US Passport review: Delay of US passport 190

Amazingly, 2 weeks ago I was able to get thru to a lovely person at the passport agency and was told my passport would be at my home today at 10:00. It is now 11:30 and I just called Fed-ex and they show no delivery for today. I applied for my passport back in March and had no idea what a mess it would be! You can not get thru to the passport agency-love the hang up you get and try again later! Also there comments about "don't panic and no one will miss a trip"! Looks pretty obvious that people are missing their trips!

Wish there would be some accountability-who can you complain to when no one answers the phone!

My daughter is traveling to the Bahamas on June 18th put in for her passport on March 26th she was told 10 weeks we are now at 11 weeks, No Passport. We have made 100's of phone calls to the 1-877 number only to get hung up on. Sent 5 emails no answer. I think that they have given up on us all. One would think that the government would do all they could to make these new rules better on us or make some kind of exception to their rule since they are the ones who are enforcing a passport on us and won't give us one. We did our part applied in plenty of time and the government just leaves us out there. I hope they all remember who votes for them. I'm in for the class action lawsuit.

I would love to have any suggestions from anyone who actually had a good outcome? We applied for my daughter's passport 3-20 and told there was no need to expedite and it would only slow things down where someone else might have a more urgent need..!@#$ What a crook! I have been told by the only person I have had any contact with that it is being processed and they will request it be expedited. We are scheduled to leave for South Africa for a once in a lifetime visit and my 8 yr old daughter doesn't have her passport- I guess she has so much background to check & it is taking this long. What could be the hold up? Match up the information and send it out! I am desperate... Any suggestions? If we are unable to travel on our original tickets we will lose the trip and the $ entirely. Tickets to South Africa run about $2000 each! Help!

We had success reapplying and paying the extra fees for duplicate birth certificate, express delivery and service fees with www.passportinaday.com. They will take everything to the State department for you so in my opinion it is worth it versus traveling there and dealing with the costs and situation. This option will cost you about $350 but you will have your passport in 3-5 days. You must provide your travel itinerary to prove your trip is within the next week or so…

I send my renewal in back in February. Website says I am "in process," the same thing that it said months ago. Timeline was four weeks when I sent it by regular mail back then. Now it's 10-12 weeks and I am already well over that. Now you can't even get through on the phone lines. "Your call is important to use. Please stay on the line. We can't take your cal right now." Can anyone advise what to do? Should I declare my passport lost or stolen by the state department and then go and get a new one? I'm not leaving until September but have no confidence that I will get my passport at all.

People, we are hostages in our own country.

See article on relaxed traveling restrictions for passport applicants here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19107675/

Needless to say, I am in the same predicament as many. The new relaxed traveling restrictions will not help me as I am traveling to Europe.

Everyone needs to make sure they are keeping proper records of phone calls, emails, etc. for possible litigation.

I am livid that they have now decided to change the rules on passports. My daughter missed her senior trip to Cancun because we never received her passport. This was her last time to hang out with her friends and have a blast because she has joined the Navy. She leaves for boot camp in a couple of weeks and I'm sure she'll get there on time. I'm out $1000 and still don't have a passport.

I leave for my trip on June 16th, applied for passport in early march and still have received nothing. I have been calling the passport agency to no avail because I cant even get to a customer service rep. I'm pretty sure after reading these posts that I wont receive my passport on time. Do they consider the Bahamas the Caribbean?

I am so sick of all of this. My husband has his passport. I applied for mine on March 13. We are supposed to go to Iceland on Monday. I contacted my congressman. That helped some but I was told once that it was mailed out Tuesday and would be here in 3-5 days. Now it is Friday and no passport. I called today and was told it would be delivered overnight, given a tracking number, and have been waiting a few hours to check it. When I finally did it said that the estimated time of arrival is Monday at 3 P.M. My flight leaves at 2:30. What a mess. I would love to find a way to sue them. The cost for my trip was 5,000 dollars. I do not know what to do. I figure that I can call the airline on Monday or Sunday if they are open.

