US Passport review: Delay of US passport 190

Hello everyone, I just posted this a little while ago on this site:
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2007/06/the_erratic_sta.html
This site was very useful to me, so I thought I'd pass it along here in case it helps anyone:
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I also wanted to share a story of passport horror, just in case it helps someone else. My parents needed passports to fly to Tokyo to visit my family after not seeing us for nearly two years. They applied on Mar 1 for departure of June 26. Like everyone else they were told they had plenty of time and no need to expedite.

This will be the first time my parents have ever traveled overseas, so they never needed a passport before. They did not apply until we all knew for sure that they could come and everyone could get off work. So I think it's ridiculous that some people comment that we shouldn't complain about this situation and that people should have applied earlier. No one had a crystal ball to predict this. And my parents were not going to get a passport for no reason and I think most people are that way. You don't get it until you need it... The government should have been better prepared as they were the ones who changed the laws. Most people rightly thought that 3-3+ months was plenty of time. Especially when at that time they were still telling everyone 6-8 weeks.

Well long story short after weeks of calling the 877 number which was of no help and calling their congresswoman (they live in Oklahoma City so their passports were in the Houston black hole) WHAT FINALLY GOT IT DONE WAS CALLING THE TASK FORCE AT [protected]. Within three hours my dad got a call back that they were being sent out and got the tracking #'s. This was RIGHT AFTER calling the 877 number and being told that MAYBE they would get it in time next week.

Even their congresswoman's' office (Mary Fallin-OK) said that morning that they would try but that they were working on 15 other pp's at the same time, so they were swamped. So I told my dad to just call this number (the 202#) because it wouldn't hurt and SUCCESS!

My mom just received their passports from the FEDEX guy about 15 minutes ago (oklahoma time!)! I checked the passport status on the state dept website and that has also been updated. It now says they've been mailed out after weeks of saying it was "processing".

This is such a relief off our shoulders and now they can start packing to come see their grandkids!

I am so grateful to this website and all the people who have posted such great information. My parents had no idea what to do until I started digging on the internet and came upon this site. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

My advice is if you are getting close and feel like your getting nowhere call [protected]. They were great! Some of the other numbers I gave my parents from this site, just rang and rang or had a recording. But that one worked!

Good Luck to whoever is trying to get their passport! Whether its for the trip of a lifetime, a much needed vacation or just because! Your in my thoughts!

Joe,

When people applied for passports back in February and March, they were told it took 8 - 10 weeks maximum to process the passport. The passport website has recently adjusted the time frame up to 12 - 14 weeks, so don't tell the responsible people who relied on the earlier time frames given out by the passport agency and timely applied that it's their "own damn fault".

Get a clue and get your facts straight before you open that big mouth of yours.

The government has been negligent in its handling of these passports. The government knows it. We all know it. Your banter is totally uncalled for and unnecessary, little man.

This is about more than the government being underemployed for an event they had to see coming... it's about their total inability to handle it and peoples frustration by the sheer lack of customer service. Their website is totally useless and trying to call any of the numbers listed there is equally useless.

When I finally contacted my Senators office I was given more information in one phone call. All applications go to a central processing location and from there a computer program selects where they go for processing. As of June 1st the two locations that had a huge backlog of applications were in South Carolina and in New Orleans. Unfortunately my sons application was in South Carolina. Needless to say he received his passport one week after his planned departure. No Mexico vacation and no refund from anywhere. Now, had his application gone to Seattle or Denver he would have been able to get his passport in time. It's disturbing to think that our government is so ill equipped.

Well, I was wrong. The website says it takes 14 weeks. So if you are still waiting, you should have sent it earlier.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/processing/processing_1740.html

It’s not about the government being underemployed – it’s that so many people waited to file at the last minute.

The government started telling people about the passport requirement change over 1.5 years ago. If you ###s waited just before your vacation, then it is your own damn fault.

People are being told it takes 8 weeks, so if it takes a 2-3 weeks extra – then that is still reasonable by me.

If longer than that, contact your Senator or Congressman.

I am very frustrated with all of this! My husband (then my fiance) applied for our passports in Feb. We were to leave out on May the 26th for our honeymoon and were told that would be plenty of time for us to get them back. Luckily we were cruising and not flying, but I totally understand what everyone else is feeling! This is a bit ridiculous! It has now been almost 4 months and we still don't have our passports. To make things worse, now we have moved and I don't know if they will forward it since it is government documents. Does anyone know if they will? I have also changed my name so now I get to either reapply or amend my current passport, but how am I supposed to do that when I don't even have my original! I definitely think this is just another way for the government to make money off of unsuspecting citizens! My husband and I want to plan another international trip, but we are waiting until we receive our passports to do anything! Who knows when that will be! I would love to be able to fight this in court, I just don't see how we could win since it's the government we're dealing with!

