Passports..Passports..Passports!!!!

[shellayne]

I am getting frustrated with the passport agency...I mailed my husbands and my passports to be renewed Jan 29th by usps priority. The usps only shows it to be expected for delivery, still does not show it being delivered. I was going back and forth with the post office until it showed up on the passport website. Well it finally shows up in the system 3 weeks later on travel.state.gov and it has said to expect my pkg for delivery on or before 3-26. Well, that has come and gone. I cannot track it anymore on the website. I am constantly hung up in whenever I call them directly...The recording always says goodbye because I guess they are busy! Poop on them. I finally got through to someone in a different department only after an hour just now. I was shipped on the 27th. Yeah....We can finally plan our diving trip, hopefully to go in the next month or so.

My advice...If you send in a passport and need it quickly (we did not need it fast) to not expect it for 2-3 months....They say 10 weeks, but it could take longer.

At least we now have 10 years before we have to renew.

All I was doing was changing my name to my married name and it expired in 2012. My husbands expires the 30th of March--like Friday. So now I guess we can be happy now. Hopefully have it in hand by the weekend.

[migirlfriday]

A friend of mine at work just returned from an international cruise. She and her husband had applied for renewed? passports and found out about 2 weeks before the cruise that the passports wouldn't be back until the day after they leave. Their only birth certificate copies were in the passport applications, and her husband was born in New York. (We are in Michigan) He had to drive to New York to get another copy of his bc and then they had to pay megabucks to expedite new passports. I think they now have 2 each. So, I know from her experience to plan way way ahead.

[migirlfriday]

Oh, and another passport horror story. Another person at work had a cruise planned for January 2007. So, way in advance, he and his wife and their 2 children (both under 3 yrs old) got passports, only to find out that the law changed or the date was moved for the requirement and that he did not need them after all. It was ok for he and his wife, but by the time they travel out of the country again, their children will need new ones anyway.

He said in the end that he was sort of glad that he did go ahead and get them, but it could have saved him a little money if he had known in advance.

[DBackFan]

Glad it worked out for you. My husband and I travel a lot and passports are a must anywhere anymore.

[iluvmybaby]

:rolleyes: It is the pain in the rear end, I agree, do it three or four months in advance for your trip