Passport Problems
 

Our plans are made, Tickets bought, rooms reserved, car rented, but no Passport for me.
On July 5 we applied for our passports, mine
to renew and my wife has never had one. We are leaving sept 13, My wife receieved hers
last week aug 14 so I called to see about mine on aug 18. I was told that my old passport was damaged and it could not be use as proof of my citizenship and I would have to start over and apply for a new passport,
I think they could have informed me sooner then aug 18 about this problem since they have had my info in their office since july 8
someone at the passport office had to sign for it so I know when they got it! Now I have to drive to oklahoma city from kansas city to get another copy of my birth certificate, (the one I have is a copy and will not be accepted) I have to pay $30.00
to the passport agent, $55.00 for the passport, $60.00 for expedite service, I have to buy 2 $19.00 overnight envelopes, and
I need to have my passport photos re-taken at
a cost of $22.00 for a totals of $205.00 then
Pray that nobody at the passport office who is working on my file has a bad day so, I can still get my passport before sept 13.
They have had my paper work for 40 days and never told me there was a problem I had to call them to find out this out for myself. Unbelievable! Damn, I hope I get it.

You don't need a passport agent, they only add a layer of expense and delay. Go to http://www.travel.state.gov/passport...t_quickly.html for suggestions on expediting.

You can get your photos taken cheaper than that at AAA. US Postal Service Express Mail flat-rate envelope costs $13.65. Good luck!

Hi BB,

My mother had a similar problem.
Before you spend all that money go to http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/other_copies.html
for information on applying for your passport records.

They have all of the info that they used to issue your original passport. It is free.

Call the US Passport Office and complain.

This is an election year. Call your Senators and your MC. This was the most effective method. My mother's Senator called her back that day. The US Passport Office called the next day. She received her passport the following week.

Good luck.

These things are hard to take Bigboy, but I'm sure if you go there and (assuming there isn't any valid reason for them to reject your request) it will all work out. Certainly isn't like the old days! Years ago I decided on Wednesday to accompany my Dad to Zimbabwe via London. Plane was leaving Saturday. Without ever having a passport I took all that was required to Philadelphia (4 hour drive) on Thursday morning and had passports for my 7 year old and me by 11 am!

PS,

You can call the Passport Agency at
1-877-487-2778.

No dope in Amsterdam, no beer in Munich, no bigboy in Europe?

when I sent my old passport in for renewal it was in good shape. it must had got damaged in the mail or at the passport office. I am gonna try to get my passport records. I will also jump through all their hoops and dance with a chicken over my head anything that will get me my passport before september 13

I requested and was mailed a certified copy of our birth certificates when we originally applied. Why do you have to drive anywhere? You get them from the Vital Records office of your state or county of birth. You do have to take all your documentation to apply in person at an approved facility.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get_first_apply.html

I also recommend you call your congressional representative. Our friend just had a major problem with a passport, and after many frustrating weeks with the Passport office, the situation was resolved in a couple of days by our our congressman's office.

Also,did you shop around for passport photo prices? You can call Walgreens, Walmart, Eckerds, Kinko's...

Here's another recommendation for contacting your local gov't rep. In 2000, we applied for my son's passport renewal. It was off-season, so we had no reason to think it would take more than the 8 weeks we allowed for. We were leaving on Friday, still didn't have it on Tuesday. The passport folks could only tell us to drive from our Albany home to the Fed office in Boston, where they would issue it on the spot. We called our Congressman and had it in our hands the following day. The day we left, we called home to let our other son know we had reached the airport without mishap, and he told us that someone else's passport had come to us that afternoon.

Happy to say, we got our renewed passports this summer in record time!

Bigboy, you will really need that smoke when you finally reach Amsterdam!

I have to drive to Oklahoma because, it could take upto 2 weeks to process my
request for a copy of my birth certificate through the mail, and I only have 22 days until we leave, it takes at least 7 day total time to get a passport even with expedited service
you do the math travelnut. Yes, they want me to reapply in person.

Ok, I hear ya!

You can get passport photos for next to nothing. All you need do is stand about 4 feet from a blank, plain light-colored wall and have someone take a head/shoulders shot with any digital camera, then print it out on photo paper, trim it to the size specified in your passport instructions and send it along with the application. Keep the photo simple without gimmicks. If necessary you could crop and size using most any photo editing software. Worked for us without a hitch.

Thanx, that was a good idea.

Do you have anything akin to a MotoPhoto store in KC..if so, go there and get the passport photos...costs about $10.

Try the Edelweiss when you get to A-Dam.

We went to Kinkos this week for our passport photos. Of course, they were terrible, but that is what your passport photo should be :)
They cost about $10 each.

We took our own passport photos a few months ago, just as Joel described above. Worked great, and the added advantage is that if you don't like your photo, you can just snap another one, unlike at AAA or Walgreen's

Passports seem very expensive in the U.S.

>Passports seem very expensive in the U.S.<

It's the quality that counts. :)