Visa company loses passport, what now?
August 23, 2010 5:34 PM Subscribe
My friend is in a tough situation. They are moving to China to teach English but have been beset by issues that crop up constantly. The latest major issue, with a flight only three days away is the loss of their passport by Same Day Passports. Advice desperately needed! More inside...
The short story of the long story is that my friend got rejected for her original visa application to go to China. She had to reapply and due to the time constraints (she was informed by the company with 10 days to spare) used the aforementioned service. She applied for a business visa with the school assuring her they would work out the long-term vise when she arrives. The passport was mailed through USPS last week and there was a confirmation that it was delivered to the company on Thursday (no signature was required). The company seems reputable through the Better Business Bureau.
However, today she called to confirm and they stated that they never received her passport and then accused her of being irresponsible for using the USPS despite their stating on the website that "FedEx UPS/DHL or any other mail service provider" is fine for delivery. She has a very short time but it is 99% probable that it is necessary to postpone the ticket. She can postpone it but it is going to cost to change the ticket and she only has 10 days before school starts. So on to the questions:
1) How should she approach the lost passport? Does anyone know the law regarding this (the office is in California)?
2) Once the passport is found/replaced, should she just try for a travel visa or continue to pursue the business visa with her invitation from the school?
3) Any other suggestions that are near-topic?
The short story of the long story is that my friend got rejected for her original visa application to go to China. She had to reapply and due to the time constraints (she was informed by the company with 10 days to spare) used the aforementioned service. She applied for a business visa with the school assuring her they would work out the long-term vise when she arrives. The passport was mailed through USPS last week and there was a confirmation that it was delivered to the company on Thursday (no signature was required). The company seems reputable through the Better Business Bureau.
However, today she called to confirm and they stated that they never received her passport and then accused her of being irresponsible for using the USPS despite their stating on the website that "FedEx UPS/DHL or any other mail service provider" is fine for delivery. She has a very short time but it is 99% probable that it is necessary to postpone the ticket. She can postpone it but it is going to cost to change the ticket and she only has 10 days before school starts. So on to the questions:
1) How should she approach the lost passport? Does anyone know the law regarding this (the office is in California)?
2) Once the passport is found/replaced, should she just try for a travel visa or continue to pursue the business visa with her invitation from the school?
3) Any other suggestions that are near-topic?
Best answer: I can only advise for the passport, but here's what I would do:
It sounds like she'll want to file a form DS-64 (available here):
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds64/ds64_845.html
and form DS-11:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds11/ds11_842.html
If she's anywhere near Los Angeles or San Francisco (I somehow doubt the Honolulu or Seattle offices would be more convenient), go there and track down one of the below-listed passport agencies:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/npic/agencies/agencies_913.html
They can do same-day passport renewal under the circumstances she's in. She'll need current driver's license and birth certificate at least -- check all the requirements first.
A friend of mine from high school redlined his way up to Seattle, got his passport, redlined his way back down to Portland to catch his flight, all in the same day. It is possible.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:50 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
It sounds like she'll want to file a form DS-64 (available here):
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds64/ds64_845.html
and form DS-11:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds11/ds11_842.html
If she's anywhere near Los Angeles or San Francisco (I somehow doubt the Honolulu or Seattle offices would be more convenient), go there and track down one of the below-listed passport agencies:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/npic/agencies/agencies_913.html
They can do same-day passport renewal under the circumstances she's in. She'll need current driver's license and birth certificate at least -- check all the requirements first.
A friend of mine from high school redlined his way up to Seattle, got his passport, redlined his way back down to Portland to catch his flight, all in the same day. It is possible.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:50 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Having poked around the sameday passport site again, I would be totally surprised if it wasn't a pure scam. It takes generations to load, none of the links are active, the contacts are to ____@yahoo.com - even the BBB links are just dead images. I would report the passport as lost or stolen and keep an eye out for identity theft.
Sorry that I don't know anymore statistics.
posted by Think_Long at 5:53 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Sorry that I don't know anymore statistics.
posted by Think_Long at 5:53 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
err . . . not statistics, I meant to say "sorry that I don't have any more advice"
posted by Think_Long at 6:06 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 6:06 PM on August 23, 2010
Response by poster: The link for the Los Angeles office is: here which has links, I am not sure why their main site doesn't.
posted by occidental at 6:35 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by occidental at 6:35 PM on August 23, 2010
Think Long, I used them in Austin to get my Russian visa a few years ago. Totally legit but not necessarily blazing any trails on their website (none of the links were dead to me, the bbb one goes to:http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/business-reviews/passport-and-visa-services/same-day-passport-and-visa-services-in-austin-tx-90043918
Having said that, if the passport was truly lost, it is good advice for the OP to be on the lookout for identity theft since their passport is out in the wild somewhere.
posted by birdherder at 6:38 PM on August 23, 2010
Having said that, if the passport was truly lost, it is good advice for the OP to be on the lookout for identity theft since their passport is out in the wild somewhere.
posted by birdherder at 6:38 PM on August 23, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice all, the office found the passport after repeatedly asking them to look. The owner of the company was very helpful once he got involved and successfully mitigated total frustration.
posted by occidental at 4:07 PM on August 25, 2010
posted by occidental at 4:07 PM on August 25, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Well, tell them to check again. They for sure want not to see this incident reported on the web.
It should IMHO not be a problem describing the problem to the Chinese embassy and having the VISA reissued. Instead of getting a new passport it may be possible to get a second passport (hence not having the first passport declared invalid. This may be of advantage if the first passport turns up again. I know that it is possible to have two passports issued in the US but I am not sure that this may be a situation that justifies this.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:43 PM on August 23, 2010