My name is John Peters, i am 17 and a current High School student. I filed for my passport on February 14th, Valentines day, to go on a trip to Costa Rica that i had been saving money to go on for over a year. At the time of my application, i was told i would have my passport in no longer than 8 weeks. Since my trip wasn't until June 6th, i figured i would surely get my passport on time. After approx. 10 weeks passed i sent an email to a passport agency, i never got a response. I was denied help over the phone until 2 weeks before my departure date. On May 23rd, 2 weeks before my trip, i was finally able to talk to someone to check up on my passport and was informed that they hadn't even begun processing my passport (though they were very fast to cash the check i sent them). They immediately put out a free expedite and overnight mail on my passport and assured me that i would have it on time. I continued to call almost everyday after that to check up, i usually spent and hour trying to get a call through to them, then usually another 30-45 min. on hold daily. At a week before my trip, i notified my Congressman, and was once again assured by his office that i would have my passport on time. I finally received my passport on Friday, June 8th, two days too late for me to go on my trip. This little "inconvenience" cost me approx. $2000 and the trip was non refundable. I would be very interested in joining a class action lawsuit against the department of transportation. If you have any information that you think could be useful to me, please email me back with details.

Thank you very much.

Yes, you can reapply all over again at the New York office. You have to bring a new filled out app, passport pictures, etc. - All the documents that were required when you first applied.

However, before you go to that point, try calling a better passport help line which is [protected]. The 1-877 number given out on the passport website is not helpful.

Also, if you know where your passport is being processed, i.e New Hampshire, you can get even more aggressive and call the processing plant.

Your congressman or senator can tell you from the passport locator number where your passport is being processed.

Here is a link to a website that lists all of the internal phone numbers at the passport processing facilities.

www.state.gov/documents/organization/82073.pdf.

Anyone with the initials "CA/PPT" by their names works in passport processing. Find out the area code for the passport facility where your passport is, i.e., 603 for New Hampshire or 843 for Charleston, etc. and start dialing until you get someone to help you.

You have to be your own ADVOCATE and GET AGGRESSIVE, but be nice when you reach someone. The passport clerks have been instructed not to end a call unless a caller starts using foul language, etc.

Good luck.

I am very mad about this. No word can explain my feel now. I have an doctor's appointment in foreign county at end of June. We have been submit application for 12 weeks . But it is still pending. I think government need to let people to extend to use old passport. That will reduce their over load work.

I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question: if my passport is currently "being processed" can i still get one issued at the NY agency? I was able to get an appointment at the office (I live in NY) and I'm wondering if they can do that for me, even though my original passport is somewhere floating in their system? I only needed a name change and am completely regretting my decision to send it in...

Anyone know if that will work?

Call the numbers listed above. If you know where your passport is being processed, i.e. Chareleston, let me know. I have some direct internal numbers that go straight into the processing center. The phone number I have for Charleston has been especially helpful. If you call it, whoever answers the phone will locate your passport fed ex it to you.

My wife and I are in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. I have to have a passport to get into Haiti, to get the child's U.S. Visa, and to bring him into the country under immigration law. We finally got word that all of the paper work is ready, after 15 months, and we can come and get him. However, my passport has not arrived. I applied for renewal of my passport on 3/13/2007 (due to expire June 1, 2007).

I have been unable to get any information from the U.S. Passport website. I says my passport is being processed (it has said that for a long time now). I have made hundreds of phone calls only to be hung up on after a nearly 5 minute message. I have even gone so far as to request help from my congressman and senators. This past Friday, the special assistant for my congressman told me that the passport would be sent out that evening. The status of my passport has not changed on line. This makes me question the integrity of the person that the special assistant spoke to and it also makes me wonder about the value of the website if the information is outdated. I also wonder why there is not a queuing system for phone calls. Who made up this new requirement? In my opinion they should be held accountable as well, because they did not find our what the new requirements were going to do to the system.

I don't know about you guys but im am very upset... I finally got my passport a day after my departure date.. I had to reschedule my trip cause havic at my job to get my vac.. Time back i lost about 600.00 and not including we are not goin to get to stay in the upgraded room we would like and we had to pay 200.00 to get a reissuance from the airport.. Im deeply disgusted for all the stress i had endured just to miss my trip... I am glad they lifted the passport regulations.. But what about us who have had to pay for their mess.. I had turned in my application almost 3 and a half months before my trip and i was told i was way in advance since was a 6-8 week wait at the time.. Does anyone have the same problem as me? Missed their trip and out lots of $$$ ... Let me know if there is something that can be done to be reimbursed.. My travels insurance didn't cover passport delays?

