US Passport review: Delay of US passport 190

Hi All –

I work with a law firm that filed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for the passport problems in 2007.

The suit represents everyone who submitted the $60 expedite fee for a rush passport and didn’t receive their passport within 21 days or a refund. Anyone who’s experienced problems since 2001 can join. It’s worth checking out.

You can learn more about the case at the firm’s Web site – www.hbsslaw.com/passport.

I applied and paid for expedited service (and overnight delivery) on Tuesday, February 17th at the post office for a trip i was taking on March 10th to St Marteen. I was told it would take no more than 10 days "mailbox to mailbox" to receive my passport.
On the 10th day (February 27th) i called the 1877 number to see what my status was. They stated that they have me marked for regular service (not expedited). they then said they sent a message to my local agency "reminding" them that my application is urgent due to my travel time approaching soon. I ended up calling 3 times a day Friday, Monday, and Tuesday and nothing was happening. they kept saying "we'll sent a note to the agency letting them know to work on it asap". I ended up making an appointment at the DC Office (1hr away from me) to try my luck that way too.
My advice to everyone is to BE PERSITANT! if they say call back in 2 days... just call back the next day (or like i did 3 times a day) and let them know that you are not getting anywhere. ask for their supervisor. ask to be contacted by an agent at your regional office. call your congressman. do everything and dont let them dictate when to call because chances are they are putting you off. call call call! everytime you will get a new customer representative that may tell you something the previous person didnt.
when i wentot the DC Office, i was able to obtain my passport the same day. if you live within a 2-3 hour drive of your regional office, it is so worth going to it. i ended up in the waiting room for 4+ hours, but was able to walk away with passport in hand (2 days before my trip).

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Hi,

We are a local newspaper from McAllen, doing a reasech on the Rio Grande Valley, about all the complaints of the passport issues.

Is there anyone willing to give his/ her testimonial, please contact me at

dgpartida@gmail.com

We need local people to support our story !
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I'm in the same boat. Wait time was 3 weeks when I applied, 6 weeks have passed, we fly in 3 days. I've been calling since last week, been told it's being worked on and to call back. Person 2 days ago said it would be mailed that day, called 3 times today, I was told to make an appt for Philly, none available. We're so screwed. Four of us are set, my 2-yr old son is not :( This means we lose our tickets OR have to pay $180 X 5 to rebook, plus whatever extra the new tickets cost. This is an absolute outrage! If my grandmother passes away before we get there...

I have the same problem, I applied april 27th and paid expedite and was told one or two weeks for the passport, I suposed to fly tomorrow morning to Canada but with no passport I had to cancel fly trip, hotel and rent car with a value of $750 which is not going to refund because was made by priceline!, this is misrepresentation when they tell you you will have it in this time and charge you extra money for and not keep there end of the deal, besides the people of the passport call center is totally useless and incompetent. I'm so frustated I don't know where complain about it and take legal action against them.

Applied for a passport 2 months ago and just received a letter stating that because the back corner of the expired passport was torn off they need a letter explaining why there is damage before completing the process. Completed the application in person so you'd think someone would have mentioned this before. Supposed to leave in 5 days for the first vacation I've ever been able to take - not that we can afford it. So glad we spent all that extra money to expedite.

Same deal. I was told all I can do is travel from Kentucky to New Orleans to have one printed in person if I wanted! kinda puts a damper on expedited service! How is it that us citizens cannot bring a law suite against all the goverment for all the extra money we pay for expedited. For all of those just looking to apply I warn you do not pay the extra and give yourself a full year to get your passport before making your travel plans!

