Experience at San Diego passport agency

[sd2017 18]

Went to the passport agency in San Diego today, June 22, after my oath ceremony yesterday. I had a 10am appointment, and arrived at the line for security around 9:50am. There was a metal detector and a  X-ray machine, and wanted my belt and watch off. I was allowed to bring in my phone and iPad, but they wanted me to show that the iPad powers on. You are not allowe to make calls inside. There was a long line for the appointment check in, and another line for people picking up their passports, and it was around 10:35pm by the time I was done checking in. They checked that I had an appointment, proof of imminent international travel, forms, naturalization certificate, driver's license, copies of documents, and passport photo, and I was then assigned a number for the wait list. They accept applications for both the passport book and card, and the officer said both would take the same time to produce.

 

The wait list number has a prefix which seems to be prioritized by how soon you need to travel and whether you have an appointment. The A numbers were for same day travel with an appointment, B numbers were for same day travel without appointments, C, which is what I received were probably for travel within 8 business days with an appointment. There were other letters, but I only saw the definitions for A and B from a chart behind the agent. They did turn away some people who were not traveling so soon and did not have an appointment, so I'm not sure how strictly they were enforcing the requirement to have an appointment, and while I was there, I did not see any B numbers being called.

 

Anyhow, my number was called around 11:10pm, the agent congratulated me on my recent naturalization, asked if I was still traveling on July 1, then had me swear that the information I provided was true and the photo was a likeness of me, and then he had me sign the form. I paid the $225 by credit card, $110 for the passport, $30 for the passport card, $60 for expedited service, and $25 for the acceptance fee. The interaction with the officer took less than 10 minutes after my number was called.

 

They retained the naturalization certificate but will return it together with the passport when I pick it up on Monday after 3pm, but another person was given a Wednesday pickup date, perhaps because he was traveling later. It is possible for you to designate someone else to pick up the passport. The speed they produce the passport is prioritized by how soon you actually need it, and if you only need the passport more than 8 business days later, they'll apparently mail it to you instead of having you pick it up. For me, it was a bit more reassuring to not have my documents transmitted through the mail, and to be able to pick them all up in person.