Good luck to everyone
Lisa

Anyway or any site that we can all form a class action lawsuit? I am all for it! I applied back in January, still NO PASSPORT! Got run around by the passport agency for three weeks, received their unFRIENDLY treatment and fu**ing attitude problem!

My children's passports arrived yesterday and we have the trip on June 11. It takes a lot of patience and time on the phone. We applied on March 23, it was not expedited, but they Fedex it anyway (without a charge). It was nerve wrecking, but successful. Hang in there and hope for the best. Also contact your Congressman ASAP.

Good luck!

We are still waiting for our 3 kid's passports. We applied on March 10th. We have tickets booked for Greece for June 22nd. We are planning on making a trip up to the LA passport office for emergency passports the day before we leave if the passports don't arrive, which we are not expecting them to.

I know from my own experience and many stories I have read that the passport office's canned response to callers is to say the "passport is in the mail" even though it is not. In this entire passport fiasco, that is what absolutely pisses me off the most. The lies. People believe this croock of [censored], wait for their passports, and they never arrive as promised. The government has basically condoned this deceitful practice. With friends like the Federal Govt, who needs enemies...

Also, I don't understand why the passport office cannot adjust the passport turn around time tables to reflect what they really are which is probably 4-8 weeks for an expedited and 14-20 weeks for a regular. Give people a clear picture so a decision can be made based on accurate information. It makes sense to me.

Anyways, this whole experience has left me wondering what exactly the govt can do right. If they can't properly process a freackin passport, what can they do?

I am in the same boat as everyone else.

We are going to Europe and the new policy change doesn't affect us. We can't even track our passport on line. I did get an email that it's in process but after reading these complaints, should I even believe them? I still have 2-1/2 weeks before our trip so I can't even call them. Goes anyone have any advice? We would join any class action suit too. To all of those whose date has already pass, you need to file a claim with the agency first by filing a form or you won't be able to sue later.

Same thing happened for me. Applied on March 3, 2007, today is June 9 and no passport. Cannot even find the application, but the check to the Government was cashed on March 30. If someone can file a clause action law suite, I am in.

Dial the 1-877 number for passports, as soon as you get voice mail, press1, press 3, press 1 again... It may take you up to an hour to get through. Keep repeating the process I mentioned.

When you get live person, make them send an e-mail on your behalf to the agency where your passport is (if trackable) and ask to Fedex it.

For the two weeks before your trip keep calling and try your congressman.

Again, Good luck.

A few tips:

If you call the 1-877 passport hotline, I believe that you need to press 9 if the recording says all lines are busy then it won't hang up on you, rather you will be directed back into the system and eventually get in.

Also, a better line to call for passport status requests is [protected]. You will get more information from the clerks who answer this line then the 1-877 line. Also, it is not as widely known so not as busy.

To get added help - call the Washington passport desk at [protected].

Finally, the main person responsible for passports is the Assistant Secretary of Cons. Affairs, Maura Harty. Her line is [protected]. Give her a call as well. She needs to know what a crackhead she is. Lets start a FireMauraHarty website while we are at it. Someone needs to say, "Maura Harty, you're fired", now don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way.

I don't know about you guys but im am very upset... I finally got my passport a day after my departure date.. I had to reschedule my trip cause havic at my job to get my vac.. Time back i lost about 600.00 and not including we are not goin to get to stay in the upgraded room we would like and we had to pay 200.00 to get a reissuance from the airport.. Im deeply disgusted for all the stress i had endured just to miss my trip... I am glad they lifted the passport regulations.. But what about us who have had to pay for their mess.. I had turned in my application almost 3 and a half months before my trip and i was told i was way in advance since was a 6-8 week wait at the time.. Does anyone have the same problem as me? Missed their trip and out lots of $$$ ... Let me know if there is something that can be done to be reimbursed.. My travels insurance didn't cover passport delays?

