Quick passport renewal

[jimmyjazz 46000]

I need to travel at the end of June and my passport has expired.  It's within the "15-year from issue" window.  If I expedite through the US State Department, I can theoretically get it in less than 8 weeks + shipping, which is cutting it close.

Any recs on other expeditors and their cost?  I'm in Austin.

[gsoda3 3274]

we've used these guys before.  https://www.austinpassport.com/ got the job done but it wasn't cheap.  fwiw we renewed ours the regular way just under a month ago and the lady said they were taking about 5 weeks at that time. it's week 4 today so we'll see.

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I need to travel at the end of June and my passport has expired.  It's within the "15-year from issue" window.  If I expedite through the US State Department, I can theoretically get it in less than 8 weeks + shipping, which is cutting it close.

Any recs on other expeditors and their cost?  I'm in Austin.

Drive to Houston to do it in person 

[jimmyjazz 46000]

14 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

we've used these guys before.  https://www.austinpassport.com/ got the job done but it wasn't cheap.  fwiw we renewed ours the regular way just under a month ago and the lady said they were taking about 5 weeks at that time. it's week 4 today so we'll see.

Looks like the added fee is $125 over the $190 "government fee", which seems OK if in fact the government fee is legit.  Was that what you paid for the normal route?  

[UnivTex34 1763]

I did not expedite anything end of February. Received in their system 2/28. I had the new passport in my hand 3/25. a coworker had to expedite, and just went normal expedited route and had hers back in 2 weeks.

Edited April 22 by UnivTex34

[PilotsError 2312]

There's a long thread for this in food and travel which is helpful. 

Bottom line is the expediting services are complete wastes of money.  They do nothing you can't do.

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

42 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Drive to Houston to do it in person 

Apparently you can’t do this unless you are inside of 3 weeks of travel date. 

[UnivTex34 1763]

5 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Apparently you can’t do this unless you are inside of 3 weeks of travel date. 

True. But you can book a refundable plane ticket to do this process, then cancel the ticket. Had a buddy that has done it before.

[1978horn 894]

Went to the passport office at UT at the end of January.  Used the normal timeframe and had the new ones in 3 weeks.  Was able to make an appointment with them online.

[gsoda3 3274]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Looks like the added fee is $125 over the $190 "government fee", which seems OK if in fact the government fee is legit.  Was that what you paid for the normal route?  

we paid $135 per person for normal process ($100 to US Dpt of State, $35 to the post office).  i don't know what the dpt of state's fee is for expedited. 

[Js1 85449]

I did the expedite option last month and got my passport back in 10 days after they cashed the check. 

[Mother mopar 3321]

Just renewed mine (expedited), and it took less than 2 weeks. Way quicker than I originally thought.

[Pato del Muerto 52535]

45 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

we paid $135 per person for normal process ($100 to US Dpt of State, $35 to the post office).  i don't know what the dpt of state's fee is for expedited. 

I think it’s $60

[MonkeyDoughnut 10331]

Yeah, passport backlog is gone now, back to pre-pandemic levels, so regular is 6-8 weeks and expedited 2-3 weeks.

[immamac 42877]

@jimmyjazz

https://www.co.lampasas.tx.us/page/lampasas.District.Clerk

Go here when they are open, walk in, walk out, eat lunch and drive home. 

[locodos 5387]

7 minutes ago, immamac said:

 

https://www.co.lampasas.tx.us/page/lampasas.District.Clerk

Go here when they are open, walk in, walk out, eat lunch and drive home. 

Got my daughter's done at the post office, got my son's done at the courthouse.   Court house all day every day...  Faster, easier, cheaper.

 

No brainer

[ScottS 1070]

2 hours ago, immamac said:

@jimmyjazz

https://www.co.lampasas.tx.us/page/lampasas.District.Clerk

Go here when they are open, walk in, walk out, eat lunch and drive home. 

Does every county court house have a passport office?  I just looked on the website for my county court house and did not see anything about a passport office.

I live in a more rural county, so it would not totally surprise me if not every county court house has a passport office.

I need to update my passport but I have no travel plans so this is not anything I need to do right away, but it is something I've been meaning to do and have been unable to overcome my inherent laziness.

