How to get my passport quickly?

August 21, 2006 2:38 PM

I'm traveling from incessantHQ Los Angeles to Armenia on September 9th and I need to renew my passport right quick and I need a visa but the next available appointment at my local passport agency isn't for another week. So should I go with one of those passport expediting services like these guys? Has anyone used a service like this before? What are my best options in this situation?

This guy needed a passport in a day, the government says they can get my passport to me in a couple of weeks, but is their turn-around time really that swift? The NYT seems to think the expedited services are alright. And can someone sniff out if this on-line Armenian visa application is kosher? Seems a little too good to be true, doesn't it?

posted by incessant to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I don't know about passport renewals, but I recently used passportvisaexpress.com to acquire a Russian visa in fairly short order. I paid for the cheap (2 week) service, and they handled the visa support (invitation) and the visa itself in 12 days start-to-finish. I received very personal service and email updates from one of their people, which was reassuring considering I started the process a little late.

Does this apply to your passport or a trip to Armenia? Dunno. But I would agree that some expedited services are trustworthy.
posted by rlk at 2:55 PM on August 21, 2006

I (rather my employer) used Briggs before for a Chinese business visa. Depending on how quickly you need your passport, and how much you want to pay, an agent from Briggs will literally walk your paperwork through the embassy.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:10 PM on August 21, 2006

Incessant, I spend a lot of time in Armenia. If you have any travel questions, please drop me a line. E-mail is in the profile.

Yes, the e-visa is legit. Just remember to print out your actual visa when you get the e-mail confirmation. A lot of people just print out a copy of the e-mail that confirms that you have gotten a visa. This has happened to at least 3 times with people in front of me at the e-visa line. The airport has no internet, so there is no way to print out your visa while you're there and the visa processors won't take your e-mail alone.

How long are you going? You can also get a tourist visa at the airport, but the e-visa is just as fast. I prefer it now.

Again, if you need other help, drop me a line. I have lived in AM on and off for years and am well acquainted with travel issues there.
posted by k8t at 4:05 PM on August 21, 2006

I second the recommendation of A. Briggs, as above. I've had a few dicey, stressful situations involving Russian and Brazilian visas and A. Briggs was helpful and fantastic in making sure everything was okay. For one tight squeeze they even offered to have my visa delivered by courier to the airport that I was connecting in. Thank goodness I didn't need them to do this, but it was nice to know they were willing to go to such extremes to make sure I would get the visa on time.
posted by General Zubon at 6:46 PM on August 21, 2006

I got my passport in one day. It was excrutiating waiting for the appointment, but they can make the actual passport quickly. You have to bring confirmation of your flight (like a ticket, though IIRC I brought the official flight info email from my travel agent). I had the interview, and picked the passport up the next day on my lunch.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on August 21, 2006

It can be done. And it wasn't too much of a hassle.

I got my passport renewed (with 48 pages instead of the standard 24 for free, just by asking!) at the Los Angeles Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd - it's the giant white building on the "UCLA side," right off the 405. I made the appointment on the over-the-phone system. I had my passport appointment on Wednesday afternoon, got the passport the next day (but could have picked it up earlier the next day in person had I wanted to), and drove to San Francisco that night to get an Indian visa printed in my passport, which I dropped off at 10 in the morning and picked up at 4 in the afternoon. I think it was something like $158 all in, including the expediting fee, which was cheaper than the commercial forms offering the same services, if I recall.

The passport office itself was a huge bank of windows with plenty of people in the exact same situation as you. Great people watching. It was kind of cold in there. And do bring a book - my appointment was something like 1:30, and my number was called at 3:00. I don't think you could bring food in, either, so grab a sandwich on your way in: it's Westwood, so you should be able to find something quick to nosh on.

Good luck!
posted by mdonley at 4:10 AM on August 22, 2006

Er, "UCLA side" as in not the "heading-toward-the-ocean side". It's on the south side of Wilshire.
posted by mdonley at 4:11 AM on August 22, 2006

My wife needed her passport renewed in something like a week [grandmother suddenly at death's door in Germany] a couple years ago. We found this out on Saturday. I spent the day on the phone with the Passport Office in Washington, and came to the conclusion that driving to Chicago [we're near Mpls] on Monday was the thing to do.

We got the pictures and stuff together, then I called back on Sunday afternoon to double-check and make sure we had all the pieces of paper we were going to need before driving to Chicago. The person I was speaking to went over the details with me, then said, "I'll tell you what. Send the package directly to me and I'll make sure you have it by Wednesday." We drove to the 24-hour Post Office at the airport and Express-mailed it to Suzanne Whoever at the State Department in Washington DC at 11:30 Sunday night [we did pay the usual expedite fee].

Katie's passport arrived on Tuesday. Maybe make a few phone calls.
posted by chazlarson at 10:29 AM on August 22, 2006

An update for those who find their way here in the same pickle as I was...

After the suggestions from the as-always-remarkably-helpful blokes around here, I made my way to A. Briggs and their website and fired off all my stuff to get my passport. Costly, yes, but worth it... kinda. I was leaving on Saturday, they sent out the passport Wednesday, and it arrived on Thursday... but not to my house. They incorrectly addressed the package and it was at a DHL holding facility across town, so on Friday I had to ditch everything, drop my preparations for the trip and my last vestiges of work, and truck cross town to go to the DHL facility to pick it up myself. This sort of time-suck was exactly what I was looking to avoid in using the expediting service. I got the passport, but have yet to receive a reply to my complaint e-mail to A. Briggs. I would caution against using them for your passport expediting needs, as this kind of clerical error is careless and could've turned out far worse than it did.

P.S. Armenia was rather awesome, in case anyone cares. Look for a link in mefi projects in the next couple of weeks.
posted by incessant at 4:11 PM on September 27, 2006