Emergency US Passport?

[jchokie79]

Does that even exist? My grandfather passed away unexpectedly and his funeral is schedule for this Sat., he's in Taiwan. I just found this out last night and truthfully still numb to the news and on auto pilot right now. Anyway, I realized late last night that I'm a dip shit and don't have a US passport.

I really need to get one ASAP, I've read that even expedited process takes 2-3 weeks. And the nearest Passport Agency is 5 hours away. I couldn't get anyone on the phone today due to the holiday. At this point, my plan is to go to the post office first thing tomorrow morning and see what they say.

Has anyone had to get a passport last minute, anything you can recommend that I try? TIA!

[SJ]

I'mso sorry for your loss.

believe you can go in person to one of the centers for same-day processing. I'm guessing you will have to drive 5 hours.

[frlcb]

You can go to a passport agency and get one same day with proof of travel. You will probably have to drive the 5 hours. I'm so sorry for your loss.

[frlcb]

I believe you still have to have a ticket. OP, where are you located?

[emilyinchile]

I have used an agency (can't remember which one, it was several years ago, but we found them online) to get a passport quickly. We realized my passport was expired on the afternoon of day 1, looked into our options and hired the service later that day, and in the early hours (like 5am) of day 3, I got my new passport.

It was something like $300 just for the service plus the passport fees, but if you don't want to make the drive, it could be an option. In my case, I was going to have to fly to LA for the day which last minute would have been around $300 and wouldn't have let me fly until day 3 anyway, so having someone else do it for the same cost made sense.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this on top of the loss of your grandfather, and I hope it all works out for you.

[basilosaurus]

I had to use the same-day processing, which was an 8 hour drive. They did not ask for proof of a ticket, but that was also during the clusterfuck of 2007 when they changed the laws, and there was a huge backlog. I'd actually expedited my renewal, but 6 weeks later still hadn't heard from them, and so I went for the same day. In the end, my mailed-in app came back to me 9 months later, so thank goodness I didn't wait on them.

Yes, a service could do the same for you, but I'd be too nervous to let it be out of my control. I'm sorry you're dealing with this on top of the sad news.

[taffy]

travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html




Schedule an Appointment at a Regional Passport Agency
Make an appointment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using our Automated Appointment System at 1-877-487-2778.


I just got mine renewed same day in Houston. It was 170.00 total.

[dragonfly08]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

But unfortunately, you need a passport agency. Don't know if you need a ticket booked or not. You don't have to do it yourself as there are companies that will do this for you, but they're hugely expensive. DH had to do it once for work but his company ate the cost so we didn't care. They needed him out of the country within a week and his passport wasn't valid long enough past the trip date (some countries require you have six months or so left) so they hired an expediter. It cost at least $500.