Expedited infant passport?
Hello! We stupidly booked international flights for July 30 and now find out it is near impossible to get a passport appointment for anyone.
Has anyone been able to secure an expedited appointment for an infant or other traveler recently? Talking under 1 month. Thanks!
Jun 28, 2021
Parent Replies
When my son (now 14) was a baby, I remember there being a huge backup in passport applications. Some people got help by reaching out to congresswoman Pelosi's office then!
I have some recent experience on this topic! We went camping up in Humboldt and got a passport appointment in early May, when there was nothing in the bay area open until the end of the month! So if you happen to have the flexibility to drive to a county or two over and take a little trip you may have better luck… I’ve also heard that some people’s post office passport appointments were randomly being canceled. The only non-post office local spot I found was through the city of Oakland, and you can actually get on the phone and talk to somebody. With expedited service the passport will come in 6 to 8 weeks, I believe. Ours came in 5 1/2 weeks. I hope you can get an appointment and apply ASAP! Don’t forget to bring a check and photos, as well as a copy of the birth certificate.
I'm afraid I do not have good news for you. We just cancelled our 7/4 trip to Costa Rica because our 4-6 week expedited passport for our daughter (a renewal) will not arrive in time. (When we had our post office appointment on 5/17, they were still saying 4-6 weeks for expedited which should have been enough time. Now they are saying 8-12 weeks for expedited.) I think your best bet is to try like hell to get one of the emergency appointments within 72 hours of your trip. There are not very many, so I think you have to be persistent and just keep refreshing to see if someone cancels. It's possible infant appointments are different, but I don't believe they are. Good luck!
I have the same issue. We applied for the expedited service through USPS and they are telling us that it would take up to 12 weeks.
There is also a passport service through FEDEX, which might be faster.
San Francisco Passport Agency is the quickest in this area. If you are prepared with photo and other documents you can call each day to fill another appointment cancellation. In normal times we've gotten one same day, with expediting fees. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html
A few months ago we got an appointment at the USPS in Orinda. They told us that an expedited passport would take 4-6 weeks. Instead it came in about a week.