A few tips:

If you call the 1-877 passport hotline, I believe that you need to press 9 if the recording says all lines are busy then it won't hang up on you, rather you will be directed back into the system and eventually get in.

Also, a better line to call for passport status requests is [protected]. You will get more information from the clerks who answer this line then the 1-877 line. Also, it is not as widely known so not as busy.

To get added help - call the Washington passport desk at [protected].

Finally, the main person responsible for passports is the Assistant Secretary of Cons. Affairs, Maura Harty. Her line is [protected]. Give her a call as well. She needs to know what a crackhead she is. Lets start a FireMauraHarty website while we are at it. Someone needs to say, "Maura Harty, you're fired", now don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way.

Dial the 1-877 number for passports, as soon as you get voice mail, press1, press 3, press 1 again... It may take you up to an hour to get through. Keep repeating the process I mentioned.

When you get live person, make them send an e-mail on your behalf to the agency where your passport is (if trackable) and ask to Fedex it.

For the two weeks before your trip keep calling and try your congressman.

Again, Good luck.

Same thing happened for me. Applied on March 3, 2007, today is June 9 and no passport. Cannot even find the application, but the check to the Government was cashed on March 30. If someone can file a clause action law suite, I am in.

I am in the same boat as everyone else.

We are going to Europe and the new policy change doesn't affect us. We can't even track our passport on line. I did get an email that it's in process but after reading these complaints, should I even believe them? I still have 2-1/2 weeks before our trip so I can't even call them. Goes anyone have any advice? We would join any class action suit too. To all of those whose date has already pass, you need to file a claim with the agency first by filing a form or you won't be able to sue later.

We are still waiting for our 3 kid's passports. We applied on March 10th. We have tickets booked for Greece for June 22nd. We are planning on making a trip up to the LA passport office for emergency passports the day before we leave if the passports don't arrive, which we are not expecting them to.

I know from my own experience and many stories I have read that the passport office's canned response to callers is to say the "passport is in the mail" even though it is not. In this entire passport fiasco, that is what absolutely pisses me off the most. The lies. People believe this croock of [censored], wait for their passports, and they never arrive as promised. The government has basically condoned this deceitful practice. With friends like the Federal Govt, who needs enemies...

Also, I don't understand why the passport office cannot adjust the passport turn around time tables to reflect what they really are which is probably 4-8 weeks for an expedited and 14-20 weeks for a regular. Give people a clear picture so a decision can be made based on accurate information. It makes sense to me.

Anyways, this whole experience has left me wondering what exactly the govt can do right. If they can't properly process a freackin passport, what can they do?

My children's passports arrived yesterday and we have the trip on June 11. It takes a lot of patience and time on the phone. We applied on March 23, it was not expedited, but they Fedex it anyway (without a charge). It was nerve wrecking, but successful. Hang in there and hope for the best. Also contact your Congressman ASAP.

Good luck!

Anyway or any site that we can all form a class action lawsuit? I am all for it! I applied back in January, still NO PASSPORT! Got run around by the passport agency for three weeks, received their unFRIENDLY treatment and fu**ing attitude problem!

I am so sick of all of this. My husband has his passport. I applied for mine on March 13. We are supposed to go to Iceland on Monday. I contacted my congressman. That helped some but I was told once that it was mailed out Tuesday and would be here in 3-5 days. Now it is Friday and no passport. I called today and was told it would be delivered overnight, given a tracking number, and have been waiting a few hours to check it. When I finally did it said that the estimated time of arrival is Monday at 3 P.M. My flight leaves at 2:30. What a mess. I would love to find a way to sue them. The cost for my trip was 5,000 dollars. I do not know what to do. I figure that I can call the airline on Monday or Sunday if they are open.

Good luck to everyone
Lisa

I leave for my trip on June 16th, applied for passport in early march and still have received nothing. I have been calling the passport agency to no avail because I cant even get to a customer service rep. I'm pretty sure after reading these posts that I wont receive my passport on time. Do they consider the Bahamas the Caribbean?

I am livid that they have now decided to change the rules on passports. My daughter missed her senior trip to Cancun because we never received her passport. This was her last time to hang out with her friends and have a blast because she has joined the Navy. She leaves for boot camp in a couple of weeks and I'm sure she'll get there on time. I'm out $1000 and still don't have a passport.

Needless to say, I am in the same predicament as many. The new relaxed traveling restrictions will not help me as I am traveling to Europe.

