2020/ 21- US Passport & Card Application-Tracker

[EternalForeigner 57]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

Well, you need to test before you fly and they check the vax/test/PLF (form) stuff before you fly, not after you land. Took me less than 5 minutes from arriving at the egate line to getting through, it was busy but there are a lot of gates and the process is quick. There looked to be 200-300 people in the “all other countries” queue (a big emirates double decker plane landed around the same time as us - I’d come from Europe and most of the people on my flight must have been brits or EU or otherwise able to use egates) so yeah, that definitely saved me some time.

So were there border officers checking for PLF/proof of vax/covid test before or after the egates?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Just now, EternalForeigner said:

So were there border officers checking for PLF/proof of vax/covid test before or after the egates?

The airline staff checked all that stuff before you board the plane (like they would with visas etc)*

You have no contact with border officers when you use egates (unless something goes wrong and it tells you to “seek assistance”, for there was one border officer with a couple of people in line). I’m assuming “the system” links your passport number with the PLF on your way in. 
 

 

*btw for flights to the US, BA (and assuming some other airlines) use an app called Verifly. You upload all the Covid etc stuff onto there per trip, it gets checked, and you get a green online pass on your phone that you just need to show the gate agent rather than a bunch of forms - very quick and efficient.

[EternalForeigner 57]

2 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

The airline staff checked all that stuff before you board the plane (like they would with visas etc)*

You have no contact with border officers when you use egates (unless something goes wrong and it tells you to “seek assistance”, for there was one border officer with a couple of people in line). I’m assuming “the system” links your passport number with the PLF on your way in. 
 

 

*btw for flights to the US, BA (and assuming some other airlines) use an app called Verifly. You upload all the Covid etc stuff onto there per trip, it gets checked, and you get a green online pass on your phone that you just need to show the gate agent rather than a bunch of forms - very quick and efficient.

I am familiar with VeriFLY as it’s used to schedule TSA slots to go through security on your own in Denver. And I knew that the airlines check everything when you check in for your flight; I was just surprised that there weren’t any additional covid checks at the UK border for those going through the egates, but it seems like they’re satisfied as long as the PLF is linked to the passport as you said. 

[.yana 597]

3 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

On a slight drift topic I recently used my new US passport! Maybe traveling with it is not such a difference for those of you from the global west, but for me to drop the hassle factor of my old passport was great: to be able to visit two countries I would have needed individual visas for before and be able to use the e-gates at Heathrow was such a treat! In fact - even the fairly last minute decision of where to go without having to worry about getting visas on time was a pleasure. (Never mind the cost of the expedited passport was less than the two visas would have cost). 

I was just checking the visa-free countries for US Nationals, and it's truly unbelievable.

Especially, as you mentioned, when you come from a country and a passport with many more restrictions than the US or EU ones.

Such a great feeling of relief and freedom that so many are born with and probably take for granted (to no fault of their own)  

[Decent80 16]

On 9/14/2021 at 1:51 PM, millefleur said:

Thanks for that info. Still waiting on the NC here.

Have you received your NC yet? I`m still waiting and its almost 3 weeks now since I received my passport book. 

[Scandi 4,166]

3 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

On a slight drift topic I recently used my new US passport! Maybe traveling with it is not such a difference for those of you from the global west, but for me to drop the hassle factor of my old passport was great: to be able to visit two countries I would have needed individual visas for before and be able to use the e-gates at Heathrow was such a treat! In fact - even the fairly last minute decision of where to go without having to worry about getting visas on time was a pleasure. (Never mind the cost of the expedited passport was less than the two visas would have cost). 

Nice feeling, huh? With a US passport you have access to 184 countries around the world without having to get a visa. That's pretty awesome. With my Swedish passport I can visit 188 countries, so the US passport doesn't really change much for me in that regard. 

[EternalForeigner 57]

I got the USPS “delivered/in mailbox” false alarm that many have been getting. Went to check and there was nothing, which makes sense as our US mail usually gets delivered in the afternoon. And none of the other pieces of mail I’m expecting to see (courtesy of informed delivery emails) are there either. So I guess they have a pattern of false alarms on that front. 

[millefleur 5,046]

12 minutes ago, Decent80 said:

Have you received your NC yet? I`m still waiting and its almost 3 weeks now since I received my passport book. 

Just got it yesterday!

 

Strangely, it arrived in a Priority Mail envelope but there was no tracking number...🙄

[EternalForeigner 57]

4 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Just got it yesterday!

 

Strangely, it arrived in a Priority Mail envelope but there was no tracking number...🙄

I think from everyone’s experience, it seems like the passport book is the only one that gets tracking, right?

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, EternalForeigner said:

I think from everyone’s experience, it seems like the passport book is the only one that gets tracking, right?

That's what it seems like. It's just weird to me that they paid the full price for Priority Mail but didn't bother getting a tracking number, which is included in the price.

[.yana 597]

5 minutes ago, millefleur said:

That's what it seems like. It's just weird to me that they paid the full price for Priority Mail but didn't bother getting a tracking number, which is included in the price.

I had a tracking number which was at 'Label Created - not shipped yet' status on 9/21, then on 9/22 USPS system crashed and no tracking was available at all for few hours, then back to 'Label Created' then instantly to 'Out for Delivery' and 'Delivered' within 30 minutes lol

 

And didn't even show up in my informed delivery 🤷‍♀️

[EternalForeigner 57]

56 minutes ago, .yana said:

I had a tracking number which was at 'Label Created - not shipped yet' status on 9/21, then on 9/22 USPS system crashed and no tracking was available at all for few hours, then back to 'Label Created' then instantly to 'Out for Delivery' and 'Delivered' within 30 minutes lol

 

And didn't even show up in my informed delivery 🤷‍♀️

I’ve always heard the packet always shows up on informed delivery as the following, probably for security reasons:

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

7 minutes ago, EternalForeigner said:

I’ve always heard the packet always shows up on informed delivery as the following, probably for security reasons:

 

 

 That’s a size issue, not a security one. All our letter-size envelopes show up like that on informed delivery.

[.yana 597]

39 minutes ago, EternalForeigner said:

I’ve always heard the packet always shows up on informed delivery as the following, probably for security reasons:

 

 

I had nothing at all, just Amazon stuff 🤷‍♀️

[stuckpx 0]

Me and my wife both filed for expedited processing on Aug 20th, both went into processing on Aug 27 (Application Locator 68). Her's got approved on Sept 21st and arrived today, mine still says In-Process. My application number was 1 number before hers, anyone else ran into anything similar?