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Quick passport question


Shutterlady
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Well, it turned out that my husbands doesn't expire until next year. So we are only renewing mine. The website was so ridiculous. Took me forever just to figure out who to make the check out to. Putting it in the mail today. Hopefully nothing goes wrong. Thanks for all the comments.

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Did everyone just mail theirs regular mail? Not like proof of delivery or anything like that?

 

You mail it with a tracking number for you to trace, which I believe they mention as strongly advised somewhere on the form or website. You cannot send it 'return receipt requested' as it goes to a PO Box not a street address.

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Even more off topic question: California is supposed to require the updated type of driver's license by 2020. Mine doesn't expire until 2011. D'Oh! Does anybody know if these can be renewed early and, if so, how early???

 

I suspect "2011" is a typo? ;)

 

The non-RealID licenses will continue to be issued, and are good for most things

except the TSA and getting into a "secure federal facility". That seems to mean

they'll be good for getting on commercial ships. YMMV!

 

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/realid

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recommendation

 

go to the website for renewals and there is a 'status' page .... once your package is logged in as 'received' there is an option to get e-mail status messages. SIGN UP .....

 

when I last renewed the regular 'status' page showed 'processing' for 2 weeks AFTER I had my passport in hand! I DID recv' a notice that it was 'in the mail' via this service however .... I think I even got a tracking number. Note they use PRIORITY MAIL to send back to you .... your old passport will come separately AFTER your new passport.

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You mail it with a tracking number for you to trace, which I believe they mention as strongly advised somewhere on the form or website. You cannot send it 'return receipt requested' as it goes to a PO Box not a street address.

 

You absolutely can send something "return receipt requested" to a PO box and I've done it many times. What you can't get is an electronic return receipt for a mailing to a PO box, but you can get a paper return receipt. It gets signed by whomever picks up the mail from the PO box.

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I had to change my cruise from January to the middle of December and need to get our passports renewed. We just went and got our pictures redone today. Does anyone have any idea how long the passports will take to get back? I thought we had more time to get this taken care of. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

Unless there are issues with your application they have been getting back in about 3 weeks.

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Slightly off topic. Does anybody know how early one can renew a passport? I have 4 cruises booked at the moment. 2 are fine but the other two will need a passport renewal before I can even complete the personalizer info.

 

Even more off topic question: California is supposed to require the updated type of driver's license by 2020. Mine doesn't expire until 2011. D'Oh! Does anybody know if these can be renewed early and, if so, how early???

 

OP: I think you are fine with the regular renewal unless there is something "odd" you don't want to disclose here. In that case do the expedited service as it may still take a while.

 

I'm from CA also and we just renewed our passports in June of this year. It only took a couple of weeks but one thing we did this time knowing the CDL won't work for domestic flights after 2020, we got both the passport book and passport card so we can use the card for flying when the change goes into effect. To me it seemed easier than redoing our CDL at the DMV. JMHO

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I'm from CA also and we just renewed our passports in June of this year. It only took a couple of weeks but one thing we did this time knowing the CDL won't work for domestic flights after 2020, we got both the passport book and passport card so we can use the card for flying when the change goes into effect. To me it seemed easier than redoing our CDL at the DMV. JMHO

 

Alas, the passport card is :') not :') valid for air travel.

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Slightly off topic. Does anybody know how early one can renew a passport? I have 4 cruises booked at the moment. 2 are fine but the other two will need a passport renewal before I can even complete the personalizer info.

 

Even more off topic question: California is supposed to require the updated type of driver's license by 2020. Mine doesn't expire until 2011. D'Oh! Does anybody know if these can be renewed early and, if so, how early???

 

OP: I think you are fine with the regular renewal unless there is something "odd" you don't want to disclose here. In that case do the expedited service as it may still take a while.

My husband and I applied for the RealID licences at the California DMV in June. My license was expiring in July so that was treated as a renewal

 

My husband's license was not close to expiring. He was still able to get the RealID, but it was considered a replacement rather than a renewal. That means the RealID license he got has the same expiration date as the one it replaced.

 

So, you can get the RealID regardless of how long you have left on your license, but if you get it early, it isn't a renewal.

 

They punched a hole in his old license to invalidate it & gave him the papers as a temporary license, so you would want to do it when you don't expect to need the license as a picture ID. The new licences arrived about a week later though they said it could take longer.

 

It's a good idea to check the list of required documents on the DMV website before going for the license. There were many people in line with us at the DMV who, after the long wait in line, found they hadn't brought all the required items & couldn't get a RealID that day. They had their birth certificate or passport, but didn't realize they need something to verify their Social Security number (e.g. their SS card or a pay statement) and their address.

Edited by new_cruiser
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Alas, the passport card is :') not :') valid for air travel.
It is valid as a picture ID for getting through TSA for airport travel. It just isn't valid as a passport for international airport travel.

 

Here's the list on the TSA Wwebsite:

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

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Even more off topic question: California is supposed to require the updated type of driver's license by 2020. Mine doesn't expire until 2011. D'Oh! Does anybody know if these can be renewed early and, if so, how early???

 

Try checking the California RealID Page by the DMV. :D

 

Just to be clear... the RealID requirement is for all domestic flights and entry into secure Federal Buildings starting October, 2020 and applies to all state driver's licenses, not just California. California Drivers Licenses issues prior to January, 2018 are not RealID compliant. However, your passport card/passport book is RealID compliant.

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