I TOTALLY AGREE with you. I'm 30 Years old. and Recently sent off for my Son's passport to be renewed. Well, for Children under 16 it not a renewal it's a WHOLE NEW APPLICATION. I sent this application back in MAY (actually date may 13, 2009) Here it is August 3, 2009 and Guess what...STILL NO APPLICATION, NO NEW PASSPORT, NO ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE, OR MY MONEY BACK. (yet they cashed my check). Since June 3, which is the last time i spoke to a LIVE person regarding his passport they asked for new photos stating the old ones were damaged (who damaged them because they were sent in the folder the photo place took them originally) well they have no idea. So i spent money to OVERNIGHT these photos for them to Return them to me the next week with a letter stating they no longer needed them. So i wait again here it is June 15th. Still no call nor a passport. Well if you didnt need them then what the hold up now...Like you I called the Customer Service line (because that's the only means of contact to them to the outside world) and they did the same to me sent an Email which they call it a "NOTIFICATION" might i add said it was sent "EMERGENCY" by a supervisor and again sent again on June 24, and June 31, and and july 15 and july 31 and August 3. Well Guess what, "STILL NO CALL" what an emergency huh. Well as you know I"m so frustrated that i started to break down and cry. I was tried of people telling me there's nothing they can do, but send email all day. What happen before we had computers, to send emails too. Needless to say, I finally got on with a supervisor and informed me to tell me where i can write a complaint letter to because this was absolutely ridiculous. She informed me of two address, the Agencies Address, and the National Passport Services for Managers (where you can send all you're complaint). I sent them letter, and then i got smart. I went online. TYPED in the addresses to these places and whatever numbers, fax numbers or emails came up with those address. I didn't care who they were, If it said PASSPORT they were going to get my nasty Letter. long story short. It's still AUGUST 3rd after this back and forth since 9 am this morning. I finally get a call at 2pm same day (I'm guess either someone got a fax or email from me) The lady states she's from passport Services and she needs to Verify my address because they're going send out his passport overnight tonight and it will be here tomorrow. WOW...I took me to go through all of this emailing, faxing, ...sending NOTIFICATIONS...and mailing out letters for you to do something you should've did 4-5 months ago.
Just to make you laugh I happened to asked the lady on the other end...Why did it take you guys so long to send out my passport when you're website states 4-6 WEEKS. She replied, "We have thousand of applications that need to be process and that's how long its taking to get them sent out!" All i could do was laugh inside and tell myself she's only doing what her boss told her to do which was give me a call and make sure my application leaves their office TODAY! and I'm sure she just didn't know what i just went through to get someone to respond to me.
In Conclusion...Yea it's REALLY Frustrating to deal with these people who DO NOT WANT TO DO THEIR JOBS, but you have to keep pushing and whatever LEADS you come across act on it you never know who just might send out that little help to push you through. My GOAL WAS TO GET ON THERE NERVES AND ANNOYED THEM SO BAD THAT THEY WOULD EVENTUALLY MEMORIZE MY NAME AND WANT ME TO STOP CALLING THEY WOULD SEND OUT THE DA*N PASSPORT. and i dont care if they were talking about me in their office. cause i'm cursing them out right about now.

applied for Passport in first days of MAy...three weeks later i got letter in the mail stating my birth certificate was not legible...i went all the way to LA from El Paso >A HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT >>>AND A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA WOULD BE ENOUGH>> i asked for a fax # and asked if i could get passport expedited ...he said to leave a message for a number he gave me...i did...3 MORE WEEKS LATER...i got another letter in the mail...asking for MEXICAN VOTER CARD>>>>A MEXICAN PROFESSIONAL LICENSE>>>>AND FAMILY RECORDS >>>>SCHOOL RECORD AND A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF>>>>>BY THE WAY I AM NOT A MEXICAN NATIONAL>>>>>WHY WOULD THEY ASK FOR THIS?
i called they told me that it might just be a random screening hence the reason it was taking so long...its august now...applied for passport in MAY...almost 3 MONTHS LATER...WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE PEOPLE?

I submitted all my information for a passport the last monday of July. didn't get my "expedited passport until Sept 11th 10 days after my trip!

I don't think anyone's wait time can be worse than mine. I applied for my passport in mid-February of this year, because I wanted to go to Toronto this summer. It never came. It is now September and still I am waiting. Everytime I call, they just tell me they will put in an "inquiry". I never hear anything back.

I am now supposed to leave the country again next semester, but am definitely worried that someone at the passport agency just dropped my application on the floor somewhere, and I still won't get it in time. Does anyone know what I should/could do?

The affects of communism are everywhere. Time to offshore those degrees.

Judging by the inactivity here, it looks like the Passport Agency was finally able to catch up after the big rush. I submitted an application on a Tuesday and had my new passport delivered the 2nd following Wednesday--8 days later. I know this is a complaint board, but it's good to know they're capable of producing positive (borderline divine) results instead of the hyperbolic horror stories as seen here.

