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Passport Clarification Needed..


cruisin_fanatic
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Hi all

 

I applied for mine on April 26th and it came via the United States Postal Service Priority mail on Sat July 7th. I was surprised because I was thinking FedEx plus spoke to a friend and he applied beginning of April and still does not have it. I was starting to wonder if I needed to order another copy of birth cert. cruise leaves July 28. Needless to say I'm a happy cruiser!!! :D My status is still processing :confused:

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We applied on April 21st and will be at exactly 12 weeks this Saturday. We don't travel for another 2 months, but I hope to get them soon. I don't need another headache after reading this thread.

 

I shouldn't be penalized because my travel date is still months away.

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Hi all

 

I applied for mine on April 26th and it came via the United States Postal Service Priority mail on Sat July 7th. I was surprised because I was thinking FedEx plus spoke to a friend and he applied beginning of April and still does not have it. I was starting to wonder if I needed to order another copy of birth cert. cruise leaves July 28. Needless to say I'm a happy cruiser!!! :D My status is still processing :confused:

 

Did you go for the expedited service or routine? I went routine. At the time it was 10-12 weeks for routine and the clerk at the court said I would be OK???

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I thought I heard that they were not accepting expedite orders anymore since they relaxed the rules. Otherwise, I think they were just processing those and the routine ones were sitting idle. Hopefully they're processing the April ones now and since mine was sent May 1, it could be soon. I leave August 15th. At least that's one thing less to worry about for you...

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I heard from my pvp from CCL that for cruise travel out of the US (round trip) that a passport wasn't needed until June of 2009. For any air travel (international from the US or international to the US) you have to have passport or documentation that you have applied for your passport.

Hope that helps.

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Hoping by now you have the passport and this is a distant memory but a couple of tips from very recent experience: I had to get my congressperson's office involved just to get an appointment to have the passport issued in person as the branch that had my app was not answering their emails (even the ones from the US Passport office). They wouldn't give me an appt until 1 day before I left for my European cruise. I got to the regional passport office (250 miles away from my home in the city I was flying from) 2 hours before they opened that morning. There were already 50 people in line. When I got in, they told me my passport had been Fed Ex'ed to my home so they would not issue a new one. I had to call Fed Ex, get them to take the passport off the truck, then we drove to the Fed Ex facility near my home, then back the same day to make the flight next morning. This was a renewal application sent over 10 weeks before my trip on 6/8, expedited two weeks prior.

 

Call back every day until you get it and don't rely on anything they tell you. Do NOT rely on the on-line status check; it is weeks behind. If you haven't got it one week before your trip, demand an appointment to have it issued in person or call your Senator or Congressional Rep for help. When you get the appt, you must be prepared to file a NEW app so you will need photos, BC, etc. I filled out a new app on line and brought it with me to avoid delay when I got there. Go early to the appt, be sure you're in the line for people with appts once you get inside and be prepared to come back in the PM to pick it up.

 

 

Just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in on this very subject. Submitted applications for my husband and I the middle of May. We are booked to Canada on the 13th of Sept. Thought I better get online this morning and check out the status. Mine is listed, my husbands is not. I called the local Clerk of the Courts office this morning and she said that this is not unual, she had a woman who submitted her app on the 19th of March and as of Monday of this week she was still not showing up in the system. And she leaves this coming Monday for an International Flight. So they contacted our local congressman and he got through to the Miami office, they called him back and found it sitting on someones desk!!!!!!!! They are overnighting it to her!!!!

 

I have a call into his office because I am not willing to wait to the last minute to see if we can travel. Since my husband is not showing up in the system I can't print the letter and of course there is the issue with the fact that they have our BIRTH CERTIFICATES!!!!!!!

 

Guess I will have to order another set of Birth Certificates at another 120.00 just to be on the safe side and they can kiss my you know what on that letter!:mad: It was so nice of them to extend the requirement because of their backlog, but use a LITTLE COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!

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My husband and I applied for our passports on May 5th. After reading these posts, I got nervous and ordered new birth certificates for both of us. Guess what? Our passports arrived today...ten weeks from the date we applied (which is what we were told the time frame would be). Talk about luck!

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My passport will be up for renewal April 08. I'm wondering if anyone knows if the passport crunch is leveling out and when I should start the process of renewal. Hopefully, I will be cruising in Feb. so I want to be up to date.

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My passport will be up for renewal April 08. I'm wondering if anyone knows if the passport crunch is leveling out and when I should start the process of renewal. Hopefully, I will be cruising in Feb. so I want to be up to date.

 

OOPS, got my months reversed.

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So I'd like to just confirm what I'm reading now -- that regular (NOT expedited) service is running about 12 weeks. Is that right? (I thought it was taking longer.) Is that for new passports, or for renewals? (My wife needs to renew -- we've got over six months to do it, and she's going to do it this week [or else! :)] but I want to be sure we don't need her to go for expedited service.)

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We applies for renewals for our passports at our local post office. We applied for routine processing. Here is the time line:

Applied 4/24/07

Application received in Philadelphia 4/25/07

Check cleared bank on 5/2/07

Received passports today 7/25/07 (about 13 1/2 weeks).

 

I think it takes the same amount of time for new or renewals. The state department web site should be updated and state 14-16 weeks instead of

10-12 weeks. This seems more accurate.

