13 weeks and still no passports

[patperry]

I had the same problem, I was into my 13th week for my renewal and I was in the process of moving, as well as cruising within the next 30 days. I sent an email to my congressional rep and the following day received a phone call from his admin aide. She took my processing # and all the pertinent info. She called back about 5 days later and said I've have my passport in 2 days...which I did. Not delivered U.S. post office but by FedEx. From all I've heard it pays to contact your Congressman if you're starting to be in a time crunch for your documents.

[Spicey477]

I'm glad to hear about those of you who are finally receiving your renewals!

 

I sent mine in on April 17th in anticipation of our September 1st departure (the Tahitian for 12 days). I knew about needing to get it in early, and I foolishly thought that 4 1/2 months should be more than early enough. But, I've recently started sweatin' it.

 

Keepin' my fingers crossed and, as suggested, I will not hesitate to call my Congressman if it takes too much longer.

 

Now ..., where did I put those relaxation tapes ...? :rolleyes:

 

 

5:00 Somewhere, I am also on the exact same timeline as you, except I leave on the Crown on Sept. 6! Let's keep our fingers crossed together that we will get these babies back with plenty of time. I counted the weeks, and not counting the week I sent it (the 15th of April), it is 12 weeks to THIS week!

 

(Breathing slowly and deliberately) It will be fine, it will all work out!:)

[NthernLgts]

Can anyone give me the exact e-mail address to use for follow-up on passports? When I'm on the site, there's a form you can fill out, but I really cant find the exact e-mail address to send an e-mail to.........

 

Thanks -

 

Here is what you are looking for. https://passportstatus.state.gov/opss/OPSS_Status_ip.asp

 

FYI, our rep in congress is saying that the state dept is supposedly catching up on the application backlog. Not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds encouraging.

[cruisebum50]

We applied March 17, the Department of State cashed the checks April 16 and we got our passports on July 2. The passports were actually completed June 18 but it didn't show up on their online system until June 29. They don't appear to be updating their system too much.

 

For those thinking they only need the receipt showing they applied, you may need to read the Department of State website again. I believe it says it is for "air travel"....but I may be wrong.

[willysgrandma]

If you need to get a copy of your birth certificate because it's with your passport app, we use this company a lot and they are great:

 

http://www.vitalchek.com/homepage.asp

[MOONMOUNTAIN]

We are at week #15 as of this writing. I was beginning to really worry we

don't cruise until November so am so glad we did not wait any longer to apply.

From the responses I guess we are within the normal waiting time right now.

[MCManders99]

My Aunt and her family are leaving this coming weekend for a Med Cruise and 2 out of 5 of them have not received their passports yet. They applied late Feb, beginning of March. It's funny how all 5 went at the same time and three of them arrived. She called the congressman last week and now has the Senators office in involved. They live in OH so there is no regional passport office right around the corner. Well good luck to all.

[spingal]

For anyone that is reading this and trying to decide whether to expedite -- I highly recommend paying the $60. I sent my renewal and received it back in 2 weeks. :D I don't cruise until October but didn't want to have to worry about it.

 

And mine did come in a USPS priority mail envelope - not Fed Ex! :D

[ottergal]

Both my kids passport renewals say they are being processed but it has said that for weeks.

We still have 9 weeks before we leave but I have to still apply for our Australian visa's etc.

I guess I will give it a couple of weeks more before I start calling:eek: :rolleyes:

 

Good luck! But just in case you didn't know, you can apply for an electonic visa for Aussie and it takes about 5 minutes to process. So the good news is that hopefully there won't be any more processing mess for you once this part is done! :)

[DonNova]

My brother-in law called the passport office toll free number two times per day every day, two weeks before he was to depart..two days before he left he received his passports..applied in March, received the passports on July 3rd!!

[Roses2]

When I read all these whines about waiting for passports, I wonder why the potential travellers did not already have passports.

 

Why did they wait until they had a cruise booked?

 

Anyone who travels know that a passport and often visas are needed.

 

Sure, local travel has been exempt(Caribbean/Canada/Mexico) but anyone who read a newspaper knew that passports would be required of all travelers leaving/entering the country.

 

To go abroad anywhere else one has always needed a passport.

 

It is difficult to have much empathy for procrastinators.

 

A couple of other things to bear in mind:

 

State Department officers must adjudicate each and every application. It is highly labor intensive and requires special experience. For months State hasd been trying to lure retired officers back on duty to perform this task.

 

Another factor for those who propose out sourcing of government jobs. State did out source the opening and sorting of passport applications and that has been a major source of delays in processing.

[Coral]

When I read all these whines about waiting for passports, I wonder why the potential travellers did not already have passports.

 

Why did they wait until they had a cruise booked?

 

 

How far in advance should people apply for passports? I plan on traveling in October and my passport expires in March of 08. I was in Russia in June. I could not have applied before June as I had to get a visa and that took several weeks. If I apply now, it may not be here before October. If I apply in October, I have no clue when to expect it..... It is not always cut and dry.

 

An update - I had 2 friends applying for passports approx 16 weeks ago. One who did the renewal received hers this weekend. The other is still waiting (new passport).

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Good luck! But just in case you didn't know, you can apply for an electonic visa for Aussie and it takes about 5 minutes to process. So the good news is that hopefully there won't be any more processing mess for you once this part is done! :)

 

We did the electronic Visa's for AU for our last trip so I know that is quick and easy and one of the reasons I am still being patient waiting for the passports.:D

[Julia’s Journey’s]

When I read all these whines about waiting for passports, I wonder why the potential travellers did not already have passports.

