I recently went through the ordeal of getting a brand new passport for my daughter and a very last-minute passport renewal (within just a few hours of our international flight) for my wife. Hopefully you have all the time in the world to get or renew your passport, but if you find yourself in a situation like I did with my family then I wanted to share with you a few options.
My Situation
I’m actually writing this article from London. I had to travel to the London area for work and wanted to take my oldest daughter and my wife with me. No problem. My wife already had a passport and my daughter needed a brand new one. In the case of my daughter’s brand new passport, we knew far enough in advance so that we were able to get her a brand new passport using the travel.state.gov website. But since we were just inside of a month before my travel date we went ahead and paid the extra money to get my daughter’s passport application expedited. The standard turn around time for a brand new passport is 4-6 weeks, but if you pay a little extra you can expedite the process and get it within 2-3 weeks. My daughter received her passport in the mail in plenty of time (with a few weeks to spare).
My wife’s situation was a lot trickier. I mentioned she already had a passport and she did. But it had expired about six months ago. Her and I had just traveled overseas about 18-months ago and she thought she had another year until it expired. She didn’t. As I was collecting everyone’s passports the day before our flight (a Sunday afternoon) I realized her passport had expired. It was time to panic. Since it was a Sunday there was nothing we could do until the next day (Monday). I did some searching on the internet and found some stories about people being able to get their passport renewed very quickly. There are several 3rd party services that can speed up the renewal process from the expedited 2-3 weeks down to just a few days. But I needed a renewed passport in hours and not days.
Renewing A Passport on the Same Day of Travel
If you search the travel.state.gov website you will eventually find a table showing the various options you have to get a passport quickly.
But you will notice when you read through this table that the only reason you can use for asking to get a passport “right now” is if it is a “life or death emergency.”
But what if you just did something really silly like purchase international plane tickets without realizing you had an expired passport until the day you needed to travel? It turns out you can get your passport renewed on the same day you need to travel, but it can only be done if you do the following:
- You must visit one of the US passport agencies in person (visit here for a list of all the US passport agencies)
- Make an online appointment (if you can). Even if there is no appointment available go anyway. After all, what do you have to lose?
- Print out and fill out all of the paperwork you need to apply for an expedited passport renewal and bring that filled out paperwork with you
- Go get a passport photo taken. You can do this at a lot of locations like CVS, Walgreens, or even Walmart or Sam’s Club and it only takes about 15 minutes.
- Bring along proof of immediate international travel (like your flight reservations)
- Arrive well before the passport facility opens (especially if you don’t have an appointment). Be one of the first people in line.
In my wife’s case there were no online appointments open for the day we needed. So she drove down to Miami and stayed in the hotel right next to the passport agency. The hotel staff was very aware of how soon a line starts to form outside the facility every morning and advised my wife to be in that line about 2 hours before the facility opened at 8am. She followed that advice and was #2 in line. She was seen very quickly and had her renewed passport in hand shortly after noon, which gave her just enough time to drive to Orlando and catch our flight. The Miami passport agency may be a bit more busy than others due to the large amount of cruises that depart from our part of Florida but you should still plan on arriving at the facility before it opens. I also want to point out that getting a brand new passport from scratch (if you have never had a passport before) and getting it the same day is not possible. My understanding is that the paperwork for a brand new passport requires it to be processed in a central facility and requires additional steps that cannot be accomplished in a single day. So this advice really only applies to passport renewals.
I wish the travel.state.gov website gave you the information I just gave all of you above. I suspect they don’t do that because people would show up at the passport agency expecting to (in 100% of the cases) be able to get a passport renewed in the same day and that just isn’t the case. You need to have everything in hand and you need to be there early and they need to be able to process your renewal in just a few hours and there are all kinds of circumstances that would result in that not happening. But there is at least a chance. So follow the steps I listed above and go into the situation knowing that it is very likely you may not get your passport in time. Be polite to the passport agency staff and be patient. With a little luck you just might be able to get that passport renewal in time.
Great useful info, thank you for sharing!
