eeek! kids passport...how long did it take?

[thecatinthehat]

We booked the flights to go see my family (international travel) and it was not until after that we realized we have not gotten DS a passport. Trip is exactly 5 weeks from now and USCIS website say normal processing is 4-5 weeks. Aaaack I am now soooo stressed about this! I can't believe we never even thought about it

We are in HI and to go in person to do the expedited, we have to fly to Honolulu for it This is still an option. DH is going to see today if he can rearrange work to see if we can all fly together. He is worried I will have issues if I go by myself since I am not a citizen and worry about 'kidnapping plans'. Also because I have issues with how my name is on some documents that haven't been converted to my now married name.  

How long did your passport take? Did you expedite?

[thecatinthehat]

Yes we are both going either to the main office in Honolulu (expedited) or to the post office here (4-5) weeks. I just don't know which we are going to do. To fly to honolulu DH is going to have to take a day off and the cost of ticket, but we are just cutting it too close we may not have a choice

[satsuma]

Oct 23, 2014 12:44:42 GMT -5 @marshmallows said:

I think you both have to be there to get the passport, unless you get another doc signed and notarized by the absent parent.

This exactly. We got DS a passport and it was quickly processed, but I can't remember the exact time. I would expedite to be on the safe side. Good luck.

[Mrs.Syntax]

My younger daughter's passport took 6 weeks, but that was almost a year ago.

[toesie]

You can go to the PO and choose the expedite option. It took us less than 2 weeks PO to door in August.

[lishie]

You should be able to do expedited at any post office as long as you pay the additional fee. You both have be there and apply in person with your DC when applying for a minor's passport.

We also had to call our local post office to make an appointment to go in and apply for a passport. We had to wait 3 weeks to get a saturday appointment, I think it was about a one week wait for a weekday.

[thecatinthehat]

Oct 23, 2014 12:51:06 GMT -5 toesie said:

You can go to the PO and choose the expedite option. It took us less than 2 weeks PO to door in August.

omg! I must have missed that this was an option!  Thank you!

[Velar Fricative]

We expedited - submitted the application on December 10th, got it December 24th. Both DH and I had to be present. AND we did this at the local post office and just paid an extra fee. I hope that's an option for you!

[chickens987]

Oct 23, 2014 12:57:16 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

Oct 23, 2014 12:51:06 GMT -5 toesie said:

You can go to the PO and choose the expedite option. It took us less than 2 weeks PO to door in August.

omg! I must have missed that this was an option!  Thank you!

Yeah, for emergency situations you have to go in person, but you can expedite a regular application.

[thecatinthehat]

Oct 23, 2014 13:14:13 GMT -5 chickens987 said:

Oct 23, 2014 12:57:16 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

omg! I must have missed that this was an option!  Thank you!

Yeah, for emergency situations you have to go in person, but you can expedite a regular application.

Thank you! In my frantic reading last night I missed this. I was so pissed at my stupidity that I thought about canceling the trip because we were not sure if we can even fly out to Oahu on such short notice. I did see now that the post-office expedited is 2-3 weeks which hopefully will be enough. I think we might just wing it since we have 5 weeks. 

[jenn248]

Oct 23, 2014 13:14:13 GMT -5 chickens987 said:

Oct 23, 2014 12:57:16 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

omg! I must have missed that this was an option!  Thank you!

Yeah, for emergency situations you have to go in person, but you can expedite a regular application.

That's what I was going to suggest as well.  We expedited DD's at the post office last September because we were afraid that with the government shut-down looming, we wouldn't get it in time for our Thanksgiving trip.  I think it took about two weeks to get her passport, maybe less.  

We did both have to go in person, and we made an appointment at the post office for the passport; I don't know that it was necessary though.   They may be able to take the photo at the post office, too (ours did).

Good luck!

[chickens987]

Oct 23, 2014 13:30:01 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

Oct 23, 2014 13:14:13 GMT -5 chickens987 said:

Yeah, for emergency situations you have to go in person, but you can expedite a regular application.

Thank you! In my frantic reading last night I missed this. I was so pissed at my stupidity that I thought about canceling the trip because we were not sure if we can even fly out to Oahu on such short notice. I did see now that the post-office expedited is 2-3 weeks which hopefully will be enough. I think we might just wing it since we have 5 weeks.     

I don't recommend this, but you can file a regular app and then pay extra to expedite it if it doesn't look good. I did this once - I sent my app in 10 weeks prior to travel, and when we were 3 weeks out hadn't gotten it yet, I called and paid the expedite fee. They still didn't have it to me one week out, so I went down to the passport office in person. They weren't able to issue me a passport since I had an app pending, but they were able to track down the asshole who had been sitting on my application for weeks and tell him/her to get it done already. I had it the next day.

[chickadee77]

We got L's in about two weeks, and paid to expedite. We just went to the regular passport office and chose the expedite option. Yes, both of us had to be present.

[thecatinthehat]

I called our nearest post office and the earliest appointment they have is Nov 4. She said 2-3 weeks might be cutting too close with that date so she told me to call all other post offices on the island to see if I can get an earlier date. She said I can pay the expedited right at the appointment. Ack...if I can't find an appointment for next week I think we will have to go to Oahu.