My wife and I are in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. I have to have a passport to get into Haiti, to get the child's U.S. Visa, and to bring him into the country under immigration law. We finally got word that all of the paper work is ready, after 15 months, and we can come and get him. However, my passport has not arrived. I applied for renewal of my passport on 3/13/2007 (due to expire June 1, 2007).

I have been unable to get any information from the U.S. Passport website. I says my passport is being processed (it has said that for a long time now). I have made hundreds of phone calls only to be hung up on after a nearly 5 minute message. I have even gone so far as to request help from my congressman and senators. This past Friday, the special assistant for my congressman told me that the passport would be sent out that evening. The status of my passport has not changed on line. This makes me question the integrity of the person that the special assistant spoke to and it also makes me wonder about the value of the website if the information is outdated. I also wonder why there is not a queuing system for phone calls. Who made up this new requirement? In my opinion they should be held accountable as well, because they did not find our what the new requirements were going to do to the system.

Call the numbers listed above. If you know where your passport is being processed, i.e. Chareleston, let me know. I have some direct internal numbers that go straight into the processing center. The phone number I have for Charleston has been especially helpful. If you call it, whoever answers the phone will locate your passport fed ex it to you.

I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question: if my passport is currently "being processed" can i still get one issued at the NY agency? I was able to get an appointment at the office (I live in NY) and I'm wondering if they can do that for me, even though my original passport is somewhere floating in their system? I only needed a name change and am completely regretting my decision to send it in...

Anyone know if that will work?

I am very mad about this. No word can explain my feel now. I have an doctor's appointment in foreign county at end of June. We have been submit application for 12 weeks . But it is still pending. I think government need to let people to extend to use old passport. That will reduce their over load work.

Yes, you can reapply all over again at the New York office. You have to bring a new filled out app, passport pictures, etc. - All the documents that were required when you first applied.

However, before you go to that point, try calling a better passport help line which is [protected]. The 1-877 number given out on the passport website is not helpful.

Also, if you know where your passport is being processed, i.e New Hampshire, you can get even more aggressive and call the processing plant.

Your congressman or senator can tell you from the passport locator number where your passport is being processed.

Here is a link to a website that lists all of the internal phone numbers at the passport processing facilities.

www.state.gov/documents/organization/82073.pdf.

Anyone with the initials "CA/PPT" by their names works in passport processing. Find out the area code for the passport facility where your passport is, i.e., 603 for New Hampshire or 843 for Charleston, etc. and start dialing until you get someone to help you.

You have to be your own ADVOCATE and GET AGGRESSIVE, but be nice when you reach someone. The passport clerks have been instructed not to end a call unless a caller starts using foul language, etc.

Good luck.

My name is John Peters, i am 17 and a current High School student. I filed for my passport on February 14th, Valentines day, to go on a trip to Costa Rica that i had been saving money to go on for over a year. At the time of my application, i was told i would have my passport in no longer than 8 weeks. Since my trip wasn't until June 6th, i figured i would surely get my passport on time. After approx. 10 weeks passed i sent an email to a passport agency, i never got a response. I was denied help over the phone until 2 weeks before my departure date. On May 23rd, 2 weeks before my trip, i was finally able to talk to someone to check up on my passport and was informed that they hadn't even begun processing my passport (though they were very fast to cash the check i sent them). They immediately put out a free expedite and overnight mail on my passport and assured me that i would have it on time. I continued to call almost everyday after that to check up, i usually spent and hour trying to get a call through to them, then usually another 30-45 min. on hold daily. At a week before my trip, i notified my Congressman, and was once again assured by his office that i would have my passport on time. I finally received my passport on Friday, June 8th, two days too late for me to go on my trip. This little "inconvenience" cost me approx. $2000 and the trip was non refundable. I would be very interested in joining a class action lawsuit against the department of transportation. If you have any information that you think could be useful to me, please email me back with details.

Thank you very much.