I paid for expedited service and had very low expectations for a speedy turn around. I had lost my previous passport, issued as a child, and being born overseas to an American parent, my DOS-issued birth certificate always seems to cause issues. My only complaint would be with the awfully steep price. Additionally, the way the fees are listed on the DOS site are not all-inclusive and the grand total at the Post Office left me confused until I got home and did the math. All in all though, great job on behalf of the Passport Agency.

My daugher who is 18 has a trip planned to the Bahamas after completing her first year of college. Her travel date is 5/20/2011. She applied for her passport in February which was well outside the the 4 to 6 weeks they claim. After 4 weeks go by, we get a letter stating that they needed some kind of long form birth certificate from California. We paid a bunch of money to have that overnighted to us and sent off to the passport office. Here it is May 5th and nothing has arrived. The 877 number is useless. Hey Federal government if you are looking to cut the budget, start with people manning the phones at this 877 number as they are completely and utterly useless. This is an absolute joke. I am an honorably discharged disabled veteran, and this is how they treat me and my child.

Anyone who voted for Obama and his government run healthcare, take a good long look at the long list of complaints here, because this is exactly what you will get, only it will concern matters of your health, and possibly life and death.

In a nutshell, does anyone have a solution of how to get this passport to my daughter before her travel date?

Girlfriend's passport application was put in for beginning of March, we recieved a letter today requesting more information. We are due to go on a visit to Canada next Thursday 5/19.

She managed to get someone on the phone who was completely unhelpful, defensive and unprofessional who refused to give a name, reference number... anything. He made the usual babbling noises about paying the rush processing fee and then claimed the letter requesting more info had been sent out on the 11th April.

It was postmarked 9th May, the letterhead said 9th may AND THERE WAS A HANDWRITTEN ENVELOPE INSIDE SAYING 9TH MAY.

Speaking as a state employee, I can understand why public workers are so despised if this is the general way people are treated in order to obtain a document that they have no choice about whether they need. It's probably too late to even get her an enhanced drivers' license now thanks to this incompetence.

As this is a clear adminsitrative screwup on their part, I'd expect them to cover the expenses incurred of having to cancel the trip. I'd also expect an internal investigation of the department responsible, and preferably a few mouthbreathing, bovine clerks to be thrown out on their ears.

let's us all get the direct number for congress in the Immigration department and flood his lines with calls...CALL THE US GOVERNMENT OF IMMIGRATION EVERYONE SHOULD FLOOD THEIR PHONES WITH CALL . PLEASE PASS THE WORD ON. I AM GETTING MARRIED IN CANADA JULY 02, 2011. I AM A US CITIZEN BY BIRTH AND AFTER 3 MTHS I AM TOLD FOR THE 3RD TIME IT'S COMMING IN THE MAIL..I keep paying money for 2 days delivry, and money for 2 week now 9 weeks nothing..I just found out that are hundered of clients like myself out of money and no passport..YOU NEED TO STOP THE SCAM ABOUT PASSPORT OR and lies on this site about time of delivry. I have a wedding planned with 200 people and I do not have a passport my wedding is less than 3 weeks..where is my money or my passposrt..please mail me my passposrt..or let me know who in congress or the media I should be speaking with..

I AM GETTING MARRIED IN CANADA JULY 02, 2011. I AM A US CITIZEN BY BIRTH AND AFTER 3 MTHS I AM TOLD FOR THE 3RD TIME ITS COMMING IN THE MAIL..I keep paying money for 2 days delivry, and money for 2 week now 9 weeks nothing..I just found out that are hundered of clients like myself out of money and no passport.. MY ADDRESS IS 518 B 3rd, Ave South, Nashville TN 37201. YOU NEED TO STOP THE SCAM ABOUT PASSPORT OR and lies on this site about time of delivry. I have a wedding planned with 200 people and I do not have a passport my weddind is less than 3 weeks..where is my money or my passposrt..please mail me my passposrt..or let me know who in congress or the media I should be speaking with..

let mail the government and have them be acountableI AM GETTING MARRIED IN CANADA JULY 02, 2011. I AM A US CITIZEN BY BIRTH AND AFTER 3 MTHS I AM TOLD FOR THE 3RD TIME ITS COMMING IN THE MAIL..I keep paying money for 2 days delivry, and money for 2 week now 9 weeks nothing..I just found out that are hundered of clients like myself out of money and no passport.. MY ADDRESS IS 518 B 3rd, Ave South, Nashville TN 37201. YOU NEED TO STOP THE SCAM ABOUT PASSPORT OR and lies on this site about time of delivry. I have a wedding planned with 200 people and I do not have a passport my weddind is less than 3 weeks..where is my money or my passposrt..please mail me my passposrt..or let me know who in congress or the media I should be speaking with..

