.  He really falls in a weird timing window.

Renewals via foreign embassies are MUCH faster than domestic US. I posted earlier in this thread, but Thailand the new passport is in your mailbox within 3 weeks.

On 8/1/2023 at 9:03 AM, Brisketexan said:

Sigh.  Without a trip booked AND your passport expiring in short order, you can't get an "emergency passport appointment."  The boy's passport expires in the spring.  But he lives overseas.  We're going to sort out how to apply for a renewal in Edinburgh as soon as he gets back to the UK next month, because otherwise....he'll have to find a way to get an emergency appointment when he's back at Christmas.

Easy AF to do it at a foreign mission, but Edinburgh won’t do it unless you have imminent travel. Get him back to the UK and he can do it by mail to London. Passports turn around faster overseas. 
 

But, if this is his first big boy passport (his last one was issued as a minor for five years), he has to appear in person in London. Have him make a trip of it. 

  • 7 months later...

Recent renewal info for anyone that wants the datapoint. 
 

state department received my renewal paperwork 2/28. New passport in my mailbox 3/20. I did not do anything expedited, as it was set to expire in August. 
 

they are turning them out quick currently.

Easy AF to do it at a foreign mission, but Edinburgh won’t do it unless you have imminent travel. Get him back to the UK and he can do it by mail to London. Passports turn around faster overseas. 
 
But, if this is his first big boy passport (his last one was issued as a minor for five years), he has to appear in person in London. Have him make a trip of it. 

FYI, that’s what he did. Hopped a cheap flight to London. Spent a coupla nights on a friend’s couch there. Appointment at the embassy, was super easy, in and out. Got his passport in the mail in like 3 weeks.

Another datapoint.

Sent my son's passport and passport card to State on Feb 3rd. March 15th, we get a letter in the mail saying that they can't process it because we need to send in the old passport card to get a new one.

We have a picture of our packet with the passport card and passport and all that jazz attached just before dropping it in the envelope.

Sigh. Same day, we filled out some form saying the passport card was "lost" (by them) and send that in. March 20th, we get an email that says "Application Status: Information Received, In Process Again."

We shall see.

16 hours ago, UnivTex34 said:

Recent renewal info for anyone that wants the datapoint. 
 

state department received my renewal paperwork 2/28. New passport in my mailbox 3/20. I did not do anything expedited, as it was set to expire in August. 
 

they are turning them out quick currently.

Sent  my wife and I at the same time 3 weeks ago.   Two separate envelope packets.   Both my new passport and old one have already arrived.   She received a letter that her payment was denied do to non existent checking account.   Idiots... the checks were wrote from the same account.   Now starting the process over SMGDH

On 8/1/2023 at 11:10 PM, Sam Lin said:

Renewals via foreign embassies are MUCH faster than domestic US. I posted earlier in this thread, but Thailand the new passport is in your mailbox within 3 weeks.

yeah same in MX.  dropped at a DHL to be sent to embassy and picked it up at same DHL less than three weeks later.  super easy. 

  • 2 months later...

We just redid our kids at the post office in SA.   Paid a bunch of fees had had all of our documents being divorced it seemed like we had to have extra shit but maybe not.  Paid for express since both are going international this summer (UK and Japan) Had them in 3 weeks.  Since my son was within a few months of turning 18 they gave him a 10 year.  Updated both of their GE accounts.,

I renewed mine at Passport Express in downtown Austin last month (11th and Rio Grande).  Paid for expedited shipping, and it showed up on time (2-3 weeks, can't remember exactly).  Not cheap, but not as bad as not making our upcoming trip.

  • 3 months later...

Renewed about a month ago at the UT passport office in west campus. Got them in the mail last week. 

On 9/18/2024 at 2:15 PM, Js1 said:

Robert Downey Jr Yes GIF

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4886192-us-state-department-passport-renewal/

The U.S. is making passport renewal fully available online, the State Department announced Wednesday, getting rid of the need to print application forms and send a check through the mail.

Posted in a similar thread, but I used this a couple of months ago and had my renewed passport in a few weeks.  

  • 1 year later...

So my passport just went under a year. I was going to start the renewal process right after, but I have a work trip to Germany that starts tomorrow, so that isn't happening until afterwards. Any thoughts how the shutdown affects processing?

Just renewed mine and sent in on October 8th and received back on October 24th. Didn’t get expedited processing as I’m not going overseas until February and was surprised with the speedy response. Also didn’t get the passport card just the booklet.

18 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

So my passport just went under a year. I was going to start the renewal process right after, but I have a work trip to Germany that starts tomorrow, so that isn't happening until afterwards. Any thoughts how the shutdown affects processing?

We looked this up because my BIL needed to get one prior to a big family trip to France. He got his just fine. Not sure on his exact timing, but less than 8 weeks for sure.

Google's response: No, a government shutdown does not typically affect passport renewal because the U.S. Passport Agency is considered an essential service and is funded by fees, allowing it to remain operational. Passport and visa services continue to be processed, although there can be delays in specific cases or if operations are located in buildings run by other agencies that are affected. 

I took my own picture and did everything online and got it back in less than 3 weeks without expedited processing. Spring of this year. I was shocked how fast it came back. 

1 hour ago, Firemans4Horn said:

I took my own picture and did everything online and got it back in less than 3 weeks without expedited processing. Spring of this year. I was shocked how fast it came back. 

Same back in March.  All online but the weird thing for me is as soon as you apply your current passport is voided which means I was literally stuck in the US until my new one arrived.  As somone who take 6 or 7 internationaly trips a year the thought of not being able to leave the country was kind of freaky

We had to renew two minors passports this week, made an appointment at the travis is county tax office up on 620. Such an easy process we were in and out in less then 20 minutes. If you have to do it in person I recommend going up there.  

Edited by hornbri

3 hours ago, Spoosner said:

We looked this up because my BIL needed to get one prior to a big family trip to France. He got his just fine. Not sure on his exact timing, but less than 8 weeks for sure.

Google's response: No, a government shutdown does not typically affect passport renewal because the U.S. Passport Agency is considered an essential service and is funded by fees, allowing it to remain operational. Passport and visa services continue to be processed, although there can be delays in specific cases or if operations are located in buildings run by other agencies that are affected. 

Good to know - didn't know how the shutdown affected things.

11 minutes ago, hornbri said:

We had to renew to minors passports this week, made an appointment at the travis is county tax office up on 620. Such an easy process we were in and out in less then 20 minutes. If you have to do it in person I recommend going up there.  

Seems a touch far, given that I live in Boston. I've found a lot of the post office sites are good to use too.

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