Oh no! My passport expired and I'm leaving in weeks!
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/expedited.html
or better yet:
http://rushpassport.com/ - based in NYC. Start now...
I just renewed my passport by mail and paid the $60 extra for expedited service. I had my new passport in two weeks.
When are you actually travelling? "Weeks" is vague.
Not really a problem unless you're leaving today. The expedited passport services definitely work, and they definitely cost money. You can technically get an expedited passport without one, but I didn't have any luck trying to get an appointment for one without it. That is because the expedited passport services take all the appointments, so it's a bit of a racket, but it works.
I did use Rush Passport in 2009 when I was travelling for work and we realized that my passport didn't expire before my travel, but it would expire by the end of the time the country was visiting allowed for visits without a visa. Some countries won't let you in if they don't think you'll be able to get out.
You can expedite in the mail directly with the US Govt and you will receive it back in a week or less.
I wouldn't bother with a private service.
yahooyahoo said:
You can expedite in the mail directly with the US Govt and you will receive it back in a week or less.
I wouldn't bother with a private service.
This is what I did. Like I said, it was an extra $60 and all through the mail.
I got my passport photo taken at AAA in Florham Park. I printed the forms off the passport website and dropped it in the mail with a check. About two weeks from mailing to receipt.
Many of the chain pharmacies with photo departments (e.g., CVS, Walgreens) take passport photos--quick, easy and inexpensive. You may wish to call in advance to make sure the photo equipment is working before you go. Also, check the stores' web sites to see if they are offering a discount coupon for the photos--they have done this in the past.
get it right the first time and avoid problems:
http://essexclerk.com/outreach.html
Slight drift - I believe that I have read or heard that if you are planning to travel internationally, you should make sure that the expiration date of the passport is at least 6 months in the future, or something like that. Is that correct? Mine expires next year, so I know I need to be thinking about the best timing for renewal.
sac, give yourself a calendar reminder to do the renewal about 8 months before the expiration date. You can do it all via US mail and it takes a few weeks non-expedited. You have to mail in your old passport but you will get it back (just not at the same time as the new one ... it comes a week or two later).
You can do a renewal in person with appointment at the NYC office, google same day passport renewal and the .gov site has instructions.
sac- the six month rule is not the case everywhere, here is excerpt from state web site:
The Issue Date of your passport can be found on the data page of your Passport Book or on the front of your Passport Card.
Some countries require that your passport be valid at least six months beyond the dates of your trip. Some airlines will not allow you to board if this requirement is not met. Consider the following scenario: A country requires that you have at least six months of validity on your passport. You currently have seven months of validity on your passport. However, your trip is two months from now. At that point, you will only have five months of validity remaining on your passport which is not enough to satisfy that country's entry requirements. In this situation, you would need to renew your passport before you can make your trip.
Check our Country Specific Information to learn about entry and exit requirements for the country or countries in which you are traveling. Watch this short YouTube video about why you need at least six months of validity on your U.S. passport!
If your passport has already expired, you may still be able to renew your passport by mail. See How to Renew Your U.S. Passport.
This is what I was mentioning in my comment about the time that countries allow you to be in the country without a visa. That's commonly six months. It's fully dependent on the country that you are travelling to.
When this came up for me in 2009 I was travelling to the UK, and none of us could get a straight answer on if the UK had this rule. Between HR and myself we called all the places you'd think you should call. We decided to just go for the renewal just in case. The only way to know for sure would have been to show up at Heathrow and ask! We very much suspected it wouldn't have been a problem, but it wasn't worth it to find out. (I had a planned personal trip to Hungary and the Czech Rep. shortly afterward, so I'd have needed a renewal for that anyway.)
sac said:
Slight drift - I believe that I have read or heard that if you are planning to travel internationally, you should make sure that the expiration date of the passport is at least 6 months in the future, or something like that. Is that correct? Mine expires next year, so I know I need to be thinking about the best timing for renewal.
mrincredible said:
sac, give yourself a calendar reminder to do the renewal about 8 months before the expiration date. You can do it all via US mail and it takes a few weeks non-expedited. You have to mail in your old passport but you will get it back (just not at the same time as the new one ... it comes a week or two later).
Yes, I'm a big fan of renewal by mail. Just need to be sure that I won't need it for a few weeks when I do it. Thx!
Strange but true: My brother managed to travel to Italy through Germany a couple of years on an expired passport. No one even noticed until he was on his way home and was stopped in Germany. All they did was tell him to get it replaced when he got back to the States. I would have freaked the hell out in puddles all over the floor and have to be sponged up.
What should I do?????