Anyone else get “scammed” by the State department?

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

We have a cruise planned in April. I checked my passport back in June to make sure it wasn’t expiring this year, and all was good. Had my wife check hers also, knowing they were warning everyone that passport processing was really slow. She was ok also. Didn’t think to check my daughters since we got hers when I last renewed mine.

At the start of December, I thought I’d double check, and sure enough, my DD’s passport expires sooner than mine…. The month after our April cruise, but the month before our next cruise. “Oh Cr$&!”

Check out the State department website, and they’ve updated their time estimates. 8-11 weeks for normal processing, 6-8 weeks for “Expedited” processing ($60 expedite fee). With only 12 weeks before our trip, and multiple holidays in there, I had no choice but to pay the expedite fee. Even at 6-8 weeks, it was cutting it closer than I really wanted, since we still need to fill out the cruise info before the trip. [edit: I did the math wrong - it was really 16 weeks, but with multiple holidays]

I told everyone - “I’m sure the 8-11 weeks is probably to scare people into paying the expedite fee”, but with all of the supply chain, and limited worker news, I figured “better safe than sorry”.

Three weeks later (right after New Years)…. The passport showed up!

That’s one way to increase your revenue for a necessary service! (“Hello? You need a plumber today? There’s no way we can get one to you for a week. Alright - if you’re willing to pay an expedite fee…”)




(ok… rant off… and I’m sure it wasn’t really a scam…. I think… )

 

[Moliphino]

Some countries require that a passport be valid for three to six months past your entry date, so that's another thing to keep in mind.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No I don't think it's a scam at all. If you look back at posts in 2021 there were people who were having a long time in getting their passports. It's not about scaring people at all.

My husband renewed his in Spring 2021 before it got really really bad in processing times and he expedited his. It is what it is.

Under normal times when there aren't delays with USPS and we're not under a pandemic and we're not having widespread weather issues expedited is probably only most used for people who have travel very close. But with all the other stuff going on including staffing if you have travel soon best to do it quite early or pay for the extra cost so you have a theoretical shorter processing time.

Have fun on your cruise though

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

No I don't think it's a scam at all. If you look back at posts in 2021 there were people who were having a long time in getting their passports. It's not about scaring people at all.

My husband renewed his in Spring 2021 before it got really really bad in processing times and he expedited his. It is what it is.

Under normal times when there aren't delays with USPS and we're not under a pandemic and we're not having widespread weather issues expedited is probably only most used for people who have travel very close. But with all the other stuff going on including staffing if you have travel soon best to do it quite early or pay for the extra cost so you have a theoretical shorter processing time.

Have fun on your cruise though

I wouldn’t have been disturbed at all if they had taken 5-6 weeks to process my expedited request. But to say 6-8 weeks, and only take three (including Christmas and New Years), it does make me go “hmmmmm…”. I’m wondering if a non-expedited request would’ve been done in 4? At very least, it would be nice if they updated the time delay warnings they have up on their site.

I can’t even imagine what people at work would think if I said - sure, I can get that done in a month. But if you need it in three weeks, I’ll have to drop everything else” - and then I get it done in a week!

hopefully the cruise all goes well. This is one of two rebooked from last year. So the backlog of trips is gonna get really ugly if we have to postpone this one too!

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

Um shouldn't you just be happy it came faster than you expected?
Your fault for not checking in the first place.

 

[Skippy918]

My dh renewed his passport in October. It took a month and it was not expedited. We got the kids their passports in late December and I don’t have the new ones yet.

 

[tvguy]

I wouldn’t have been disturbed at all if they had taken 5-6 weeks to process my expedited request. But to say 6-8 weeks, and only take three (including Christmas and New Years), it does make me go “hmmmmm…”. I’m wondering if a non-expedited request would’ve been done in 4? At very least, it would be nice if they updated the time delay warnings they have up on their site.

I can’t even imagine what people at work would think if I said - sure, I can get that done in a month. But if you need it in three weeks, I’ll have to drop everything else” - and then I get it done in a week!

hopefully the cruise all goes well. This is one of two rebooked from last year. So the backlog of trips is gonna get really ugly if we have to postpone this one too!

It's the State Department. I think you are giving them, or accusing them, of doing something that would never occur to them.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

It's the State Department. I think you are giving them, or accusing them, of doing something that would never occur to them.

sorry, this was really a tongue-in-cheek post. I’m certain there’s really no incentive for them to drive up revenue, and no effort to do so.

but in reality, the effect is the same. Whether it’s due to inefficiency (timelines were put up when it was bad, and never corrected), or an over abundance of caution (better to provide worst case, than to have people missing travel plans because something’s delayed), when your estimates are 80% off, and people are making financial decisions based on that information, you should be doing better.

on the flip side, I’ve had great experiences with the State department people I’ve been working with on this passport (sent an oldcheck with an expired routing number, and then my wife sent in the senders receipt portion of the cashiers check, instead of the actual cashiers check to fix the payment) - they’ve been professional, and followed up on the issue quickly.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

Um shouldn't you just be happy it came faster than you expected?
Your fault for not checking in the first place.

