With only a handful of sunsets separating him and his flight from the Windy City to the captivating city of Istanbul, my kin found sleep elusive. Early in the year, he’d shelved an extra $60 to fast-track his renewal, comforted by the U.S State Department’s claim of delivering a fresh passport seven days before his trip.
That assurance remained unfulfilled.
He attempted to secure a lifeline by setting up a Life-or-Death Emergency consultation at the Chicago Passport Agency for an urgent passport, but the doors were locked tight as Memorial Day approached.
“I’m not sure I’ll catch my flight,” he confessed, anxiety taking hold over text messages.
Abandoning his journey would be catastrophic. He’d charted a summer break path across Nepal, Indonesia, and Western Europe, a much-needed respite from the demanding canvas of his graduate art study at Illinois State University. A missed flight was a luxury he could ill afford.
A Genie Let Out of the Bottle: An Emerging Crisis
His turmoil is far from unique.
Countless, possibly tenfold, will find themselves wrestling with similar challenges this season,” forecasts David Alwadish, steering the helm as CEO at ItsEasy.Com, a firm specialized in visa and passport services.
The pre-pandemic era offered more indulgences. Using logical reasoning, you could walk into an agency and return with a same-day service, submits Kent Webber, a seasoned intelligence products and services leader at Global Rescue. Currently, with backlogs piling up, in-person appointments have dried up. The only recourse remains dialing up the State Department (877-487-2778) and securing an appointment at a passport agency — easier said than done.
The application takes its own sweet time, with an official window of 10 to 13 weeks, as admitted by the State Department. However, actual timelines resonate to a tune closer to 15 to 18 weeks when you factor in mailing durations. Expedited passports fare a tad better at the 7 to 9 weeks range. My brother’s, to this effect, was still marinating at a processing center in Texas even amid late last week.
Would it still be plausible to acquire one when time is not a luxury and appointment slots remain elusive at your nearest passport agency? To phrase it differently would my sibling embark on his travel, or remain tethered to Illinois over summer? Hold on to that thought, and the answer will unravel shortly.
A Race Against Time: Is a Rushed Passport Viable?
For U.S. citizens on the hunt for a passport, four pathways emerge.
- Routine. An unhurried choice unless “last minute” indicates weeks rather than days or hours. It’s amusing, in some sectors, such as guided tours or cruise lines, “last minute” translates into months because many voyages are reserved years ahead. Visit your local post office to get your routine passport processed. Ensure a leeway of around 20 weeks.
- Expedited. Suited for timelines less than 20 weeks out from your travel. The additional levies are $60 atop normal passport costs. While the State Department claims a duration of 7 to 9 weeks, the sum might not add up. You can petition for an expedited passport at an acceptance facility or hurry a renewal by postal service. You should clutch your passport within 10 weeks.
- Urgent. Reserved for situations where you can validate that you’re within 14 calendar days of your foreign travel — and if you can reserve an in-person meeting — this alternative is crafted for you. You’ll need to slot your meeting at a passport agency or center within the 5 calendar days of your global travel.
- Emergency. This route is reserved for “life-or-death emergencies” mandating overseas travel within a 72-hour window. In layman terms, “life-or-death” relates to death, hospice care, or a “life-threatening” ailment. The surge in emergency passport applications can partially be attributed to government channels and their delays. Emergency passports necessitate an in-person meeting, and these get dispensed that very day.
Visualize the psychological toll of acquiring a passport at the last instance, as experienced by Jim Wasserman, recently retired from his teaching responsibilities out of Atlanta. His sustained damage, necessitating a new one, mere days from his organized trip to Portugal. Confronted with a roomful of anxious individuals, he counted his blessings, for he still had time on his side.
It’s perhaps stating the obvious, but the greatest obstacle when faced with an expeditious process is the resulting anxiety. The impending departure date triggers a countdown, coupled with the certainty of being denied boarding without a valid passport.
With my brother’s travel date looming large, I felt the familiar grip of anxiety for him.
