What If You Need An Emergency Passport}
By Advisor. Filed in Florida |
Everyone who travels out of the United States or its territories now must have a passport. Since June 1, 2009, there have been no ifs, ands or buts about the matter, you must have this documentation. This means that persons having family living outside of the U. S. need to take the time and pay the price to have their passport for family emergencies. If you don’t have a passport and a problem arises, you will need to apply for an emergency us passport.
As soon as you find out that a close family member is moving out of the United States, you should apply for your passport. If you ever intend to visit, you’ll have to have this documentation. Having a passport means freedom to visit family when you want to make the visit.
In order to obtain that passport, you’ll need to follow the rules that the Say Department has established. These rules, as well as the applicable forms, can be found on the website for the U. S. Department of State. The application will need to be returned to a passport processing center. There is at least one in most cities of any size. Currently, the return time is four to six weeks.
Individuals who need to travel in less than fourteen days or need their passport for issuance of a visa can pay an additional $60 for an expedited service. In addition, they can pay fees to have the passport sent by overnight services. Proof of the need for expedited service must be provided.
Turn around for an expedited passport is approximately two weeks. You’ll want to pay the extra fee for a passport book. The passport book can be shipped overnight, however the card is only shipped by US mail.
If you are facing a life or death situation, you can get an emergency passport. These emergency passports can be obtained in a 24 hour period, however, you may have to travel to one of the regional passport centers or pay an agent to make application for you. You can call the toll-free number of the Say Department to schedule an appointment at the center. Centers are open Monday through Friday during normal business hours and shut weekends and federal holidays. If you take the finished application to the center at your appointment along with proof of travel, you can get your passport immediately.
If travel to the passport center is not possible for you, then you can also hire an agent to make the application on your behalf. You’ll need to include time to send your documentation to the agent and for the agent to send your passport to you using overnight delivery. Many agents are able to process your passport within twenty four hours.
If you employ a service to act as your us passport agent, in addition to the fee you’ll need to pay the government for the passport of $135, you’ll need to pay the agencies fees for the service and the fees for overnight or priority shipping. This can often triple the actual cost of an emergency passport, but is often less pricey and stressful than having to travel to the regional center yourself.
Tags: emergency american passport, emergency passport, emergency us passport