I am very frustrated with all of this! My husband (then my fiance) applied for our passports in Feb. We were to leave out on May the 26th for our honeymoon and were told that would be plenty of time for us to get them back. Luckily we were cruising and not flying, but I totally understand what everyone else is feeling! This is a bit ridiculous! It has now been almost 4 months and we still don't have our passports. To make things worse, now we have moved and I don't know if they will forward it since it is government documents. Does anyone know if they will? I have also changed my name so now I get to either reapply or amend my current passport, but how am I supposed to do that when I don't even have my original! I definitely think this is just another way for the government to make money off of unsuspecting citizens! My husband and I want to plan another international trip, but we are waiting until we receive our passports to do anything! Who knows when that will be! I would love to be able to fight this in court, I just don't see how we could win since it's the government we're dealing with!

The government started telling people about the passport requirement change over 1.5 years ago. If you ###s waited just before your vacation, then it is your own damn fault.

People are being told it takes 8 weeks, so if it takes a 2-3 weeks extra – then that is still reasonable by me.

If longer than that, contact your Senator or Congressman.

Well, I was wrong. The website says it takes 14 weeks. So if you are still waiting, you should have sent it earlier.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/processing/processing_1740.html

It’s not about the government being underemployed – it’s that so many people waited to file at the last minute.

This is about more than the government being underemployed for an event they had to see coming... it's about their total inability to handle it and peoples frustration by the sheer lack of customer service. Their website is totally useless and trying to call any of the numbers listed there is equally useless.

When I finally contacted my Senators office I was given more information in one phone call. All applications go to a central processing location and from there a computer program selects where they go for processing. As of June 1st the two locations that had a huge backlog of applications were in South Carolina and in New Orleans. Unfortunately my sons application was in South Carolina. Needless to say he received his passport one week after his planned departure. No Mexico vacation and no refund from anywhere. Now, had his application gone to Seattle or Denver he would have been able to get his passport in time. It's disturbing to think that our government is so ill equipped.

Joe,

When people applied for passports back in February and March, they were told it took 8 - 10 weeks maximum to process the passport. The passport website has recently adjusted the time frame up to 12 - 14 weeks, so don't tell the responsible people who relied on the earlier time frames given out by the passport agency and timely applied that it's their "own damn fault".

Get a clue and get your facts straight before you open that big mouth of yours.

The government has been negligent in its handling of these passports. The government knows it. We all know it. Your banter is totally uncalled for and unnecessary, little man.

Hello everyone, I just posted this a little while ago on this site:
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2007/06/the_erratic_sta.html
This site was very useful to me, so I thought I'd pass it along here in case it helps anyone:
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I also wanted to share a story of passport horror, just in case it helps someone else. My parents needed passports to fly to Tokyo to visit my family after not seeing us for nearly two years. They applied on Mar 1 for departure of June 26. Like everyone else they were told they had plenty of time and no need to expedite.

This will be the first time my parents have ever traveled overseas, so they never needed a passport before. They did not apply until we all knew for sure that they could come and everyone could get off work. So I think it's ridiculous that some people comment that we shouldn't complain about this situation and that people should have applied earlier. No one had a crystal ball to predict this. And my parents were not going to get a passport for no reason and I think most people are that way. You don't get it until you need it... The government should have been better prepared as they were the ones who changed the laws. Most people rightly thought that 3-3+ months was plenty of time. Especially when at that time they were still telling everyone 6-8 weeks.

Well long story short after weeks of calling the 877 number which was of no help and calling their congresswoman (they live in Oklahoma City so their passports were in the Houston black hole) WHAT FINALLY GOT IT DONE WAS CALLING THE TASK FORCE AT [protected]. Within three hours my dad got a call back that they were being sent out and got the tracking #'s. This was RIGHT AFTER calling the 877 number and being told that MAYBE they would get it in time next week.

Even their congresswoman's' office (Mary Fallin-OK) said that morning that they would try but that they were working on 15 other pp's at the same time, so they were swamped. So I told my dad to just call this number (the 202#) because it wouldn't hurt and SUCCESS!

My mom just received their passports from the FEDEX guy about 15 minutes ago (oklahoma time!)! I checked the passport status on the state dept website and that has also been updated. It now says they've been mailed out after weeks of saying it was "processing".

