Maybe ... or maybe not

[hrj]

Well, I have no idea whether the UK (and Puerto Rico -- musn't forget Puerto Rico) trip is going to happen for me. I'm sort-of firm-ish-ly confirmed on the audit team, but having spent the last day and a half trying to squeeze useful information out of the US passport web site and information number, I haven't the vaguest idea whether my passport renewal can be processed in time, much less that it will be. The web site and the recorded information messages both recommend that if you're traveling within the next two weeks, you should make an in-person appointment at a regional passport center (which, fortunately, means San Francisco in my case) or speak in person to a service representative. Problem is, the soonest you can get an in-person appointment is the day after I'm supposed to fly. And I haven't yet managed to get through to speak to anyone in person. (They don't put you on hold, they just have a recording that says, "Sorry, we're all busy. Try again later. Goodbye." and hangs up on you. And you have to wade through about 10 minutes of recordings and navigation to get to that point.)

So I went ahead and express-mailed the renewal in this afternoon with the extra "expedite me" fee, but the web site says that even expedited processing can take 4 weeks at the moment.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the US government is not responsible for my employer's precipitousness in planning auditing trips. And I've had those renewal forms on my desk for several months now because, "After all, it's a good idea to have an up-to-date passport just in case." But the big passport office crunch is because Our Beloved Government once again implemented a policy change (the new passport requirements) without sufficient advance planning for the infrastructure to carry it out. And, of course, I'm frustrated because you don't get offered a free trip to Europe every day and it would be very annoying not to be able to take advantage of it.

The ironic thing is that one of my standard "anxiety dreams" is that I'm about to go on an overseas trip and I don't have a current passport. It's supposed to be a metaphor, dammit!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Let's hope the nightmare has a happy ending. Mom

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

What are the new requirements?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I suspect the crunch is from the new requirement for a passport to go to Canada and Mexico (or rather, the requirement to have one if you want to come back again).

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Your company should be willing to pay the expediting fee -- since we're close to San Francisco you can get one of the companies that does this to pick it up from you and go stand in line at the passport office -- that's what their business model is.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Except as I understand it there isn't any longer such a thing as "go stand in line at the passport office" if you don't have an appointment. And the soonest available appointment is in 14 days. I tried that angle. People keep telling me that it's all very simple, but I don't think any of them have experience in the last couple of months. At this very moment, the passport system is completely F'ed up. And besides which, at this point my old passport is in an envelope winging its way to the mail-in office, so the other options are no longer available. Maybe there was a faster way, but I couldn't find any basis for hope that seemed worth delaying mailing it out. And on top of that, stressing out about trying to get more information about the options was getting in the way of work.

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I can believe things have changed: I just know what I'm told, and I trust you to do accurate research! ;-)

Good thing we didn't try to get Jackson and Bryan's PPs done in time for the guys to go to England by the 15th March!

Fingers crossed to you.

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Jon Carroll wrote a column about this not long ago - he had basically the same experience you are having. In his case it worked out OK; I forget how, but he managed to jump the queue. He reached similar conclusions.

We're all supposed to accept these little inconveniences because it's making us safer from The Terrorists. (Ooga-booga!) Not sure just how bungling the implementation of every initiative demonstrates that, but perhaps I lack faith.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

That's the column I was sort-of remembering (except I was thinking it was in one of my friends' LJs). Thanks for solving that question for me. (I'd tried to go hunt down the discussion but was looking in entirely the wrong places.) I think I've worked my way down to fatalistic about it: if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't happen, it isn't really taking anything away from me. It isn't like this was a personal trip where I'm going to miss some essential event.