Renewing expired passport

I might have screwed up big time. I was reading another thread, where a person was asking about the issuing authority, and I got my passport out to look at, just to see what it was on mine. I find that it expired last August.

Ordinarily, for most people, this probably isn't a hassle, but for me it might be. Ten years +, back when I got this, I found to my surprise that I didn't really exist. I'd had a copy of something that I thought was my birth certificate, but couldn't find that. Tried to get a certified copy from the state of Indiana, where I was born. They don't have me in their system at all. I went through a bunch of rigamaroll, trying to put together a body of proof and ended up with a census record from 1955 and notarized letters from my dad and my brother saying that I really was me.

So, what I'd like to know is what does one do to renew an expired passport? Should I go to the local passport office, and will they take the expired passport as proof of my existence. I feel really stupid, since I swore I'd never let the dang thang expire after going through so much grief to get it. Any suggestions would be very welcome. :o

You should be able to find everything to know at the US Dept. of State's website: http://travel.state.gov/passport/renew/renew_833.html :)

Since the expired passport was issued less than 15 years ago, it looks like I'm okay. Thanks for the link. I saw that expiration and kinda just freaked out. :)

When we renewed our passports it was just before they expired. We had to send those in with renewal fees,etc. It was just over a week when we got our new ones! Our old ones were sent back to us.

Interesting that they sent back the old ones! Thanks for the reply. :)

Interesting that they sent back the old ones! Thanks for the reply. :)

In the UK they send back the old ones, but cut the bottom corner off first so that you couldn't even try to use them by mistake or fraudulently! I guess that is in case they are picked up by criminals when / if they are discarded.

My US Passport was returned with two holes punch on the bottom of the face page. Older passports had small holes punched into them, too.

Darcy

U.S. Passports that are renewed have hole punched in them and are returned.

OP..... Take care of renewing it right away and you should be okay.

Please let us know. I am always interested to hear 'the rest of the story' in these circumstances.

Good luck but you likely will not have a problem.

Same thing happened to DH and the 2 year expired passport was all he needed to have it renewed as it was in the grace period... no muss no fuss no issues (and no new long form birth certificate needed :D) - now I always make sure to keep them both up to date.

I will come back and tell you all how it worked out. Hopefully, it won't be a problem. Or ... well .... maybe they'll lose it and tell me I have to apply for a new one. :D

OP good luck. But as a precautions make sure you make a copy of your passport before you send it off. Having the info, including your passport number would be a help if they lose it. Also, I would send it out return receipt or registered to be sure they get it.

OP good luck. But as a precautions make sure you make a copy of your passport before you send it off. Having the info, including your passport number would be a help if they lose it. Also, I would send it out return receipt or registered to be sure they get it.

Oh, I plan on doing both those things! :)

Interesting that they sent back the old ones! Thanks for the reply. :)

They will punch holes in the old one so you can't use it. If I remember right, when I renewed my old one, I had to request that they send back the old one. Seeing as that was my first passport and it actually had stamps in it, I wanted to save it for my future scrapbook that currently only exists in my head! (And until my kids are both out of the house will probably stay that way!):D

I renewed mine in Jan. It wouldn't have expired until the end of Feb. I had it back in two weeks, but still haven't received the old one back (got the new a week ago) nor the passport card I requested also. EM

I renewed mine in Jan. It wouldn't have expired until the end of Feb. I had it back in two weeks, but still haven't received the old one back (got the new a week ago) nor the passport card I requested also. EM

They mail them separately and you likely will get the old passport and the passport card in a week or two.

Seeing you don't live in a border state, meaning you would drive across to Canada or Mexico often, I'm interested what you will do with the passport card? Use it for photo ID in place of drivers license for port security checks?

In the UK they send back the old ones, but cut the bottom corner off first so that you couldn't even try to use them by mistake or fraudulently! I guess that is in case they are picked up by criminals when / if they are discarded.

Our old NZ passports were returned with the top RH corner cur off and a huge red sticker on them that said "Cancelled".

I discovered just a couple of days ago that I will have to renew my passport before I leave on a TA cruise in October, and plan to do so when I get back from a cruise next month.

Does anyone know if there's any problem from the US Dept of State with renewing more than 6 months before the expiration date?

I checked the website and nowhere that I could find on it does it mention any restrictions re: amount of time to renew in advance of the expitarion date.

I discovered just a couple of days ago that I will have to renew my passport before I leave on a TA cruise in October, and plan to do so when I get back from a cruise next month.

 

Does anyone know if there's any problem from the US Dept of State with renewing more than 6 months before the expiration date?

I checked the website and nowhere that I could find on it does it mention any restrictions re: amount of time to renew in advance of the expitarion date.

You can renew in advance with no problems. Since there are countries requiring passports to have 6 months remaining validity, it's very common to have to renew them earlier than 6 months prior to expiration in order to meet those requirements.

They mail them separately and you likely will get the old passport and the passport card in a week or two.

 

Seeing you don't live in a border state, meaning you would drive across to Canada or Mexico often, I'm interested what you will do with the passport card? Use it for photo ID in place of drivers license for port security checks?

I also got the passport card the last time we renewed. I realize there is little they are offically good for other than land crossings to Canada or Mexico, but I just wanted some backup ID. Once in an airport on a domestic flight I thought I'd lost my drivers license (found it in time to make the flight) and since then I'd meant to get some backup ID to carry when I was traveling. A state ID card would have cost a little less but since I was doing the passport renewal it was convenient to get the passport card.

I discovered just a couple of days ago that I will have to renew my passport before I leave on a TA cruise in October, and plan to do so when I get back from a cruise next month.

 

Does anyone know if there's any problem from the US Dept of State with renewing more than 6 months before the expiration date?

I checked the website and nowhere that I could find on it does it mention any restrictions re: amout of time to renew in advance of the expitarion date.

My last renewal I renewed a little over a year before it expired. I had been using it with my marriage license (didn't get it changed in first year after married so wasn't going to be free.) The new expiration date is 10 years from renewal...not 10 years from old expiration, so I hadn't been willing to lose those extra years! But I was going to Canada and decided to renew.

I discovered just a couple of days ago that I will have to renew my passport before I leave on a TA cruise in October, and plan to do so when I get back from a cruise next month.

 

Does anyone know if there's any problem from the US Dept of State with renewing more than 6 months before the expiration date?

I checked the website and nowhere that I could find on it does it mention any restrictions re: amount of time to renew in advance of the expitarion date.

There is no problem renewing early. In order to obtain visas for tours planned in Asia and in Russia (different cruises), we needed empty visa pages. The cost for more pages is very high, so it was better to get new passports for the next 10 years. We sent for new passports 14 months before they expired and received them within two weeks.

I will come back and tell you all how it worked out. Hopefully, it won't be a problem. Or ... well .... maybe they'll lose it and tell me I have to apply for a new one. :D

Can you renew yours at your courthouse? I am only asking because I know I can go to the court house at our parish seat (county to you) and get mine renewed. It beats mailing it in.

Can you renew yours at your courthouse? I am only asking because I know I can go to the court house at our parish seat (county to you) and get mine renewed. It beats mailing it in.

I'm curious why you think it beats mailing the application in (other than saving a bit on postage)? They can accept your application, but they can't actually issue your renewal passport. It still has to be issued by the regional passport office serving your area of the country. They're just going to forward the application to the proper issuing office.