I applied for a passport and was treated like a non citizen, It seams like the State Department took it for granted I lied about my US citizenenship. And I'm glad I didn't pay the extra money they wanted, to expedite my passport .Because I would have lost that money too ! As far as the [protected] phone number is concerned Ifound out these people on that line aren't even regular State Dept. empoyees, theyre just contracted to answer the phoone calls directed to the State Dept. Luckily Iwas told I can make an appeal on Passport application., otherwise they are asking me to reapply and pay all applicable fees again !I applied March 23, 2011 and had to cancel my trip to Canada on June 29, 2011. And since I always make copies of all of my legal and business corespondence I always have proof of my documentation so why chance getting ripped off again.

I processed my application for my US passport back in august 16 2011 with expedited service of 3-5 buisness days and its december 3 2011 still no passport . The agent contacted me back in october asking for a school document and immunization card verifying i was in my parent's custody in 1994. I sent all required documents and still no passport . I sent letters and emails also i called the 1877 number on travel state.com and still no answer from anyone. I am fustrated in the way ii have been treated through the agency . I gave enough documentation to prove my citizenship here in the United states but because both of my parents are deceased i am being tormented with the passport agency they even asked me to get a copy of the police report when my parents were murdered . how is this relevent to receving my passport when there death certificate was already submited to the ageny. The agency is in 95 tharwtone san francisco california. I dont know what else to do.

I am too a victim of the passport agency scam. As a U.S. Citizen for the past 32 years, I applied in Feb. 2012 routine with the understanding, verbal from them, stating my passport would be ready between 4-6 weeks. In March, they apparently needed additional information to"further establish my identity." i received a letter requesting all employment history including supervisor names and addresses, all home addresses, all schools attended, and documents like baptismal records, school yearbook photo including yearbook cover, welfare card (not eligible for one due to income), school id's, voter registration card, medicare/health insurance card( don't see how this shows I was born here), mortgage, rental agreement (same as last note), w2 forms (wasn't working at birth), parent's, sibling's birth certificate (inappropriate), just to name a few ridiculous requests, including highlighting and requesting items I already sent in (i.e. birth certificate, social security card, license, etc). They requested these same items again in April after I sent in additional documentation that would prove my citizenship. Needless to say my cruise sailed without me and I feel like a victim of identity theft. I want my money back and all of my documentation. I just feel so abused.

I am too a victim of the passport agency scam. As a U.S. Citizen for the past 48 years, I applied in Jan 4. 2012 to RENEW mi passport, stating my passport would be ready between 4-6 weeks. In feb, they apparently needed additional information to"further establish my identity." i received a letter requesting all employment history including supervisor names and addresses, all home addresses, all schools attended, and documents like baptismal records, school yearbook photo including yearbook cover, welfare card (not eligible for one due to income), school id's, voter registration card, medicare/health insurance card( don't see how this shows I was born here), w2 forms (wasn't working at birth), birth certificate (inappropriate), just to name a few ridiculous requests, including highlighting and requesting items I already sent in (i.e. birth certificate, social security card, license, etc).I feel like a victim of identity theft. I want my money back and all of my send (in original )documentation. I just feel so abused.My question is : Does the passport is the ultimate identity document if not what document is? this is not all They had my defllibrator card ID in order to prove my identity.

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I applied for a US passport book renewal over 6momths ago and have not received it yet. I call periodically to the national passport administration and they say that the application is still processing. I have not received any information from the agency in New Hampshire stating any problems with my application. Do you know what I can do to expedite the process ? I have already missed a trip I had for November 2012 which was very expensive.

I applied for a US passport book renewal over 6 months ago and have not received it yet. I call periodically to the national passport administration and they say that the application is still processing. I have not received any information from the agency in New Hampshire stating any problems with my application. Do you know what I can do to expedite the process ? I have already missed a trip I had for November 2012 which was very expensive.

