Passport regional agencies....has anyone used them?
 

Hi, I applied for a passport a few months ago, and I recently been informed that my passport will not arrive in time for my trip on May 12. Because I am now within 2 weeks of my trip, I have scheduled an appointment with one of the passport agencies on Monday. I was just wondering if anyone who has had to use this last ditch option could give me the scoop on what happens.

Are they able to help people who already have passports that are being processed in other passport centers, but were unable to get them in time? Or are they only there to assist people who don't already have applications in process?

If I already paid the full fee (seems like it was over 100$, including the fee at the post office) for my initial application (about 14 weeks ago), are they going to charge me the full fee all over again?

If they don't charge me the full fee, are they going to charge me a fee to expedite the application? It has been several weeks beyond the estimated processing time already.

I keep hearing stories of people waiting in line for hours. If I have an appointment for a specific time, will I still have to wait in line for hours?

Assuming I have all the correct paperwork, will they be able to hand me my passport at that time?

Do I have to go and get another set of passport photos?

Thanks in advance.

Have you called your Congressman or Senator's office? I ask because several people on this board have posted in the last month or two that this was an effective route to getting their passport quickly and with no further expense. I gave that advice to a friend at work and they were very helpful for him as well...and we are in Alabama--not exactly the most powerful of members of Congress there! :-)

Good luck--it just doesn't seem right that you would have to pay any additional fees at this point.

Hi Kellye,
You replied to my original post about passports a few weeks ago. I have contacted my congressman. All my congressman's office did was email the passport agency, and they did not get a reply. They assumed that because they did not get a reply, everything was just fine because "they always get back to us if there is a problem". So basically, that was a total waste of time.

My mom is scheduled to renew her passport at the LA regional passport agency on May 7 and we're supposed to start traveling on May 12! I don't know how they get the new passports to people so quickly - do they overnight them? Or do people have to return to the regional agency to pick them up? I'm freaking out.

Update: We went to the LA passport agency for an 11 am appt. We were processed by 12:30 pm. And we returned at 3 pm to pick up the renewed passport.