This is such a relief off our shoulders and now they can start packing to come see their grandkids!

I am so grateful to this website and all the people who have posted such great information. My parents had no idea what to do until I started digging on the internet and came upon this site. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

My advice is if you are getting close and feel like your getting nowhere call [protected]. They were great! Some of the other numbers I gave my parents from this site, just rang and rang or had a recording. But that one worked!

Good Luck to whoever is trying to get their passport! Whether its for the trip of a lifetime, a much needed vacation or just because! Your in my thoughts!

I guess I am not the only one feeling the stress and burden of the passport system. What kind of government do we vote for? I am in the military and see much more of this stereotypical systematic failure than I should ever have to. I am concerned because after 4 weeks of trying to call the Passport agency and not getting an answer about my documents, I have finally spoke with a representative. let me say, ITS NOT GOOD!

I applied in February for my honeymoon in April, never got the passport, then became concerned and could not contact anyone. Now OF ALL THINGS, my Passport and ORIGINAL birth certificate have been sent to the wrong address and none knew until the rep. tracked the package through FedEX. They left it on the front door step in some other city. DO we really wonder how AL Queda gets all the important info they need, and that we have a somewhat overbearing illegal immigrant population. I am a soldier and now my important info is floating around somewhere in Atlanta, Ga and none seems to care! My hands are tied and I am set up for failure, please pray for God's hand that OUR government can fix the CRAP that they have started.

RayBrown

For those of you who are panicking, just know that there is hope. If anyone has been able to track their passport and know it's in Charlotte, let me know. I was able to track mine there and got in touch w / an EXTREMELY helpful and kind woman on the phone who processed my passport and called me back w / in an hour. I spoke with her 7PM on Monday night and my passport arrived at my building at noon today (Wednesday).

If you need this number, email me and I'll forward along.

Thanks to the information in this thread I was able to do the almost impossible - I got my passport!

My advice is to completely ignore the 1-877 number given on the website and instead call [protected] which seems to be answered within 5 minutes and doesn't involve lots of number selections and lengthy recorded messages. This gets you through to a call center (usually in Kentucky). From there they can assist you.

My first call to this number got an email sent to the LA processing plant to be placed on the "Will Call" list (meaning they call you when the passport is ready to collect). The second call got an urgent status placed on the passport (I leave Monday 18th June) and I was able to collect it this morning from LA, just 24 hours after my initial call.

When I first came across this thread I thought that it was all hopeless and I'd have to cancel or postpone my trip, but now all is OK.

My eternal gratitude to those who posted really helpful info, and my sympathies to those who are still struggling with this atrocious situation.

Applied my child (son and daughter) passport for renewal last March 07, I was told it will take 8-10 weeks for routine service. I have received my daughter passport on May 4 but not not my son. We already have paid the plane ticket and a confirmed flight on 21 June 07 ($ 5,700.00 +) for a family trip to PI. I constantly check on line the status of my son passport everyday since May with all the same status for 8 weeks. The last few days I constantly and patiently call the 1- 877 even wait on hold for 55 minutes, 45 minutes, 35 minutes and the shortest wait was 20 minutes but their CSR always give the same answer (in process). I just don't understand why they have to tell me to call back after 3 days so many times but they give me the same answer. I was so infuriated especially today I began calling them at 6:30 AM and wait for 55 minutes and I got hang-up. I call back around 9:30 and I was on hold for 35 minutes before I got answer by CSR with a crackling sound on their phone and I told them to hang-up because I don't understand a thing what was she is talking. I call back around 11:25 and I was surprised someone answer my call right away, but guess what? They told me their computer is down. That's the only way they answer it right away when their computer is down. I called again at around 12:15 and was on hold for 45 minutes, CSR told me that she can not help me to expedite my passport even though mentioning to her about our trip and telling her that my son passport is on the 12 weeks time frame already. She told me to make an appointment in the regional office (3 1/2 hours drive). I told her I've been trying to get an appointment for the last 2 days, and their appointment system is so screwed up coz I can not get any appointment on any days before our departure date. She told me she can do nothing about it. It was a waste of my time and energy calling this 1 877 they are useless and insufficient to help. Don't advertise if can not fulfill the time.