My fault for what? The State department website has a warning about long processing times. Their website provided estimates of 8-11 weeks for standard processing and 6-8 weeks for expedited. Based on needing the passport no later than 11 weeks out, I went with the only option that indicated there wasn’t a risk of it being late.

they processed it in 3 weeks. Their best case estimate is 50% off.

I have no idea why you think this is my fault? Can you point me to something else I should have done? (I tried calling, and tried making an appointment at the regional office, but neither option was available due to current stated processes).

There’s absolutely no reason for me to be happy we received it sooner. It does absolutely no good having it sooner. I am happy it wasn’t tremendously late. I’m not happy people are paying extra $$$ for no reason based on bad information posted on their website.

 

[Planogirl]

Those numbers are only estimates and probably reflect worst case scenarios. I'm glad that you got it.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

My dh renewed his passport in October. It took a month and it was not expedited. We got the kids their passports in late December and I don’t have the new ones yet.

I’ve heard from a few people that it’s been taking about a month for standard processing. Good to see things are pretty much back to normal.

Too bad though that the website still says 8-11 weeks!

 

[bcla]

The biggest issue is that the backlog is different depending on which passport office is issuing the passports. However, the quoted times are generally worst case nationally and are trying to cover everyone. If you go to a passport acceptance facility, you have no choice over which passport office handles it the place will be assigned to a specific office. But I guess if people knew about which offices had shorter wait times, they might try to go to a specific office and create bigger backlogs there.

The only thing that's that's more or less uniform is the mail-in renewals as they're handled by a central issuer (or maybe two). I know there are two mailing addresses now (based on the state of the return address) but I'm not sure they don't just send it out to a central location for printing.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

The biggest issue is that the backlog is different depending on which passport office is issuing the passports. However, the quoted times are generally worst case nationally and are trying to cover everyone. If you go to a passport acceptance facility, you have no choice over which passport office handles it the place will be assigned to a specific office. But I guess if people knew about which offices had shorter wait times, they might try to go to a specific office and create bigger backlogs there.

The only thing that's that's more or less uniform is the mail-in renewals as they're handled by a central issuer (or maybe two). I know there are two mailing addresses now (based on the state of the return address) but I'm not sure they don't just send it out to a central location for printing.

That’s interesting - thanks!

we did have an issue we had to follow up on - and the case was being handled by resources in the New Orleans office. I was surprised by that - I would have thought there would be aWest coast office, but I guess geographic distribution isn’t part of the process.

 

[bcla]

That’s interesting - thanks!

we did have an issue we had to follow up on - and the case was being handled by resources in the New Orleans office. I was surprised by that - I would have thought there would be aWest coast office, but I guess geographic distribution isn’t part of the process.

Wasn't aware of that. I've never had my own passport handled at a passport acceptance facility and have only gone to one once for my child. When we went there (the rec gym at UC Berkeley) we chose it because they didn't require reservations and they were open on Saturdays, plus we could catch the Cal-UCLA men's basketball game after we were done. However, I was waiting for a while (another guy was taking a long time ahead of us) and I noticed a big "Official Mail" envelope behind the counter that was already pre-addressed to the San Francisco Passport Agency. We ordered both a passport and passport card. The card can only come straight from the printer in Texas I think, but the passport arrived in an envelope with the San Francisco Passport Agency as the return address.

I've only mailed in my passport applications after I applied for my first one at the San Francisco Passport Agency. But I've been to the office for expedited applications, including ones where I picked it up in two days.

There are supposedly ways to get same day expedited passports, but I'm not sure exactly how. There are expediter services that claim they can get that with an itinerary and/or when it's needed quickly for a visa application.

Not sure what they're doing if an application is going somewhere halfway around the country to be printed where there's a shorter backlog. But it doesn't sound all that strange since everything can be transmitted electronically. Way back when I got my first passport, one of the original photos that I submitted was actually laminated inside the information page, so it probably wasn't practical. However, since around maybe 2000 they started scanning the provided photo and then it's electronically printed to the information page.

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

My fault for what? The State department website has a warning about long processing times. Their website provided estimates of 8-11 weeks for standard processing and 6-8 weeks for expedited. Based on needing the passport no later than 11 weeks out, I went with the only option that indicated there wasn’t a risk of it being late.

they processed it in 3 weeks. Their best case estimate is 50% off.

I have no idea why you think this is my fault? Can you point me to something else I should have done? (I tried calling, and tried making an appointment at the regional office, but neither option was available due to current stated processes).

There’s absolutely no reason for me to be happy we received it sooner. It does absolutely no good having it sooner. I am happy it wasn’t tremendously late. I’m not happy people are paying extra $$$ for no reason based on bad information posted on their website.

You are at fault for not checking your DD's expiration date when you checked your own in June which put you in the situation of needing it faster.
You have no idea it was for no reason.
You would have been crying if you didn't pay extra and it took too long.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

You are at fault for not checking your DD's expiration date when you checked your own in June which put you in the situation of needing it faster.
You have no idea it was for no reason.
You would have been crying if you didn't pay extra and it took too long.

