[Update: My passport arrived much sooner than I expected. Only 4 weeks passed between the time I mailed it out and when the new one arrived].
It’s been a while since I’ve traveled internationally, with the world being shut down and everything, so I guess I’m a little rusty on the whole process. With that being said, I made a huge mistake while planning for my next overseas trip, and I thought I’d share it here to help you prevent yourself from making the same mistake I did. I’m not going to reveal where I’m planning to go yet, but if you know me personally, you probably already know where it is. I’ve been planning this trip for a while now, and it will be my first international trip since Tijuana in early 2020 and my first time spending more than a day overseas since Moldova over two years ago, so I’ve obviously been excited about it. I looked into the whole visa application process and was aware that this country requires US passports to have at least 6 months’ validity on them in order to enter. I did the math in my head because I knew I was reaching that 10-year mark where I’d need a new passport. And I determined that I would have exactly 6 months. All was good!
All was good, that is, until the other day when I actually did the math on a calculator and realized I was a month off in my head. My passport would only have 5 months left on it by the time I’d arrive in this country. I then went into panic mode! After double checking the math a few times to make sure my calculator wasn’t playing pranks on me, I quickly turned to Google to figure out how to get my passport renewed in the fastest way possible, and the results weren’t pretty… The normal turnaround time to get a passport renewed is 18 weeks, and my trip was 10 weeks away. Then I saw that if you expedite it, it can take “up to” 12 weeks to get it back. But the problem is, 12 weeks wouldn’t cut it! I NEED my passport back in less than 10 weeks. But surely there’s a way to get it renewed in person, right? Well I looked into that, and, yes… kinda. You can get it renewed same day in person in the case of 2 different scenarios: either it’s an emergency/life-or-death situation or you have urgent international travel plans within the next 72 hours. And even then, no appointment is guaranteed because of how busy passport offices have been recently. Other than those two scenarios, you cannot get an in-person appointment for a same-day passport and must use the regular mail-in process to get it renewed. (Even if the passport is lost or stolen, you can get an in-person appointment but still have to wait for the new passport to be mailed to you unless you meet one of those two requirements).
So I contacted a friend with much more travel experience than me for advice, and he explained that he had somewhat cheated the system in the past to get a passport renewed the same day. What he did was purchase a random plane ticket to a different country that he had no intention of visiting. He then went to the passport office and scheduled an in-person appointment using that plane ticket as proof of an urgent international trip within 72 hours in order to get same day renewal before canceling the ticket to get a refund. I started seriously considering this option and made plans to drive to Atlanta (since the closer option of New Orleans is currently dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida) to attempt this travel hack. But then I realized this wouldn’t work for me. My passport won’t expire until next year, and it won’t reach that 6-month mark for another couple months. If I booked a plane ticket today and then went to the passport office, they’d have no reason to renew my passport because it’s not expired yet or even within the 6-month time frame required by many countries.
So I was left with two options: wait until my trip is closer and use this trick to possibly get an in-person appointment (which isn’t guaranteed), or expedite it, hoping that it makes it back to me in time. Waiting till the 72 hours before my trip wouldn’t work because I need my new passport information when applying for the visa to this country, and that process on its own can take a week or more. If I could drive to Philadelphia and renew it in person, I’d do that, but it’s just not an option. So I called the U.S. Department of State and talked to them to see what they recommend. And the girl I talked to highly recommended that I expedite it as soon as possible. She couldn’t guarantee that I’d get it back in time of course, but she assured me that the earlier I get it mailed out and the more steps I’m willing to take, the better my chance of getting it back in time. And at this point, that really seemed like the safest option, as any option at this point would be risky.
So I looked into the renewal process, and that “up to” 12 weeks is distributed like this: about 6 weeks of processing once it arrives (this part is unavoidable), while the rest of that time is reserved for shipping, handling, and possible issues that arise there (again, this is even when you expedite it). So if I can somehow shorten that shipping/handling time, I might just get this new passport in the mail before my trip. And there are a couple options to help speed things up. After paying extra to expedite it, there’s another option to pay for 1-2 day delivery. This doesn’t mean you’ll get it in 1-2 days; it just means they will ship it to you 1-2 days after printing it, rather than letting it sit around for a while before shipping it to you. This was an obvious choice. Then, when you go to the post office, you can pay to have it overnighted so the passport office in Philadelphia gets it the next day. This was also an obvious choice. Utilizing both of these options, the chance of getting it returned before my deadline seems to be much better. So then I looked into what all I need to send in. First, there’s a DS-82 form that has to be filled out in black ink and not folded or wrinkled. Then they need a passport picture, which has to meet the specific measurement and lighting/color requirements. And finally, they need a check made out to the U.S. Department of State with the payment for all of the above in exact change. Then, when shipping the package out, you have to clearly write “EXPEDITE” on the package itself, so they know what to do with it. It also has to be mailed through USPS rather than FedEx or some other delivery option. None of this can be messed up, or your passport will not be renewed and instead returned to you, adding onto the time this whole process takes.
So I rushed to CVS to get my passport photo taken because they have a program there that guarantees your picture meets all the Department of State’s requirements. I then filled out the form and put it all together along with my current passport, the picture from CVS, and a check for a ton of money to the government. The passport itself is $110, then expediting it adds another $60. The 1-2 day delivery option is another $17; the passport photo was around $14; and then USPS next-day delivery was around $26. According to my tracking number, they did receive it the next day, and several days later, I saw the money come out of my account meaning it was approved, so now I’m just praying that I receive the renewed passport in the mail before my trip with enough time to also apply for my visa. I could’ve avoided all this stress if I didn’t try doing the math in my head to begin with, but I can’t change what’s already been done. This is the first time I’ve ever had to renew my passport since I got it when I was 16, so this was all new to me. But I know I won’t make this mistake a second time! Hopefully, I’ll get my passport in time and will be traveling internationally again soon. But I know there’s also a chance I won’t get it back in time. All I can really do at this point is pray…
Tyler's Travels 