LOL this was super helpful. 2 nights before our trip to England I realized my passport already expired in March this year, not next year like I had thought. So needless to say this really helped. I packed till 4am and left at 8am for an appt at the nearest passport agency. Waited the 4 hours and got it! Now we are at the airport. So I appreciate your post for helping me not loose my mind and just panic!
That’s exactly why I wrote this article, so if anyone else was in this terrible situation they would know what to try. So glad it worked out for you!
This post helped me last night/today in Chicago when I realized my passport had expired as I was checking in my bags for a flight to India. I canceled my evening flight last night and rebooked for 2:30 pm today. I made an appointment at the passport office via phone for 9am and arrived at the Chicago office this morning when the building opened at 7 (the office opens at 8, but they let you in at 7). One of the guards informed us that you need to have an appointment (and confirmation number), but the time of the appointment is actually irrelevant as it is first come first served. They usually print passports at 3pm, but they printed early for myself and another woman in a similar situation, and I had a new passport in hand by 9:30am. Now I am at the airport and grateful for the helpful advice in your post! Hope this info helps folks in a bind in Chicago.
I just came from the New York Passport office. Left my home at 4:40 this morning got there by 6:30 am. Renewal for my husband and I. Mine expired 2 months ago. (His is good for another month but note it needs to have a “good through” 3-6 month after the expiration date.) Flight in 2 days. Everything smooth until I found out I needed an original, handwritten, signed letter from my husband to the agency stating I had his permission to renew AND pick up new passport for him. No faxes, emails, or phone calls would do. And because it was more than 24 hours I would have had to go back tmrw anyway between 3 pm and 6 pm (can’t enter bldg after 4pm) to pick them up. Tmrw I can process both, wait 3-4 hours and leave with them. Had I known!! Just grateful to get them.
Man this is a great article. My passport expires in 5 months but they wouldn’t let me on the plane to Bali. Devastated right now and have to wait until Monday morning to do what your wife did. It’s friday night now and don’t think it’s possible to get anything done on a Saturday or Sunday. Sucks ass.
This worked. Thank you so much! The night before flying to Canada, I realized my passport was expired. Booked an 8am appointment the next morning (the morning of my flight!) at the nearest passport agency and was in and out in 30 minutes, no hassle. Picked up the passport a few hours later.
I am in this situation now. Changed my flight from Sunday night to Monday night. Passport office in nyc says no appointments are available on Monday. Should I just show up on Monday morning?
Yes show up anyway. My wife didn’t have an appointment in Miami but got there before they opened so she was first in line. There is no guarantee of course, but it’s worth a try. If you get seen early enough in the day there is at least a chance
Thanks Skip. Which forms did she fill out?
In order to fill out form we need to make an appt!!!
Holly, you can pull the forms online. It helps to have them filled out in advance, especially if you are going to show up sans interview. Make sure you have your pics ready to go as well.
So the DS 82? Thanks for the speedy replies! I’m freaking out!
Yes! That’s the one. Good luck tomorrow — I’ll be rooting for you. Definitely send us an update on how it goes.
Thanks for all of the help! Got to the passport office at 5:30 AM The office opened at 7:30 I was seen at 8:15 and had my new passport at 2:30 that afternoon!!! Trip was great!
Great to hear. Having a fresh passport in your hand after that ordeal is a surreal and joyful feeling! Glad you had a lovely trip too.
Oh this gives me hope. Fly out on 5/16 and just realized my passport expired on 5/9! I am so upset w/ myself. I have everything printed and ready to go. Wish me luck!
Thanks to this article.. I had hope and everything worked out for the best!! Realized the night before my incentive trip to Spain that my passport was expired. In absolute panic , I assumed the worst. Took the 4 hour trip to Miami Passport Agency when I realized they had Saturday hours on 5/18. Luck was on my side !
Arrived at the agency at 4 :30am and was number 7 in line. Everyone in line was very sympathetic to our situation. I explained to the agency I had to switch my flight to leave out of Miami international airport. They did everything they could to accommodate me in my emergency situation. I had a passport in hand an hour and a half later . I am so thankful to be attending my trip.