[UnivTex34 1763]

3 hours ago, immamac said:

@jimmyjazz

https://www.co.lampasas.tx.us/page/lampasas.District.Clerk

Go here when they are open, walk in, walk out, eat lunch and drive home. 

UT international office does everything this office does. (And as @locodos says, so does your post office). I got my pic taken at the international office, but didn’t use them for anything else (I work at UT, and at the time they were temporarily located in Main, where my office is. Just filled out and printed out the forms online).

[immamac 42877]

5 minutes ago, UnivTex34 said:

UT international office does everything this office does. (And as @locodos says, so does your post office). I got my pic taken at the international office, but didn’t use them for anything else (I work at UT, and at the time they were temporarily located in Main, where my office is. Just filled out and printed out the forms online).

Yeah, but the lines for those are insane and often 3+ hours 

[immamac 42877]

12 minutes ago, ScottS said:

Does every county court house have a passport office?  I just looked on the website for my county court house and did not see anything about a passport office.

I live in a more rural county, so it would not totally surprise me if not every county court house has a passport office.

I need to update my passport but I have no travel plans so this is not anything I need to do right away, but it is something I've been meaning to do and have been unable to overcome my inherent laziness.

No they do not. We found out about the lampassas thing when we were trying to get my newborn the passport before he was 3 months old to go to Mexico 

[UnivTex34 1763]

2 hours ago, immamac said:

Yeah, but the lines for those are insane and often 3+ hours 

International Office went to appointment only. When I got my photo taken in January, I booked my appointment 15 minutes before. I cannot speak to the PO. I assume you are likely correct.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21912]

Last time I had to renew my kid’s passports I used the downtown library.  It was quick and easy.

[1978horn 894]

On 4/22/2024 at 8:37 PM, UnivTex34 said:

International Office went to appointment only. When I got my photo taken in January, I booked my appointment 15 minutes before. I cannot speak to the PO. I assume you are likely correct.

Yep, there are plenty appointments for tomorrow.  They also changed their name to Texas Global 5 years ago, so if you look for the international office you may not find it.

[Vegas64 676]

Not sure if anyone needs this (I wish I could have used it), but saw there is a quiet new Beta program you can get in on:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24190366/us-passport-online-renewal-beta-fast

Quote

 

Perhaps you’ve heard you can now renew your US passport online. As long as you meet certain requirements, there’s a beta website for that. The State Department tells me it’s not necessarily faster — but anecdotally, my family just had two of the speediest, most painless experiences we’ve ever had with the US government.

I applied from my phone, I shot my own digital photo at home — and one week later, I picked up my new passport at the post office. I submitted it on June 15th, my passport was issued on June 20th, and it was waiting for me on the 21st. That’s just six days in total.

Five business days each

When my wife tried it, her renewal went even quicker: she applied on June 24th, her application was approved on the 26th, her new passport shipped on the 27th, and it was ready for pickup on the 29th. Just five days, including shipping.

 

 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10331]

On 7/5/2024 at 12:27 PM, Vegas64 said:

Not sure if anyone needs this (I wish I could have used it), but saw there is a quiet new Beta program you can get in on:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24190366/us-passport-online-renewal-beta-fast

 

I used this process for renewal for the wife and I. Getting it to accept a phone picture was more pain than it should be - ended up using some online tools to ediit picture so it would accept, basically smoothing out the background, reducing the compression, etc... but it was otherwise simple and from the day I pushed final "submit" button I had our passports in hand in 13 days.

[Gil Bang 25984]

(should be a crosspost from the stupid wives thread)

Hey y'all...guess who's female companion has an international work trip in 9 days and a passport that's about to expire.  Yep.  Driving her down to the San Diego passport office shortly.  At least we've got one and I don't have to drive all the way to West L.A. 

[Gil Bang 25984]

So, we drive to the passport office in Downtown San Diego. We arrive at 9:30 for a 10 AM appointment.  She's got all of her shit together, including her ticket out for the international flight.  She goes to a check-in window; that's about a 10 minute line.  Then, they give her a number.  After 10-15 minutes, her number is called for window 5.  10 minutes later, we're out the door, to return at 3 PM to pick up the passport. 

So, we go to the zoo for a few hours (we are members), grab a fish taco and a beer on the waterfront, and head back to the passport office around 2:30.  She goes in when they open the door at 2:45, and we are in the car with the passport in hand by 3:10.