[thecatinthehat]

Oct 23, 2014 13:43:14 GMT -5 chickadee77 said:

We got L's in about two weeks, and paid to expedite. We just went to the regular passport office and chose the expedite option. Yes, both of us had to be present.

You mean the agent office right, not the post office? If so, how long were you there? We are wondering if we can fly and come back the same day. There is a morning flight that gets us there at 8:45 (6:45am if we have to, not sure how far this place is from the airport) and I think the latest flight back is 8pm. DH can only take 1 day off   (because we took nearly all his vacation left for the year for that trip!). 

[toesie]

Oct 23, 2014 13:56:52 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

Oct 23, 2014 13:43:14 GMT -5 chickadee77 said:

We got L's in about two weeks, and paid to expedite. We just went to the regular passport office and chose the expedite option. Yes, both of us had to be present.

You mean the agent office right, not the post office? If so, how long were you there? We are wondering if we can fly and come back the same day. There is a morning flight that gets us there at 8:45 (6:45am if we have to, not sure how far this place is from the airport) and I think the latest flight back is 8pm. DH can only take 1 day off   (because we took nearly all his vacation left for the year for that trip!). 

I took us about 30 mins, including taking photos. I filled the form online in advance though.

You can check to see anywhere close by would do the passports? My city treasurer where we applied also accepts passport application and I didn't have to make appointment.

[toesie]

You'll also need a birth certificate.

[chickadee77]

Oct 23, 2014 13:56:52 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

Oct 23, 2014 13:43:14 GMT -5 chickadee77 said:

We got L's in about two weeks, and paid to expedite. We just went to the regular passport office and chose the expedite option. Yes, both of us had to be present.

You mean the agent office right, not the post office? If so, how long were you there? We are wondering if we can fly and come back the same day. There is a morning flight that gets us there at 8:45 (6:45am if we have to, not sure how far this place is from the airport) and I think the latest flight back is 8pm. DH can only take 1 day off   (because we took nearly all his vacation left for the year for that trip!). 

It was just the county tax collector's office. So it wasn't one of those same-day places, just where everyone goes to get one. We were there for about fifteen minutes, but we had printed and completed the paperwork ahead of time and had her picture ready to go.

[rikki]

We did it all at the post office. My husband and I showed up with the paperwork, they took E's picture, and sent it out for us. I am pretty sure that it arrived in less than 2 weeks. I remember it being really quick.

[Shreddingbetty]

Oct 23, 2014 12:44:42 GMT -5 @marshmallows said:

I think you both have to be there to get the passport, unless you get another doc signed and notarized by the absent parent.

I was told that they would only let you do that if the other parent was out of state/deployed.  I had mentioned doing this because it was hard for my DH to come to an appointment during the day and that was not a good enough excuse to get a notarized letter. But this may depend on the post office.nit sure if this is really a universal rule.  
4 years ago DDS passport only took 3 weeks. But this isn't guaranteed and since you have to have it in 4 weeks I would go for expedited option. Hat way you can do it locally but still have it sooner 

[mannah]

Just chiming in to say that we also just did this and paid the expedite fee at the post office and got it in a little over two weeks. FYI they take the birth certificate you bring but they do return it to you in the mail (separate from the passport).

[thecatinthehat]

I called a post office 30 mins away and we got an appointment for next Tuesday. The lady said I should get it back in 2 weeks. Yay!!! They don't do the photos there so we will have to go a a CVS later to do it. She actually had an appointment today but DH cannot take today and tomorrow off and they don't take appointments on Saturday. Whew! I think we should be fine...I hope.

[thecatinthehat]

Thank you for all the replies. I think I can at least stop freaking out about this for now. LOL

For someone who had to go through a ton of paperwork for visa/residency I can't believe I forgot about this!

[CloudBee]

We paid to expedite, and it arrived back in our hands within 2 weeks.

DH met me at the post office with the baby.

[CloudBee]

Oct 23, 2014 14:17:39 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

I called a post office 30 mins away and we got an appointment for next Tuesday. The lady said I should get it back in 2 weeks. Yay!!! They don't do the photos there so we will have to go a a CVS later to do it. She actually had an appointment today but DH cannot take today and tomorrow off and they don't take appointments on Saturday. Whew! I think we should be fine...I hope.

No, you need to go to a CVS or something, FIRST, before your post office appointment. 

Assuming when you said "later" you mean after the passport appointment.

[thecatinthehat]

Oct 23, 2014 14:28:08 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Oct 23, 2014 14:17:39 GMT -5 thecatinthehat said:

I called a post office 30 mins away and we got an appointment for next Tuesday. The lady said I should get it back in 2 weeks. Yay!!! They don't do the photos there so we will have to go a a CVS later to do it. She actually had an appointment today but DH cannot take today and tomorrow off and they don't take appointments on Saturday. Whew! I think we should be fine...I hope.

No, you need to go to a CVS or something, FIRST, before your post office appointment. 

Assuming when you said "later" you mean after the passport appointment.

By later I mean, later today I called and they said the photos should be ready in an hour (or less) depending on how cooperative my toddler is. 

[CloudBee]

Phew!

[mellimel19]

We just got a passport for DD, it took 2 1/2 weeks.