Hi all,

We are thinking about taking a trip to Canada in the next month or so for my son to meet a friend of his.

Unfortunately we have been lax in getting a current US passport (ours expired many moons ago) and know generally it can take 2 to 3 months to get one through the normal channels.

Has anyone had any experience with getting an expedited passport? We live close to Washington, DC, so showing up there to get one is inconvenient, but doable.

My oldest son tried to get one last year as he won an advertising award at Cannes, France and had hoped to go in person, but he did not yet have any traveling plans so they would not issue him a passport (no itenerary), but him going on the trip was contingent on him getting a passport first, so why book a short notice expensive trip if you cannot get in the country you want to travel to? He ended up running out of time, so he did not go.

Same with this trip to Canada. We will be driving, no flights. We have no idea yet where we are staying, so no hotel.

Has anyone been through this? Any info is appreciated.

Mike.

Hi Mike,
You didn't mention when you will be taking the trip....So it all depends.

We got our passports within 3 weeks.
We filed the papers at the post office, paid at the time about $100 each.

Probably in August sometime. No exact dates set yet.

3 Weeks? How recently?

Thanks.

Mike.

Hi Mike ,

I'm in NY and they have a new enhanced drivers licence so you can drive back n forth into canada without the passport , i think their around $30.oo and you just upgrade your regular licence @ the DMV , I've heard its about 2 weeks untill it comes in the mail , i've been meaning to get mine

hope this helps , it might be cheaper if its available to you in your State...

Kevin

I actually got my passport shortly before I got married in November 2008 (maybe around August?).

I had no travel plans, just wanted to have the passport in case. I did not pay for the "faster" service as I didn't need it.

Crazy thing is - my passport came to my house in 6 days! 6 days! That really surprised me. Not sure why it was so quick, maybe because at the time I worked for law enforcement and the background check was quick? Although I'm not sure if they do background checks for passports.

The only problem I had though, was getting the pictures. I went to Walgreen's and paid $10 for 2 photos. Post office refused them because they were too big. So I ended up paying the $15 to the post office for them to take my photo and I returned the others to Walgreen's. So, save yourself some time and just get the photo taken at the PO, little bit more money but much less pain in the behind.

I still need to update mine with my married name now! That reminds me!

They worked down the backlog of a couple of years ago, so 2-3 weeks for a passport is not a bad expectation. (That's what it took for my renewal, at the tail end of the long waiting times.) Ask at the Post Office; they offer an 'expedited' option, but I'd check the web to see whether it really helps.

I don't know if trying to walk them through in DC would help. (Visas for another country are a different story if needed, 'cuz of the embassies.) You might check the local office of your Congresscritter and find out if they've been asked to help speed passports along recently. That's probably a better source of information on delivery times than the P.O.

quote:

Originally posted by Jessica:
I actually got my passport shortly before I got married in November 2008 (maybe around August?).

I had no travel plans, just wanted to have the passport in case. I did not pay for the "faster" service as I didn't need it.

Crazy thing is - my passport came to my house in 6 days! 6 days! That really surprised me. Not sure why it was so quick, maybe because at the time I worked for law enforcement and the background check was quick? Although I'm not sure if they do background checks for passports.

The only problem I had though, was getting the pictures. I went to Walgreen's and paid $10 for 2 photos. Post office refused them because they were too big. So I ended up paying the $15 to the post office for them to take my photo and I returned the others to Walgreen's. So, save yourself some time and just get the photo taken at the PO, little bit more money but much less pain in the behind.

I still need to update mine with my married name now! That reminds me!

That was me also I don't drive so needed a passport to go to canada and get into places.. I went to post office and had everything done and picture taken and in less then a week got the passport...

Thanks for all of the good advice.

I checked with the Virginia DMV and they do not appear to offer what Kevin LePore was talking about.

I guess we will go the Post Office route to get these done and see how long it takes...

Thanks again.

Mike.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: miket999,

quote:

Originally posted by miket999:

I checked with the Virginia DMV and they do not appear to offer what Kennywood was talking about.

Uh....I was talking about something? I think you might mean someone else.

My wife & I got our passports early last year. We were told to wait about 6-8 weeks (back then). We waited.......1-1/2 weeks! Wow, were we surprised!

By the way, if you're not planning on doing any international air travel, you might consider getting a U.S. Passport Card instead. It can fit into your wallet and it's less expensive than the passport book. HERE is the information. The passport card is only valid for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kennywood,

Kevin,

Yeah, it was Kevin LePore. Sorry.

Well, we ordered our passports today at the Post office. I expedited my sons since he definately wants to travel June 29th, but my wife and I just applied with regular processing since we probably will not travel for 4 or 5 weeks. We will see how long this is taking now.

The Passport web site says as of July 5th, 2 -3 weeks for expedited, 4 to 6 weeks for regular processing.

Mike.

My wife and I applied for passports a few months ago. The processing of our passports took about 4-5 weeks, so I am very surprised by people who received theirs in less than two weeks. We were getting nervous about receiving them, as our cruise was leaving with or without us, but they finally arrived about two weeks before the cruise.

The scary part was when they took our original documentation (birth certificates and marriage license) and mailed them off. "Sorry, they don't want copies." Thankfully, these documents arrived back home as well--actually much quicker than the passports.

Well, it took 6 business days for my son to get his passport - we used the expedited process for his.

Now lets see how long it takes for my wife's and mine to arrive using the "normal" process.

Mike.