Everyone needs to make sure they are keeping proper records of phone calls, emails, etc. for possible litigation.

See article on relaxed traveling restrictions for passport applicants here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19107675/

I send my renewal in back in February. Website says I am "in process," the same thing that it said months ago. Timeline was four weeks when I sent it by regular mail back then. Now it's 10-12 weeks and I am already well over that. Now you can't even get through on the phone lines. "Your call is important to use. Please stay on the line. We can't take your cal right now." Can anyone advise what to do? Should I declare my passport lost or stolen by the state department and then go and get a new one? I'm not leaving until September but have no confidence that I will get my passport at all.

People, we are hostages in our own country.

We had success reapplying and paying the extra fees for duplicate birth certificate, express delivery and service fees with www.passportinaday.com. They will take everything to the State department for you so in my opinion it is worth it versus traveling there and dealing with the costs and situation. This option will cost you about $350 but you will have your passport in 3-5 days. You must provide your travel itinerary to prove your trip is within the next week or so…

I would love to have any suggestions from anyone who actually had a good outcome? We applied for my daughter's passport 3-20 and told there was no need to expedite and it would only slow things down where someone else might have a more urgent need..!@#$ What a crook! I have been told by the only person I have had any contact with that it is being processed and they will request it be expedited. We are scheduled to leave for South Africa for a once in a lifetime visit and my 8 yr old daughter doesn't have her passport- I guess she has so much background to check & it is taking this long. What could be the hold up? Match up the information and send it out! I am desperate... Any suggestions? If we are unable to travel on our original tickets we will lose the trip and the $ entirely. Tickets to South Africa run about $2000 each! Help!

My daughter is traveling to the Bahamas on June 18th put in for her passport on March 26th she was told 10 weeks we are now at 11 weeks, No Passport. We have made 100's of phone calls to the 1-877 number only to get hung up on. Sent 5 emails no answer. I think that they have given up on us all. One would think that the government would do all they could to make these new rules better on us or make some kind of exception to their rule since they are the ones who are enforcing a passport on us and won't give us one. We did our part applied in plenty of time and the government just leaves us out there. I hope they all remember who votes for them. I'm in for the class action lawsuit.

Amazingly, 2 weeks ago I was able to get thru to a lovely person at the passport agency and was told my passport would be at my home today at 10:00. It is now 11:30 and I just called Fed-ex and they show no delivery for today. I applied for my passport back in March and had no idea what a mess it would be! You can not get thru to the passport agency-love the hang up you get and try again later! Also there comments about "don't panic and no one will miss a trip"! Looks pretty obvious that people are missing their trips!

Wish there would be some accountability-who can you complain to when no one answers the phone!

Same for me. I've waited 13.5 weeks now and no passport and no way to talk to anyone. In fact you get hung up on. When I do leave I may never come back. And this is what we pay taxes for!

We have been waiting for our passports too. We leave for Greece in 2 weeks and we are getting nervous after reading these posts. We applied 12 weeks ago. I am writing off any additional expenses I incur above the usual passport fees i.e, missed flights, etc. from my taxes. Forget about waiting for a class action suit. The tax write off is within my power. Oh, and I used as alias in case any IRS people are reading.

My wife and I applied for passports in March of 07. Like everyone else we have made several phone calls to the wonderful people at the passport center. We have also contacted our local Senator's office. Today is Wednesday and our flight leaves this coming Sunday morning. I called today and our passports are ready. They gave me a tracking # for my wife's passport but mine didn't have one yet. I was told hers was going out regular mail and will be here in 3-5 days... maybe. I was told that they requested several times to have our passports overnighted, but it appears that didn't happen. I'm not sure why the idiots rushed to have our passports done, only to send them regular mail when it's obvious that they will never make it to us in time. Almost everyone I spoke to could give a rats "you know what" and I was told I am basically SOL. I live in Missouri and they just had a story on our local news about a high school student and an advisor from Jefferson City, MO who applied for their passports back in March. They were planning to travel to Italy and had spent $3,500 per person on their trip. Their plane left this past Monday and they are still here. Our wonderful government at "work". If the situation were reversed and the government needed documents from us and we didn't get those documents to them on time (i.e., taxes) we would be assessed all kinds of penalties and fines. However, in the case of people not getting their passports and losing thousands of dollars in travel expenses... we barely get an apology. It's more like, "Oh well. Not our problem." The statement they posted on their website that says, "our goal is to make sure no one misses their trip" is a load of crap.

On another note, I bet if you privatize the creation of passports at $67 a pop and 25,000,000 customers per year and growing, that $H@% would get done in 48 hours or less.