I don't blame the people processing the applications. They are working under heavy pressure. I blame Congress for passing regulations and then not providing the funding and/or the personnel to operate the program properly.

 

So apply early if you need a passport, the backlog will probably only get worse as more people who didn't need passport before need them now.

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Congress is just doing our bidding. I sure don't want to pay a whole bunch more in taxes, do you? Many feel that way, and don't care enough about those instances of government inefficiency or ineffectiveness to prompt a greater willingness to pay more in taxes to provide more staff, or provide better technology to make processes more efficient, etc.

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Congress is just doing our bidding. I sure don't want to pay a whole bunch more in taxes, do you? Many feel that way, and don't care enough about those instances of government inefficiency or ineffectiveness to prompt a greater willingness to pay more in taxes to provide more staff, or provide better technology to make processes more efficient, etc.

 

Why is it that problems are always blamed on government inefficiency? I am not 100% convinced all the laws passed by Congress are done at our (voters) bidding. The squeeky wheel gets the grease and those who yell the loudest usually get what they want and that is not necessarily to the majority's benefit.

I have just retired from 35 yrs of government service and I have witnessed many cases over the years where regulations (laws) have been passed and then we were told by the powers that be that they have no funds to do the enforcement. Everyone wants more service but not higher taxes. You can't have your cake and eat it too as the old saying goes.

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Over the past few months I have read with astonishment the problems you encounter in the US regarding the processing of passport applications.

 

In the UK the Identity and Passport Service aims to return renewal applications within 3 weeks and first-time applications within 6 weeks, first-time applications take longer because a face-to-face interview is required as part of the process.

 

It would be inappropriate for me to suggest either a cause or a cure for the situation you are experiencing but there would certainly be "Questions in the House" if a similar situation arose here.

 

My apologies if my post appears to be a that of a self-satisfied "Limey", I really just wanted to express my heartfelt sympathy.

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No one will raise the "Questions in the House" here, because the budgetary process is substantially bi-partisan, and there is a lot of compromise. With regard to this issue, both sides probably have more-than-ample tail-coverage, cases where they offered to boost funding to that office and the other side wouldn't accept it. Generally, no one here is willing to get up and advocate raising the budget for anything except for matters of life and death.

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From reading other threads, people are now receiving passports that they applied for 16 weeks ago. One woman finally got some action by contacting her US Congressman/woman.

 

jmla01 -- just the picture page and the page above it which has your signature.

 

Let's face it, cruisers, we're all going to need a passport sooner or later. There is no downside to having one; it's the best ID in the world. If you apply now, you'll probably have it by Christmas, and then you can move on to more interesting cruise issues. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
So I'd like to just confirm what I'm reading now -- that regular (NOT expedited) service is running about 12 weeks. Is that right? (I thought it was taking longer.) Is that for new passports, or for renewals? (My wife needs to renew -- we've got over six months to do it, and she's going to do it this week [or else! :)] but I want to be sure we don't need her to go for expedited service.)
Mailed my renewal July 27th, it showed up online as received on Aug. 6 (10 days) and today, Aug 10(14 days), I received an email that the passport renewal has been completed and my passport should be received by Aug. 14 (18 days, 2.5 weeks!). Standard processing.
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No you do not have to have passports. You do not need them for cruises until June 2008 unless your departure port is not in the US.

 

Yikes! Don't tell her that, it's not certain yet. That June 2008 part isn't official yet. In fact, it not specified as June 2008, only the vague date of "summer 2008". But, as of now that is only a proposed rule change, not yet official. It's not mentioned at all on the State Department website, but you can find it on the Department of Homeland Security website here:

 

http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1182350422171.shtm

 

Officially, you still need a passport for land and sea travel as of January 31, 2008. Until the new proposed rule is actually adopted, you can't count on it 100%.

 

My 13yr niece will be cruising with us in 3/2008. Does she need a passport?

 

Yes, your niece will need a passport.

 

Not necessarily. If the new proposed rules are indeed adopted she won't need a passport in March 2008. But unless they decide to make it official really soon, she'll have to apply for one anyway just to make sure she gets it in time in case the proposed new rule is not adopted.

 

I heard from my pvp from CCL that for cruise travel out of the US (round trip) that a passport wasn't needed until June of 2009.

 

Now that one is clearly not right. Even if they adopt the proposed new rule that would still only give you until summer 2008 before you need a passport for cruise travel, not summer 2009.

 

I'm surprised Carnival even gives passport advice, particularly since they don't seem to know the correct answers. Unless they have some inside information the government isn't sharing with the rest of us via their websites.

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... Even if they adopt the proposed new rule that would still only give you until summer 2008 before you need a passport for cruise travel, not summer 2009.
Maybe, maybe not. There is a permanent EXCEPTION to needing passports, still assuming the proposed rule is adopted, for RT cruises out of US to Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, for US citizens. (Its on page 36 of 114, section V of the NPRM, second blue link on that DHS press release link you gave above.)
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When will they (gov't) decide on if the proposed rule will go in to effect? Everything that I have read states that they will let you know in at least 60 days for RT cruise with US origin for US citizens that you have to have pp. I check the pp website every week to look for updates, but I haven't found anything yet.

THanks

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