I was supposed to leave on a year planned trip to Mexico. I applied in February the moment the dates were solidified. The date to leave was June 11. When the announcement came that if you only had the letter of application of proof, you could go to Mexico. My name was misspelled and I was advised to wait for the correction. I called every day and told to a person 4 times in 2 weeks because I could not get through. I was assured my passport or the correction was being processed. The day came and went and my husband went on because I assured him I would be able to fly out with our son 3 days later. I did not go on vacation and I went to my sisters instead and when I got home my passport with the correction was in the mailbox. I was told it would have been overnighted by fedex, but it was sent priority usa mail. Grrr. This is so not right. Had it been over-nighted I would be with my family right now in Sayulita, Mexico.

Chris,

Calling the 877 number is not the best approach if you want your passport in time. Get your congressman or senator to help you. Find out from your congressman or senator where your passport is being processed - you can tell by the first 2 digits on the locater number where it is being processed- then call the passport processing center directly.

Go to www.state.gov/documents/organization/82073.pdf for a listing of all employees working in the dept of state. Anyone with the initials "CA/PPT" works in passport processing. Look for employees that work in the passport center where your passport is, and start calling. Also, enlist the help of the passport watchdog group at 202/647-7948. They have been very helpful to others who need their passports asap.

You are at the point where you have to get aggressive and start calling these numbers rather than relying on 1 -877 - "your passports in the mail... Not"

Also, the most helpful website out there on this issue is at
www.whirledview.typepad.com Look for the passport topic - search around for the readers posts below the articles, and you will find all kinds of helpful info, phone numbers to call, etc.

It is survival of the fittest in the passport world right now...

Same with us. They told us that there was no need to pay expedited services. Since we were supposed to leave tomorrow and there are no signs of our passports I had to change flights. I am very upset, I hate to go to through the stress that this whole situation has caused us, the time lost calling the agency everyday (and being on hold for so long), the time lost being at home waiting for the passport when we should have been vacationing.

If there will be a class action law suit, I am in.

I sent my passport in mid-May to have extra visa pages added. I am not leaving for several months so I had assumed that I had plenty of time (so I did not expedite). After reading these postings it makes me nervous that I should have expedited. Two questions for everyone...

1. Has anyone else sent their passport in for extra visa pages, if so, how long did it take for processing?
2. In general how many weeks have applications been taking? I just learned that my passport is in Charleston so any info on that site in particular would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your responses,
Dawn

I called the watch dog group @ [protected] and was able to get through. Mind you i am still waiting to hear back on my son's passport (which we sent for 03-26-07 and he leaves 06-20-07) but the lady I spoke with a greater sense of urgency than all of the other dozen other call center people I had talked too.

Also when you call the [protected] press 1-3-1 if you get into que you'll hear a younger man's voice than when you first dial in & then you'll hear music etc... but after about 5-10 minutes you STOP hearing music. Don't hang up you are still in que... the static means you are still in que... also find out your tracking number saves time when repeating all of your information.

If your passport has been sent to new orleans for processing here is the address to send a complaint
New Orleans Passport Agency
1 Canal Place
365 Canal St. suite 1300
New Orleans, LA 70130

If your passport is in Charleston, call 843/746-1690. It is a direct line to a passport manager (called a passport adjudicator). Leave a voicemail with all your info (passport locator number, name, DOB, SS#) if no one picks up.

If your passport is in New Orleans, try 504/412-2699.

If your passport is in New Hampshire, try 603/334-0518 or 0525 0r 0523

If you want even more direct lines, Go to www.state.gov/documents/organization/82073.pdf which is the Dept of State phone directory. Anyone with the initials "CA/PPT" works in passport processing. Find the area code where your passport is and start dialing.