Travel Tips

Going through a family tragedy is tough enough without it happening and not having a way to get to that family member. Having a child get hurt abroad can be a horrifying experience, especially if you don’t have a valid passport and no way to get over to be with them. Luckily, the State Department does have provision for emergency U.S. passport services.

If there is an emergency, the first thing that needs to be done is contact the Department of State’s Passport Information Center. The people there are prepared for this type of situation and will be able to guide the family through the process of getting a passport as quickly as possible. The situation will have to fall into their guidelines, but if it does, a passport may be in hand in as little as 24 hours.

There is a National Passport Information Center that has an automatic phone appointment system that can be accessed 24/7. If it is impossible to get an appointment time that meets the family’s needs, a live person can be reached at a call center from 6AM to 12 midnight, ET, on weekdays. A customer service representative can supply direction on what to do in this case.

However, many people in the midst of a family event of great seriousness may wish to opt for using a private passport expediting service, especially when it is a weekend or other time when government representatives may not be available. These for-profit agencies specialize in cutting through the red tape to move an emergency passport through the process at lightning speed. For a non-critical application, they can get the job done in two to three days.

If the passport is needed in 24 hours, services like this can usually make that happen without a problem. They have been known to put a passport in people’s hands by the end of the same day. Because of this, the family can get their tickets that much quicker and be on their international flight as soon as possible.

Most of the private passport agencies perform transactions online, especially when it comes to renewing an existing passport. It is a great relief to be able to leave passport problems to someone else and to only need to fill out some simple online forms rather than deal with an in-person visit to the post office. These firms specialize in knowing exactly what to do and can conduct most communications with the family via email, leaving phone lines free for more pressing matters.

Naturally, the cost of using a private agency is going to be more than simply going the government route alone, but it is true that time is money. The comfort of leaving the details to someone else can be worth its weight in gold. A two to three day turn around will cost the applicant about $200. Bear in mind that the government fees will also be assessed on top of the agency’s fees, so figure that everything will cost about $300 or more.

While nobody ever wants to pay the fees that are associated with rush service, sometimes there is no other choice but to use emergency passport application services. It is for this very reason that everyone should always have a valid passport on hand. However, it is nice to know that should we neglect to get our passport in time, there are US passport expediting services out there that can make this happen and allow us to get with our loved ones in an emergency.

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