US Passports Department Not Working

Looking for clarification on this. We are cruising to the Bahamas in October and our passports expire in April, 6 months AFTER our cruise. Do we need to renew?
 


We sent our kids applications in right before the lockdown for a now canceled June Disney Dream cruise. Their original birth certificates and my wife’s drivers license( this is the dumbest requirement ever) is stuck in bureaucratic limbo somewhere.

Your wife shouldn't have sent her driver's license, and the passport agent who helped you with your paperwork shouldn't have told you she needed to, if they did. You bring the ID, and a color photocopy of the front & back, and they're supposed to verify that the ID matches the photocopy. You then send the copy, NOT the ID itself.

(the birth certificate part is correct.)

Hopefully they won't hold on to the documents too long, but with much of the staff working from home, there just isn't anybody to actually be approving the docs and actually MAKING the passports.

(sources: we got passports for my wife & kiddo last fall, and I have multiple friends who work for the state department.)
 
Looking for clarification on this. We are cruising to the Bahamas in October and our passports expire in April, 6 months AFTER our cruise. Do we need to renew?

As others have said, it just needs to be valid at that time. Also, if it's a closed-loop cruise, you should be able to use birth certificate + ID, if it's a concern, or you send them in for renewal and don't have them back in time.
 
Your wife shouldn't have sent her driver's license, and the passport agent who helped you with your paperwork shouldn't have told you she needed to, if they did. You bring the ID, and a color photocopy of the front & back, and they're supposed to verify that the ID matches the photocopy. You then send the copy, NOT the ID itself.

(the birth certificate part is correct.)

Hopefully they won't hold on to the documents too long, but with much of the staff working from home, there just isn't anybody to actually be approving the docs and actually MAKING the passports.

(sources: we got passports for my wife & kiddo last fall, and I have multiple friends who work for the state department.)

Ah thanks. Good to know. Government worker snafu Im sure. Luckily no ones been driving!
 


I'm not sure it's the "federal government" or just one or two government employees.

Agreed

Ah thanks. Good to know. Government worker snafu Im sure. Luckily no ones been driving!

Or buying alcohol I suppose.

That’s really wild that the worker took the license. And took just your wife’s, since most have both parents go for children’s passport applications. And if you didn’t go and the employer knew enough to accept the notarized form wherein you have permission for her to take them alone, it boggles my mind that they thought they needed her actual license.
 
Agreed



Or buying alcohol I suppose.

That’s really wild that the worker took the license. And took just your wife’s, since most have both parents go for children’s passport applications. And if you didn’t go and the employer knew enough to accept the notarized form wherein you have permission for her to take them alone, it boggles my mind that they thought they needed her actual license.
The girl at the post office that did mine forgot to sign the form. That was a mess and the letter even said it was completely their fault. Nothing shocks me anymore.
 
The girl at the post office that did mine forgot to sign the form. That was a mess and the letter even said it was completely their fault. Nothing shocks me anymore.

This happened with us, too, for my wife's passport. She completely screwed up her part (just her part), it went to the state department, bounced around a while, got sent back to us, and we had to go back to the post office - and had to use the same location/person again, or we would've had to pay another processing fee. It was infuriating. Doubly so because she'd given us a super hard time about various things when we went the first time with the paperwork.

This was for a new passport, but she'd had one before - she just let it be expired too long, so it couldn't be mailed in to renew, she had to start from scratch. Let this be a lesson - you have 5 years (for an adult 10 year US passport) after it expires to renew it. I'm never going to let either of ours go longer than those 5 years again.
 
This happened with us, too, for my wife's passport. She completely screwed up her part (just her part), it went to the state department, bounced around a while, got sent back to us, and we had to go back to the post office - and had to use the same location/person again, or we would've had to pay another processing fee. It was infuriating. Doubly so because she'd given us a super hard time about various things when we went the first time with the paperwork.

This was for a new passport, but she'd had one before - she just let it be expired too long, so it couldn't be mailed in to renew, she had to start from scratch. Let this be a lesson - you have 5 years (for an adult 10 year US passport) after it expires to renew it. I'm never going to let either of ours go longer than those 5 years again.
I had to go to the same location, but got an older guy that time. He kept shaking his head and apologizing, also wanted a description of the girl trying to figure out who it was. They had sent me a pre-addressed envelope to get the new stuff to the correct desk since they kept all my documents and the guy felt bad he had to charge me postage to mail it. Mine was also way expired and I also said we'll never let them expire beyond the point of mailing in the renewals. My husband and daughter were new passports and no problems. The girl at the post office did seem to be struggling with there being 3 together and kept shuffling the papers around. I had everything paperclipped for each of us separately and we had 3 appointments so she should have just done them one at a time. I think that's where it went wrong. This is also one reason that I got 2 official copies of my daughter's birth certificate when she was born. There's been enough times I had to hand off my only one that I spent the $12 for an extra while I was at it. It was super easy at that point.

It was adorable that my daughter (6 at the time) was crushed when I got my letter that it was all messed up. She thought I wouldn't be able to go on vacation and she and daddy would have to go without me.
 
It was adorable that my daughter (6 at the time) was crushed when I got my letter that it was all messed up. She thought I wouldn't be able to go on vacation and she and daddy would have to go without me.

Haha, I love how your kid thought the solution would be for her to go on vacation without you rather than the whole family postponing the vacation. Reminds me of my kids--they are little temporary sociopaths, but we love them anyway. :stitch:
 
I have a passport appt for both my son and myself this week...wonder how long they will take to come back in :oops: It’s for our cruise next June so hopefully in plenty of time for that lol
 
I have a passport appt for both my son and myself this week...wonder how long they will take to come back in :oops: It’s for our cruise next June so hopefully in plenty of time for that lol
Interesting, the passport office in our town isn't taking any applications while things are shut down.
 
Haha, I love how your kid thought the solution would be for her to go on vacation without you rather than the whole family postponing the vacation. Reminds me of my kids--they are little temporary sociopaths, but we love them anyway. :stitch:
Yeah, she hasn't been my favorite person the last few weeks but she's cute and sometimes sweet. I say this after finding out she left the hose on all night and there's a big squishy spot in the yard. I specifically told her to turn it off but she was being especially difficult yesterday and just didn't.
 
It’s through the post office. You can make an appt on the USPS website and search for post offices that are scheduling appointments
Oh, I don't need it, we renewed about 2 years ago. While the main post office here has a passport acceptance office, we also have one at the City Hall in town. We've found it's easier and quicker to use that one. And it's closed.
 
Oh, I don't need it, we renewed about 2 years ago. While the main post office here has a passport acceptance office, we also have one at the City Hall in town. We've found it's easier and quicker to use that one. And it's closed.

Yeah, the Post Office will do your appointment and do their part - confirming you have ID that matches what you're sending the State Department - @Anna Chassereau but once it gets mailed, it's just going to sit in their incoming mail until the office staff is back to work. 😕
 

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