 

Why did they wait until they had a cruise booked?

 

Anyone who travels know that a passport and often visas are needed.

 

Sure, local travel has been exempt(Caribbean/Canada/Mexico) but anyone who read a newspaper knew that passports would be required of all travelers leaving/entering the country.

 

To go abroad anywhere else one has always needed a passport.

 

It is difficult to have much empathy for procrastinators.

 

A couple of other things to bear in mind:

 

State Department officers must adjudicate each and every application. It is highly labor intensive and requires special experience. For months State hasd been trying to lure retired officers back on duty to perform this task.

 

Another factor for those who propose out sourcing of government jobs. State did out source the opening and sorting of passport applications and that has been a major source of delays in processing.

 

My kids have always had passports and travelled on them but as they expire in March 2008 and we are travelling to Australia and New Zealand they need to have a minimum of 6 months validity. I did their renewals the first week of May which I would hardly call procastinating!! We were told 10 weeks and allowed double that time.

[Deb in Cali]

My son will be going to Germany in June. His passport expired long ago. So it looks like I had better get with the program and get him a new passport.

[wcal]

My wife and I mailed in our renewals by mail on June 26th. Our passports were due to expire in February. We did not expediate and I received mine last week. Still waiting on the wifes. I was not expecting them until September or October. I think mine might have gone into the expediated group by mistake. What a surprise when it arrived.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

My wife and I mailed in our renewals by mail on June 26th. Our passports were due to expire in February. We did not expediate and I received mine last week. Still waiting on the wifes. I was not expecting them until September or October. I think mine might have gone into the expediated group by mistake. What a surprise when it arrived.

 

Wow that was lucky and probably what happened:D

I wonder if ours are just sitting while they process all the expidited ones and only when the congressmen start calling do they get them done:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[spingal]

How far in advance should people apply for passports? I plan on traveling in October and my passport expires in March of 08. I was in Russia in June. I could not have applied before June as I had to get a visa and that took several weeks. If I apply now, it may not be here before October. If I apply in October, I have no clue when to expect it..... It is not always cut and dry.

 

An update - I had 2 friends applying for passports approx 16 weeks ago. One who did the renewal received hers this weekend. The other is still waiting (new passport).

 

Coral,

 

My passport expired in February 08 and I just renewed it. I paid to have it expedited and for me it was money well spent. It only took 2 weeks to receive it and now it is safely back in my hands well in advance of my next cruise!!! I am going to Hawaii in October. Don't need the passport but I always use it because I have no idea where my birth certificate is hiding!! Obviously I filed it away safely -- so safely that I can not remember where it is!! :eek: LOL!

 

So bottom line is that if you are willing to pay the $60 expedite fee then you will have your renewed passport very quickly!! :D

[BrentG]

I mailed my passport on 4/22 and received it 7/23 - about 13 1/2 weeks. My wife mailed hers on 5/20 and still waiting - currently 9 weeks. Both were renewals and neither were expedited.

 

If we haven't received hers two weeks before we depart, we will contact our congressman. We shouldn't need it since we are just doing the Western Caribbean cruise, but would like to have it "just in case"! I've seen reports elsewhere that the turnaround is getting better, that they are making progress on the backlog.

[Druke I]

My wife and I both had to have pages added to our passports. We had only three Visa pages left, and an upcoming river cruise in the Balkans recommends 6 blank Visa pages.

 

We sent them with the expedited fees - and it took just under 4 weeks to get them back, pages added.

 

US Passports used to have 48 blank Visa pages, now they are issued with only 24. I suppose some "bean counter" figured they could save money by reducing the number of pages, which perhaps makes sense as more and more countries scan, not stamp, passports.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

My wife and I both had to have pages added to our passports. We had only three Visa pages left, and an upcoming river cruise in the Balkans recommends 6 blank Visa pages.

 

We sent them with the expedited fees - and it took just under 4 weeks to get them back, pages added.

 

US Passports used to have 48 blank Visa pages, now they are issued with only 24. I suppose some "bean counter" figured they could save money by reducing the number of pages, which perhaps makes sense as more and more countries scan, not stamp, passports.

 

 

My kids new passports came back with 28 pages, ours that are a couple of years old have 24 so maybe they decided to add a couple more so they don't get too many requests for extra pages.

[cruise junky joan]

Just received my son's passport, it took about not quite 16 weeks. We need another one for my daughter for next June so we sent in our application yesterday.

[5:00_Somewhere]

So, it's my turn to post some good news. I just checked online and got this message:

 

"We have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you."

 

:D

 

It's due to arrive 16 weeks to the day from when I sent it. But, I don't care as long as it's here before our September 1 sailing on the Tahitian.

 

Good luck, everyone! :)

[Seal]

My son just received his--not a renewal--after 17 days--guess it pays to pay the extra money to expedite the service

 

 

I know someone who didn't pay and received it 16 weeks after being filed.

 

It seems that if your check has been cashed yours is at least in the process rather than stacked in a corner somewhere

 

Good Luck

 

Nancy:D

[Lovely_Star]

It took us about 17 weeks to receive our passports with routine service. We applied the last Tuesday in March and just received them this past Friday (the end of July). It is very frustrating I know especially since you sent your birth certificate went along with your application (same for us). My recommendation is to start contacting the agency via email (don’t bother with the phone if you aren’t traveling within the next two weeks because they don’t want to hear from you). After the 15th week I started emailing them constantly regarding our status. They told me the 10-12 week time for processing is not guaranteed :rolleyes: Finally they sent me an email just last week saying that our applications had been processed and our passports were mailed.