Thank you so much for your superior attitude! It’s really nice to see!

Yes, you’re right, and I never indicated that wasn’t my fault. Fully on me. But that wasn’t at all what the issue was. The issue was that they’ve given every indication that the process is taking months, and I’ve not seen any evidence it’s taking more than a few weeks.

Maybe as some posters (helpfully) pointed out, they have worst case estimates listed, but it still seems like they could get a little closer than 100% - 150% off.

Oh well - you’re probably right - I should just blame myself for double checking, still getting it done in plenty of time, and actually using the info posted to a government site!

 

[sam_gordon]

You want a non-expedited timeline?

Went to a passport facility on November 24, 2021. Put in the applications for DS & DD and handed in the renewal applications for DW & myself. According to tracking, the state department received them on Nov 30 and started processing. We got the passports back on January 10. So about 6 1/2 weeks from when we dropped them off and 5 weeks from when the state department got them.

Now, if I do my math correctly, and you found out in the beginning of December that your DD's passport would expire in May, that still leaves you 16 weeks (about) before you needed it. 4 weeks in December, 4 in January, February, and March = 16 weeks.

And,

The issue was that they’ve given every indication that the process is taking months, and I’ve not seen any evidence it’s taking more than a few weeks.

"Every indication" = a post on a website. Whereas there are multiple message boards you can check to ask what "real" results people are getting. The same evidence you see that it's only taking a few weeks was available to you in December also.

And no, it's not a "scam". Is it better say "it will take 4-11 weeks for normal processing"? Or maybe they could just say "up to 11 weeks"?

 

[Southernmiss]

Our son went Dec 23 to get his passport. Still waiting.

It is taking several weeks to arrive.

He got in there hopefully early enough because he was aware all things during this pandemic can be delayed

His trip is in May.

 

[Colleen27]

The biggest issue is that the backlog is different depending on which passport office is issuing the passports. However, the quoted times are generally worst case nationally and are trying to cover everyone. If you go to a passport acceptance facility, you have no choice over which passport office handles it the place will be assigned to a specific office. But I guess if people knew about which offices had shorter wait times, they might try to go to a specific office and create bigger backlogs there.

The only thing that's that's more or less uniform is the mail-in renewals as they're handled by a central issuer (or maybe two). I know there are two mailing addresses now (based on the state of the return address) but I'm not sure they don't just send it out to a central location for printing.

This, exactly. I'm part of a really, really large travel group on FB and the passport processing times right now are all over the place. Expedited service through one office might even be slower than standard at others, from what I've gathered from first-hand reports. It just depends on luck of the draw - where you live and what office is handling your application, and probably the status of that office at any particular point in time - because some are way more backed up than others. So the official advice reflects the worst experience you're likely to have. Better that than have a ton of people angry because their office was slower than average and it ended up interfering with their travel plans.

We applied for DH & DD13's passports on Dec. 20 and we don't have them yet. We're not traveling until June so there's no rush and we didn't pay to expedite, but I'm keeping an eye on how long it takes purely out of curiosity. Older DD's came in just over 4 weeks in Jan 2018, mine took almost 6 weeks in April of the same year. We'll see how service in 2022 compares.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Thank you so much for your superior attitude! It’s really nice to see!

Yes, you’re right, and I never indicated that wasn’t my fault. Fully on me. But that wasn’t at all what the issue was. The issue was that they’ve given every indication that the process is taking months, and I’ve not seen any evidence it’s taking more than a few weeks.

Maybe as some posters (helpfully) pointed out, they have worst case estimates listed, but it still seems like they could get a little closer than 100% - 150% off.

Oh well - you’re probably right - I should just blame myself for double checking, still getting it done in plenty of time, and actually using the info posted to a government site!

I think the PP's point was this position of even thinking about extra $$ for less time wouldn't have been a thought if the passport for your daughter had been checked when you made your wife check and when you checked yours. Stuff happens for sure

I know your post was half joking half not. For people last year it really did take months. Not surprising what they had listed but it's an improvement over last year. With something as important as a passport paying extra is usually not grumbled about as much, I mean no one likes to pay more but it's a very big document.

For me my "should have could have would have" moment was my husband and I didn't change my name in the first year of our marriage when it was free...no...we oops'd and didn't do that. So my passport sat and sat and sat and in halfway into the 10 year period when we were planning a trip to Jamaica I went ahead and changed my name on my passport. Super easy (just sent my old one, a copy of my marriage license and $$$$) and it was done. But it sucked paying what is almost like getting a renewal for our silly mistake.

If your daughter's passport expires that different than yours maybe you sent them in at different times? IDK or if sent at the same time processed at different times. Either way I think the PP was just trying to say you assumed your daughter's passport was good but should have checked anyways (hindsight sure).

hopefully the cruise all goes well. This is one of two rebooked from last year. So the backlog of trips is gonna get really ugly if we have to postpone this one too!

Ugh I know how that feels just with a different trip. We had no idea if we would get a redo but thankfully about 11 months after the cancelled trip (which was to Vegas) we were able to go.

Well best of luck this one goes off for ya