Internation travel without U.S. Passport

[NorthByNorthwest 359]

20 hours ago, John951 said:

@OldUser @Lil bear Or, should we wait for 14 days from and expedite at an agency?

 

This is the way to go, I did and had passport (and passport card) in hand 3 days after naturalization. When I was at the passport agency I overheard several people that were there to expedite regular applications that were already in progress but ran out of time due to travel and I believe they got their passports as well either same day or next.

 

As long as you live close enough to an agency to be able go there twice over a few days and have the time to wait in line it's the fastest option by far. Once you have established to the call center agent that you have urgent travel you will get a time slot at the agency, but at least in Seattle that time slot doesn't really mean much, when you get there you'll wait in line for an intake agent to check that you have all necessary paperwork, then you'll get a number to wait for your turn at the counters to actually take your application. When you come back for pickup it's faster, but count on spending a few hours there for the first day.

[Thunderbolt 172]

You are 5 weeks out. Apply regular way and pay for expedited service. We've applied for my wife's passport with expedited fee middle of December, her passport came 2 weeks later. 

 

[mam521 2,111]

We just did expedited processing for my kids' US passports.  Appointment date was Dec. 19, the passports were printed Dec. 27 and we go them back quickly (1 was before the new year and the other on the 3rd), all during the Christmas holidays.  Apply now and she won't have any issues.  

[FriendlyUser 42]

I applied for my first US passport through a Passport Agency two weeks before my international travel (Passport Agency is operated by the US Department of State). I called the Passport Agency exactly 14 days before the travel (that's the earliest they accept expedited applications) and requested an appointment in NYC. They gave me an appointment slot in 10 days (so 4 days before the due date). I had an appointment for 8am, and I received my passport at 5pm. 

 

I brought them my certificate of citizenship, passport photos, passport application, proof of ticket booking, and proof of hotel booking (they looked through all of it). You pay a regular passport fee and an expedited service fee of $60 with them. If they operate in the area where you live, consider using their services. It's legit (Government operated), fast and cheap (only $60 more than a regular, non-expedited service).