Tips on How to Survive the U.S. Passport Disaster

Brian Tamanaha

Earlier this week I posted on my unhappy experience with obtaining a passport. To make a long story short: Three months ago we applied for a passport, but it never came. Two and a half weeks prior to the departure date, we began calling the U.S. passport office several times a day. Most of the time the message said "too busy," call back later"; when we did get through, we were given misleading and different information. Finally, three days before departure, we lined up in front of the passport office at 6:30 a.m., with about a hundred people in front and many hundreds behind us in the line; it took 5 hours to get inside the building, and another 5 hours before the process was completed. It took 10 hours in all. Many people were desperate and angry, all were tired and irritated, some gave up and left, but most emerged from this ordeal with a passport in hand.

Rather than go on at length about how inane the situation is, I figured it would be more productive to offer a few tips from a survivor:

1. PAY FOR AN EXPEDITED PASSPORT. This is important, and it should be done even if you apply long before your trip (as we did). Judging from what I have learned from many others, it appears that just about everyone who made this request received their passport. My guess is that regular passport applications go into the "don't have to do box." (after 11 weeks at the passport office, absolutely nothing had been done on my application). Paying extra for an ordinary service hurts, of course, but what we went though was much more painful.

2. CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED A PASSPORT WITHIN 14 DAYS OF YOUR DEPARTURE DATE. I called five days before departure, and they were very helpful, but it was too late. Two days after I called the congressional office, the passport office contacted us to say they were processing our request, but by then we had already gone through the day of hell at their office. This can work, but don't delay your call. They are well aware of the situation.

3. IF YOU LIVE NEAR A PASSPORT OFFICE, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT AS SOON AS YOU CAN (allowed within 14 days of travel). This tip can cut the time you spend at the passport office in half. People who had appointments did not wait in line outside as long as people who did not have appointments. Do not listen to the operators who answer the passport office phone lines--I learned from one that they work for a subcontractor, not the passport office--if they tell you to wait before making an appointment, or if they tell you that your passport will be or is being processed. That's what we were told; by the time we realized that it was not going to happen, the appointments were filled for the next week. Schedule the appointment for 3 or 4 days before your departure. If you do get the passport in the mail (or receive notification that it is being mailed), you can rejoice and skip the appointment. By the way, it's not really an "appointment." It just means that you and another 100 or so people can go in together at a certain time, and even then you might not be let in until and hour or more after the stated time. Ask for the earliest appointment in the morning--cascading delays develop after that.

4. YOU CAN GET IN LINE WITHIN THREE DAYS BEFORE YOUR DEPARTURE, even if you don't have an appointment (though try to secure a "referral" from an operator). This is painful, and plan to spend the entire day, but if you have no other option, this can work. Do not do this on the day of travel.

Good luck.
Posted 2:09 PM by Brian Tamanaha [link]