Help! Need passport updated QUICKLY!
 

Hi! A friend of mine is taking a spur-of-the-moment trip to Hong Kong this coming Sunday. Unfortunately his passport is out of date. Any tips on where he can go to get it updated quickly, or is this impossible? <BR> <BR>Thanks!

I hope your friend is in a major metropolitan area. Go to www.travel.state.gov and search for locations. Go there in person, and they can expedite the update. Even then I do't know how fast the turn-around is. Maybe they have a temporary waiver they can provide.

Working on the assumption you mean an American passport, it is too late. The instructions to renew indicate that expedited processing is available (for an additional $35+ the regular $40 fee), but requires 3 full business days from receipt at a Passport Agency. Since this is Wednesday.....I don't see 3 working days in the calendar prior to Sunday. <BR>Sorry, <BR>BC

Have him contact his Congressman. They sometimes can turn it around fast.

Go there in person with airplane tickets in hand. There is a way to get them the next day (I have been told) for a hefty surcharge.

I recently had the same problem. You can get your passport in 1 or 2 days (in San Francisco for sure). I had enough time to make an appointment, but I witnessed people walking in and somehow getting processed. Good luck. The local post office should be able to direct him the closest US Passport office. <BR> <BR>If your friend is indeed near a passport office that issues quick turnaround passports, tell him to plan on spending the day and maybe even part of the next day going through the process. Did I say quick turnaround?

Your friend can also look up Visa/Passport expediting services in the Yellow pages--they can both provide reliable information and get it done (for a high price).

7 years ago when my passport was last renewed, I went to the passport office at Rockefeller Center with tickets in hand to show that I needed to waste their time! Spent all day in line and came back the next day to pick up the new passport. There was a special line for people who were LEAVING THAT NIGHT!! To get any of these services you must take the tickets to prove need. (At least this was true 7 years ago.)