I am currently dealing with exactly the same issue. My wife and I are scheduled to leave for our honeymoon next Monday. we were told turn around was 3 to 4 weeks by the agent at the post office and were told 4 to 6 weeks by the passport office when I called. My wife received here passport after 5 weeks I however still have not received mine at the 7 week point. Talked to a supervisor today who told me that she would mark it as urgent due to our travel date. This felt a lot like complete b.s. After asking for what recourse I have for having to eat several thousand dollars due to miscommunication by their department they simply said you have none. I am a teacher and my wife is a waitress we cannot afford to simply throw away thousands of dollars for nothing. If this was a private company they would be held responsible for meeting deadlines, however because it is a government office they can act as irresponsible as they would like without fear of recourse. I think a class action lawsuit is in order. The answers and information in this thread is completely unacceptable and someone needs to be held accountable.

Don't you all feel safe now? After all, wasn't it true that many of you said, "I don't care if I have to give up a few freedoms, as long as I feel safe?" Now you know.

My 16 year old son went on a mission trip with our church on July 4th. We applied for his passport on May 12th. Meaning we would have the passport by June 23rd. When we did not have it by then we started checking online. The online passport update did not work any of the times for the 2 weeks we tried. We called the 1st time in the beginning of June when they told us that we had nothing to worry about and that our passport will be on time. When it didn't come we called again and they just told us they didn't know what the hold up was and that we should call back tomorrow. Which turned into us calling everyday and being on hold for 30-40 minutes and getting no information. At this point my son had fund raiser for this $1500 trip (we don't have $1, 500) and we already had the tickets so we were going to have to pay back each person who contributed to his trip. When I called again on June 30th, 3 mailing days before his trip the passport still wasn't sent. They said that I would have to pay another $74 to be sure we get it so they can expedite it and send it over night. we did everything we should have in order to have it sent on time and it feels like it was being held with no explanation and we were forced to pay what we should have had to in order not to be out $1500. It is extortion. How can they get away with this?! Why is there nothing we can do? They have to answer to someone!

I am really fraustated from the passport services agents answers. The answer is only the passport is processing and we can help you right now. We can't over comply with passport agencies. I want to contacted with passport agent but even after multiple days and time the answer is usual we can't to nothing. I have applied the passport on February and its June but still the answer is processing . I have only two week to travel and I was expecting to talk with passport agent so that they can understand my situation but still the answer is same as usual.

We are due to aboard a flight to Jamaica in 24 hours, We paid for expedited service on my husbands passport. We submitted mine also and I did regular service and received mine in 4 weeks, My husband had issues getting his out of state birth cert and that is why it was expedited. We call the customer service number daily and we get the same response every time... We have your departure date and it is in processing... We check the site and cant even find him listed there. We received an email the day they received it and it said it will be arriving in the next 2 weeks that was 3 weeks ago. We took a chance and went into the passport agency last Tuesday only to be told it has been sent to Washington for further processing. I am so frustrated and saddened that the Government is destroying my Honeymoon after 17 years of marriage. We submitted all forms all proof and our itinerary. But here we are 242 hours away and nothing... Now we are going ot take off work tomorrow and attempt to go back into the passport agency in hopes that they will be able to provide us with the passport in office... Good luck to all of you and the Great country we live in ...NOT

I went in on Saturday for the national passport day. In which it was stated on their website that No documents of travel was needed to get passport renewed and No appointment needed. I however had an itenary and an appointment. So I submitted all the necessary documents to renew. Paid the $170 for the expedited service. And was told that my passport would be ready on October 24th by 3pm which is today. So Monday I get a call from them stating that they didn't receive a document (even though I came in personally and brought everything the website stated to bring) And that I should bring it in asap if I wanted to make my flight out of the country by the 30th of this month! So I go in and bring that piece of document in. Ok everything should be fine...Well no because they called me today and said that my old passport that I gave them was not acceptable and that I must now feel out a different form ds-11. Pulse pay an additional $25 for execution fee! Keep in mind that before I left on Saturday they reviewed all my documents and stated all was fine. Not mention the $16 for the parking for both days. This is ridiculous. So now I'm wondering who can I contact about this. As I need to travel next week and I feel they are unprofessional and being unethical considering I have giving them all the required documents to renew my passport.