The US Government is broken. They cant be held accountable so they dont care. I think anyone who has incurred a loss due to their incompetence regarding this issue should be given a tax credit in the amount of the loss. Give it to yourself.. send a letter in with your taxes next year along with a copy of the receipts for the travel changes due to the delayed passports. Deduct the amount from your taxes.

Im half considering moving to another country and renouncing citizenship so I dont have to pay this idiotic government anymore of my money. What are they doing for me? Spending billions of dollars to invade a country on false pretenses, while at the same time alienating the rest of the world and their own citizens? Great job there. Oh and dont even get started on healthcare, legal costs, and corruption.

Applied 0n 3/1 and got the passport on 6/6 which is two days prior my international trip. It took 14 weeks to process.

I got through all the troubles you had and even run to the Boston Passport Agency on 6/1. They asked me kept waiting until one day before my trip. One good thing I learned was the passport agency could get the passport done in hours.

So, good luck to you.

Applied March 14, for passport for myself & husband. Told 10-12 weeks processing time.

Called May 21, told not processed would be expedited and received for June 1 travel date--never received. Travel rescheduled.

Called June 5, nothing more done, not processed, but would be send fedex by June 12 to have for June 14 travel date.

I'm still waiting June 6.

Called June 5 to congressman, Congressional expedite takes 48 hours for process to begin and received a confirmation e-mail from Congressman's office that request has been made. She suggested should plan to go to the regional office, repay the fee (with no refund of my original paid feed!) to get passport--but it can only be done within 48 hours of confirmed travel date. Appointment necessary. Just to make sure we have it...but she thinks with the congressional expedite, it will arrive by mail before that 48 hour window of our departure.

Congressman's office said they receive many daily requests for congressional expedites daily--they have staffers who do just that and they know it is a big problem. But they told me they'd keep in touch so I will know if it will arrive in time or if I need to go to Chicago.

Aside from all the frustration & time---I can't believe how many problem I've had reaching the passport office... the complaints I've read don't mention that... I've called over 300 times to reach them twice! It takes 44 seconds to get the message that says, "Due to extreme call volume your call cannot be answered at this time. Please call back later" then the line goes dead. I've tried all hours of the day and days of the week/weekend. If they would just answer the phone, be truthful about what can/can't be done so people could plan, it would be one thing. At the very least, the office should change the passport time frame to what it really is...whatever it is--for those new people applying! So less people would be in this situation and the office would be less overwhelmed and make promises that it can't keep.

It can only become worse as the timeframe nears for the new regulations to become effective January 2008:

* Beginning January 23, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport.

* As early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport.

If you still need a passport, apply early and ... call your congressional office... after a while, with the overwhelming call volume, they will get the picture and do something!

Our tax dollars at work again! Our beloved Department of State is understaffed and underfunded. Maybe we can hire all those illegal immigrants for passport processing. Of course, we couldn't use them for customer service, because none of them would be able to communicate with concerned consumers. On the other hand, you can't get a hold of anyone in customer service anyways. If you do, it sounds like to your speaking to Bill Clinton when he was on the stand in the Lewinsky trial. I am sorry sir/mam, I can not confirm or deny where your passport is is."

It could be possible that if we hire several trained monkeys that passports could be expedited to consumers who so dearly need to travel outside the country. At this point, I would be willing to except any suggestions to speed up this process. But of course, the most obvious solution is the billions of dollars that we are wasting in Iraq.

My complaints are the same as everyone else. Terrible customer service, inefficiency, and an utter disregard for the well being of customers. Its been 12 weeks and I am still waiting. Although, they were conveniently able to cash my check 6 weeks ago.

I am going to miss my honeymoon because of this, not to mention the money. I started calling everyday two weeks ago, as well as calling my two National Senators and even Govs. Only one Senator's office is working on it for me, actually, they call me twice a day to update me on the situation... BOB CORKER... just to get his name out there; but it still has not done any good yet. Oh yeah, I applied 15 Mar 2007... told it would be back NLT 14May2007... they lied.

I am very interested in a class action lawsuit, lets do it.

Respectfully,

Nathan Murphy
TN

My daughter applied for her passport on Mar. 14. She was told that it would be 10 weeks at the very maximum. She asked again to confirm and was told she was fine. There was no need to expedite it, which we could have gladly done had it been indicated. We are supposed to leave the day after tomorrow, the 7th (or not, as someone said). We have done the same as everyone else, spent time calling the passport center--What a joke! The most recent call said it was shut down. We called our state rep. They've tried to call but the only response was that "they're working on it". We stand to lose close to $4,000 for the trip. It's very small comfort to know we're not the only ones in this situation. What a nightmare! That's the government for you.