International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Is your passport about to expire?

[Henry]

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect our workforce and customers, we significantly reduced passport operations in March 2020. We temporarily suspended expedited passport processing and restricted service to cases involving life-or-death emergencies. As global conditions evolve and U.S. states begin to reopen, we are resuming operations in phases. We ask for your patience as we safely work on your application.

As of Wednesday, July 1, a total of 16 passport agencies and centers are in phase one of our three-phase reopening plan. During phase one, we are limiting appointments to customers who must travel internationally in the next 72 hours due to a life-or-death emergency.

The State Department furloughed the people who do passport renewals. I've read that they have an 8 month backlog of renewal applications pending.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

wow. Good to know. Mine is good, but I do need to have my son check his.

 

[crgildart]

We all got new passports over Christmas Break. Such a good move..

 

[John Webb]

This is a f'ing disaster. We've looked into it and even called the passport office. Our passports expire in August. They say don't even thinking
of mailing in your old passport for renewal. It will get totally lost at the bottom of a 6 to 8 month pile. Trish's sister in the UK is 5 years older
than us , has serious medical problems, and could go at any time. Guess we will just have to pay a huge surcharge for expedited delivery.

It's moot anyway as Europe just banned travelers from the US due to our totally botched response to Covid-19.
Cases are spiraling up at a rapid rate in US. I hate to see where we will be 2 or 3 weeks after the 4th of July holiday.

 

[Jacob]

This is a f'ing disaster. We've looked into it and even called the passport office. Our passports expire in August. They say don't even thinking
of mailing in your old passport for renewal. It will get totally lost at the bottom of a 6 to 8 month pile. Trish's sister in the UK is 5 years older
than us , has serious medical problems, and could go at any time. Guess we will just have to pay a huge surcharge for expedited delivery.

It's moot anyway as Europe just banned travelers from the US due to our totally botched response to Covid-19.
Cases are spiraling up at a rapid rate in US. I hate to see where we will be 2 or 3 weeks after the 4th of July holiday.

I’m in a similar situation (though not with the passport). I’m in the UK, but the rest of my family is in the US, with my mother being in one of the virus hot spots. If something happens, I don’t know how difficult it will be to get a flight to the US. And if I do manage to make my way over, then I don’t know when I would be allowed to come back to the UK. I have residence, but not citizenship, so I don’t know if my return would be considered to be repatriation.

 

[James]

My niece lives in Washington DC. Back in Feb she drove up to Northern VT to process her global entry application. The wait to do it in and around Washington was ridiculous. That was before the pandemic.
Worse, she works for the Fed. govt and used to travel on business with it before the pandemic.

 

[Coach13]

1st hand experience here. My oldest is getting married in about 3 weeks. Their honeymoon was originally set up for them to go out of the country and his passport had expired a while back. He did his new paperwork and paid the extra fee to expedite in late January. He’s followed up a few times and has been told there’s no foreseeable timeframe for him to receive it. Last week they cancelled the original plans and set something up for here in the US.

 

[Bad Bob]

See the USA

Most other places won't let us go there anyway.
Pretty much anything dealing with State Department has been pretty short handed for quite a while. This just shined a light on the problem.
The requirement for a passport for domestic flights was supposed to come on line this Fall. That will be interesting. Has it been set back again hopefully?

 

[Ski&ride]

The requirement for a passport for domestic flights was supposed to come on line this Fall. That will be interesting.

You’re kidding right?

 

[socalgal]

He's referring to the REAL ID Act. Where you have to have a special driver's license, or a passport, to board airplanes or enter federal property. It was to go into effect this October, now postponed till 2021.

 

[crgildart]

Real ID was pushed back another year. I think I saw the announcement a little over a month ago. We have a DMV appointment next week to get my youngest her full non provisional DL. DMV sent a confirmation a couple weeks ago that it's on with special social distance instructions This is just checking off the final driving hours log and providing proof address and insurance again.

Folks who need an actual driving test have been allowed to move forward with that to be made up at a later date. Everything else is happening, but by appointment only..

 

[Bad Bob]

Happy to hear they postponed it again. Hope it gets canceled before it ever comes into being.

It is too much like,"papers please".

 

[markojp]

Walls work both ways... this is intentional, political, and inexcusable. I've always used mine for proof of citizenship and voter registration when I've relocated, and of course, travel. We won't likely see passports for the general public issued again if and until there's a change in administration, virus or not.

 

[skiki]

Mine is somewhere in the pile waiting to be processed. Advice was not to renew until this is all over, but by then it would have been expired anyhow. I figured better to be in the first growing pile of applications rather than the impending pile of everyone who has been waiting for the go ahead. It feels weird not having a passport, but I wouldn't feel comfortable flying to visit my parents in Germany yet anyhow even if I could.

 

[crgildart]

Walls work both ways... this is intentional, political, and inexcusable. I've always used mine for proof of citizenship and voter registration when I've relocated, and of course, travel. We won't likely see passports for the general public issued again if and until there's a change in administration, virus or not.

Didn't want to click "like" but I agree. Barriers to these resources may be by design. COVID19 at this point might be a convenient excuse to justify the reduced (AKA block) access to these instruments and the access that comes with having them. If people can get haircuts, people should be able to get passports.

 

[graham418]

Mine doesn't expire for another 5 years, but the way things are now, am I ever going to get to use it?

 

[Pequenita]

Mine doesn't expire for another 5 years, but the way things are now, am I ever going to get to use it?

That’s kind of what I am thinking with TSAPre. Mine expires in October, and I had on my calendar to renew it a couple months ago. But I’m not hopping on a plane anytime soon and doubt that there is going to be a long line at the security checkpoint if an emergency comes up where I need to fly.

 

[QueueCT]

That’s kind of what I am thinking with TSAPre. Mine expires in October, and I had on my calendar to renew it a couple months ago. But I’m not hopping on a plane anytime soon and doubt that there is going to be a long line at the security checkpoint if an emergency comes up where I need to fly.

I flew out of Terminal 4 at JFK three weeks ago and there were 8 people in front of me in the security line. There were only two conveyor belts going for screening. Place was a ghost town.

 

[markojp]

Many countries don't allow use of a passport for entry if it's within 6 months of expiration. Japan for sure.

 

[Ski&ride]

Mine doesn't expire for another 5 years, but the way things are now, am I ever going to get to use it?

If you don’t travel outside the country, you don’t need a passport...

Why would anyone ever want to leave the country?

Barriers to these resources may be by design. COVID19 at this point might be a convenient excuse to justify the reduced (AKA block) access to these instruments and the access that comes with having them. If people can get haircuts, people should be able to get passports.

We build “the wall” for a reason. It’s more than just keeping some OUT. But also to keep a lot IN!