US Passports Department Not Working

EddieK76

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 14, 2020
So right before the country shut down my wife and I were getting ready to send in our renewal of our passports for our upcoming cruise late August. However, the department is down and they have a warning to not submit until they are back open (who knows when that will be). My question is this. Should I secure other forms for our Bahamian Cruise out of PC on 8/31 that would work? Is that just the original birth certificate and anything else? I can always expedite my passport if that time comes. It scares me to send it in while they are closed or limited work being done and just having it sit there. What is everyone's thoughts (and no it's not a question of if the cruise will happen or not?
 
Actually state department is not accepting expedited applications. they say any application will see significant delays in processing. you should be able to travel with original birth certificate and ID.
 


If you want to prepare documents, yes, it would just be birth certificates and government id (driver's license). If your wife changed her name, I'd bring the expired passport or a copy of the marriage license just so there are no questions. (It's one of those things that they may never ask to see but handy if you run into someone who is having a bad day!)

I wouldn't count on them resuming expedited service when they reopen, except as they have it now - life and death emergencies only.

I sent my renewal in just as everything was shutting down. So other than acknowledging that they received my paperwork, nothing has been done. So I'm assuming that I'm some where in queue to be processed once they are open (hopefully somewhere closer to the front of the queue than the back). But if they reopened today, I wouldn't be expecting my passport until July. I'm sure they received a bunch of applications before they posted their notice not to submit. So realistically, if you apply once they reopen, I think you'd be lucky to see your passport in the fall.
 
Yeah, we though about sending it in when they sent that notice but then we'd be scared it would just sit there
 
If you want to prepare documents, yes, it would just be birth certificates and government id (driver's license). If your wife changed her name, I'd bring the expired passport or a copy of the marriage license just so there are no questions. (It's one of those things that they may never ask to see but handy if you run into someone who is having a bad day!)

I wouldn't count on them resuming expedited service when they reopen, except as they have it now - life and death emergencies only.

I sent my renewal in just as everything was shutting down. So other than acknowledging that they received my paperwork, nothing has been done. So I'm assuming that I'm some where in queue to be processed once they are open (hopefully somewhere closer to the front of the queue than the back). But if they reopened today, I wouldn't be expecting my passport until July. I'm sure they received a bunch of applications before they posted their notice not to submit. So realistically, if you apply once they reopen, I think you'd be lucky to see your passport in the fall.
you should be able to log onto their website and get a status update of the renewal.
 


So right before the country shut down my wife and I were getting ready to send in our renewal of our passports for our upcoming cruise late August. However, the department is down and they have a warning to not submit until they are back open (who knows when that will be). My question is this. Should I secure other forms for our Bahamian Cruise out of PC on 8/31 that would work? Is that just the original birth certificate and anything else? I can always expedite my passport if that time comes. It scares me to send it in while they are closed or limited work being done and just having it sit there. What is everyone's thoughts (and no it's not a question of if the cruise will happen or not?
Question - what is the expiration date on your current passports?
 
Ah, ok. I was just checking, as sometimes, people think they have to have 6 months left on a passport to use it. On a typical Caribbean cruise, the passport only has to be valid on the day you return to be good.

This is what DCL told me when I asked if my passport that expires 2/21 would be acceptable for a 9/20 cruise. The rep said the 6 month rule didn’t apply to my cruise.
 
you should be able to log onto their website and get a status update of the renewal.
Thank you but I am aware and currently, it is useless. It has had their standard status the whole time:
495997

I was just alerting people who are talking about submitting applications. Typically they give you the 6-8 weeks timeline and you get it back much quicker than that. Obviously that isn't happening. But since they are currently telling people it will be months, I want to alert people that they are serious about that timeline.
 
i also applied right before the shutdown and all the status website has said is they received my paperwork for a while now. the main site says they can't provide specific updates due to low manning and mention significant delays of several months a couple of times.
 
Thank you but I am aware and currently, it is useless. It has had their standard status the whole time:
View attachment 495997

I was just alerting people who are talking about submitting applications. Typically they give you the 6-8 weeks timeline and you get it back much quicker than that. Obviously that isn't happening. But since they are currently telling people it will be months, I want to alert people that they are serious about that timeline.
Mine says the same thing and it’s been well over 8 weeks now. Hopefully they’ll re-open soon.
 
Kind of weird that the federal government is ripping states for not reopening and yet essential parts of the federal government remain closed,
I'm not sure it's the "federal government" or just one or two government employees. I would think that most employees that work in offices (governmental or private) have the same distancing concerns and may not be willing to head back to their work spaces until they feel it's safe to do so.
 
One of our party sent in their docs for passport renewal(received by dept of state on 3/11). Hopefully, we will get them back in time assuming the cruise is still a go.

(Oh, and they did cash our check.)
 
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One of our party sent in their docs for passport renewal(received by dept of state on 3/11). Hopefully, we will get them back in time assuming the cruise is still a go.

(Oh, and they did cash our check.)
We were in the same boat and luckily our cruise was cancelled. And they cashed our check as well.
 
One of our party sent in their docs for passport renewal(received by dept of state on 3/11). Hopefully, we will get them back in time assuming the cruise is still a go.

(Oh, and they did cash our check.)

cashed our checks and are still holding our documents. we don't have an immediate need anymore :( but i know i'd like them back sooner rather than later.
 

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