For any others who make this horrible mistake, know there is a possibility of hope. It’s very important to stay positive and calm.
Thank you so much you just SAVED my sister! This article brought her hope and she is getting her passport today and her flight is tonight! Thank you for the hope! God Bless
That is exactly why I shared our experience with this, so that others in our position knew there was at least some hope of getting a passport at the last minute. Good Luck!!!
Your post just saved my bacon! I had no idea that your passport had to be valid for six months beyond your visit to Italy. I am supposed to fly out tomorrow and I didn’t find out about this rule until last night at 10 pm. After crying and offering some prayers, I found your post. I woke up at 3 am this morning and drove 4 hours to the Tucson passport office. They saw me at 9 am (without an appointment) and I had a renewed passport in hand by 1 pm. My trip tomorrow is saved!
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much. This helped a ton.
This was excellent information. It’s a shame the government website doesn’t make it more clear that they are their for urgent same day travel passport issues. Your website gave us hope that my son could get his passport renewed same day for next day travel. I will say that the passport office in Colorado was amazing. Everybody there was super helpful and nice.
Thanks again for posting this blog.
I have hope. I sent my renewal in 4 weeks ago and nothing. I leave for italy in 2 weeks and 3 days. I made an appointment for the end of next week as a precaution because my mom sent hers in days after mine and she currently has it in hand….so errrr. Thanks for the post!
This post saved my sanity. I realized my youngest daughter’s passport had expired when checking in for our flight the next day. I went to the Chicago Passport Agency at 6am the next morning and had a new passport at 930am. We caught our flight.
Thank you Geek Dad! This post was a miracle. Instead of using a private service went to the LA passport agency at 530 in the morning (they open at 7) and was able to get an appointment. Compared to other government agencies, they really do try to help you out. Please be courteous and respectful. Even though they had a half day… I was able to go in for the appointment, pick up my passport at 230PM and rush over for my 630 PM flight. Not sure how I made it but this post saved me!
Have all your documents ready, passport photos- there’s 24 hour CVS’s that can help. 🙂
Skip, your article is a life saver! We found out last night that our passports expired 6 months ago and we have a flight tonight. Out of panic we searched on the internet everywhere, called up those expedited services but everyone was closed. And all search results were telling us no way we can get passport renewed same day. Until I stumble across this article! We hurriedly got our passport photo done at CVS, thank God they close late. And went to Philly this morning and got there about an hour before they opened. We’re going back to pick up the passports in the afternoon, just enough time to catch our flight. Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned. Really appreciate it!
Hi. This is really a fantastic article and hope you can help me as well! I just found out that a friend of mine is getting married in a week in Canada but my passport expired a long time ago. Is it worth the chance to go to the NYC office with a wedding invitation and try to get a passport? I don’t need it on the spot but definitely within a few days.
Please let me know, thanks very much for any help or suggestions you can offer.
I would try to go to a Passport office and get one if you can. There are some expedited services available as well within the timeframe you have but they are very expensive so being first in line at a Passport office is probably your best bet.
You saved my friend and our trip!!!
Thank you so much!!
Thanks for your post! My boyfriend is in a similar situation now and needs to renew his passport within 5 days in order to get a work visa. Unfortunately his expired passport is in Illinois and we are in California. Do you have to have the expired passport on hand in order to receive the same day service?
Thanks so much!
I don’t think you have to have the expired passport as you are essentially starting from scratch once that passport has expired. But I don’t know this for sure as my wife had her expired passport when she went in.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this. This has helped us immensely! Arrived at airport Friday night (planning to go on a family vacation to France); realized passports were expired. We rescheduled our flights for Monday night, got to the US Passport agency at 4:00 am (no joke), and I was 11th in line. They got us our passports at 4:00 PM, in time for a red-eye to France. We missed 3 days of our trip, but we were at least able to go for the last 5 days. THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! We never would have known it was even possible.