Passport - why so scary

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I don't understand how it could take months to get a BC.. even if not for getting a passport everyone should have a certified copy of their BC. Also, everyone should have their SS card or a replacement stashed somewhere. As for the hassle involved for a passport you go online and complete and print the application. Stop at Walgreens, CVS, camera shops, Wally World or you can even take your own if you want. Then it's 10 minutes at your PO. 3 or 4 weeks later it's in your mailbox. a couple of days before or after your BC's are returned via your mail box. I even noticed a setup to take the pictures at the TA we used this time.

 

10 minutes at your Post Office?? Lucky you! When we got DD's passport, it was an hour and half at the Post Office! :eek:

[Warm Breezes]

I don't understand how it could take months to get a BC.. even if not for getting a passport everyone should have a certified copy of their BC. Also, everyone should have their SS card or a replacement stashed somewhere. As for the hassle involved for a passport you go online and complete and print the application. Stop at Walgreens, CVS, camera shops, Wally World or you can even take your own if you want. Then it's 10 minutes at your PO. 3 or 4 weeks later it's in your mailbox. a couple of days before or after your BC's are returned via your mail box. I even noticed a setup to take the pictures at the TA we used this time.

We went to the PO in our area that was listed on the internet as having Saturday hours for getting Passports. 25 minutes away....only to get there and find out that the internet neglected to mention that it was by appointment only. So we had to make an appointment for 3 weeks later (the earliest time they had available for Saturday which was the only day DH and I could go) and drive all the way back. Yes it was a hassle.

 

It took me 5 minutes to fill out the information to get my BC online and received it less than 2 weeks later.

[Putterdude]

I'm Canadian so mine only lasts 5 years and iirc is no cheaper than a US passport. I have no sympathy for the expense argument ;) don't even get me started on how hard it is to get somebody to take a picture that conforms to Canadian passport requirements in the South! Sears used to do them but now that they're closing their photo studios I guess I'm back to square one.

 

 

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As of July 1st, we will be able to get a 10 year passport...the cost will be $160...DW wonders if her estate will get a rebate if she dies before the passport expires. :)

I think people find the cost an issue as well as having to fill out the form and having photos taken. That said I have had a passport for at least 25 years and can't imagine not having one.

[RockeyBullwinkle]

I guess it's an advantage to live in a small town in Ohio..

Edited May 1, 2013 by RockeyBullwinkle

[Waterloomarc]

As of July 1st, we will be able to get a 10 year passport...the cost will be $160...DW wonders if her estate will get a rebate if she dies before the passport expires. :)

 

Thanks I didn't realize that. Good news.

 

 

 

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[MrsPete]

Yes, it is about risk vs reward. But be reminded that the birth certificate you need in place of a passport is an official government document with the raised seal, not the form the hospital hands out. The risk here is losing it for some reason. My experience has been that it is much more difficult to replace a government issued birth certificate than a government issued passport. Of the two, I would rather lose my passport, which I can get replaced in a matter of days, if not hours, than the birth certificate, which will take months.

I'd be interested to hear your experience with lost identification. You imply that you have personally lost both a birth certificate and a passport. That sounds like extraordinary bad luck.

 

Unless you're talking about a "souvenier copy" birth certificate from the hospital, which are pretty much an outdated concept (I have one from 1966), all birth certificates are government issued. Where would you get one except from the Registrar of Deeds at City Hall, which is a government agency?

 

If your big issue is concern about loss, consider that a person may own multiple copies of his birth certificate; if losing things is an issue for you, you could have a copy of your birth certificate in every suitcase and in your pocket. In contrast, you can only own one current passport at a time. When my girls were born, I ordered three copies of their birth certificates (I think they cost $3-4 each, and I thought it was worth a few dollars never to need to think about them again). I put one into their baby books, and I filed two away in the file cabinet. When they went to the DMV to get driver's licenses, I gave them one copy to keep in their own records. And I kept one copy for myself. IF we were to need an extra copy in an emergency situation, I could call a family member to go to my house, open up either the baby books or my file cabinet . . . and they could overnight a copy to me.

 

Also, a birth certificate can be replaced from afar, if necessary -- just like a passport. Two things would matter: You'd have to make the call during business hours at the Registrar of Deeds, and you'd need to know in what city/county the individual was born.

For others it not spending their money on something that is not required and has an extremely low chance of being needed. Somehow you guys keep missing the point.

Yep.

 

Consider: You plan to take a cruise. You do not plan any other international travel. The cruise can cost either $700 or $810. Same room, same itinerary, same everything. Which price do you wish to pay? It's not about having the money -- it's about using your money wisely.

 

If you plan other trips, great. You NEED the passport. But if you're looking at one cruise, it's about the money.

 

I figure the people without a passport, at least on these boards, should be aware of the risk. They have decided to take it. The overwhelming majority of them will not have a problem that requires them to fly and therefore obtain a passport while traveling.

 

It is their choice.

Totally, totally, totally agree. Everyone should know the potential risks and should be realistic about them. But, as you say, the overwhelming majority will be fine without a passport.

 

The passport card is for those individuals who know they will use it only for cruises, since it cannot be used for international travel.

 

For a family of four the passport card is $220. For a family of four purchasing the passport book it's over $500, so there is a bit of savings there. If you know that you are not going to travel overseas, the passport card would benefit the individual/families better. It just depends on if the passport card fits their needs.

Disagree. Of all the options, the passport card is the one that makes no sense at all. It doesn't give you the same privledges as a passport, yet it isn't free like the birth certificate. Why bother with it at all?

 

Disclaimer: I assume everyone has a copy of his or her birth certificate already at home. If not, why?

I don't spend money if I don't have to and for travel on a closed loop cruise I don't have to spend the money for a passport because there are alternatives. Kind of like I didn't buy car insurance until I had a car.

That analogy makes sense to me.

 

 

I guess it's an advantage to live in a small town in Ohio..

Respectfully, even if you only spent ten minutes actually filing the paperwork at the post office, you spent more than ten minutes on the total process: You had to download the paperwork, fill it out, write the check, go to Walgreen's to have pictures made and printed . . . or played with the proper sizing of pictures yourself for half an hour, then print them, and drive to the post office. No way your total process time was ten minutes. Edited May 5, 2013 by MrsPete

[RockeyBullwinkle]

I don't understand how it could take months to get a BC.. even if not for getting a passport everyone should have a certified copy of their BC. Also, everyone should have their SS card or a replacement stashed somewhere. As for the hassle involved for a passport you go online and complete and print the application. Stop at Walgreens, CVS, camera shops, Wally World or you can even take your own if you want. Then it's 10 minutes at your PO. 3 or 4 weeks later it's in your mailbox. a couple of days before or after your BC's are returned via your mail box. I even noticed a setup to take the pictures at the TA we used this time.

 

please don't cherry pick.. I listed all of the work involved and ended it with 10 minutes IN the PO. then the one line reply that you cherry picked was directly related to the post before it about the PO hassle they had with appts, etc. I can walk into my PO and at least 1/2 the time be the only customer there.

[Alliezona09]

On this thread, I see so many questions about people asking about the need for a passport when cruising to various destinations.

 

My question is in this day in age, why doesn't everybody have a passport? I mean the US requires foreign visitors to have one when coming to the US, so why is it so hard to understand that US citizens should have one when traveling abroad? And why do people chance it in going to a foreign country without a passport?

 

Opinions?

 

My husband does not fly~ so we will never travel overseas by airplane, a closed loop cruise does not require a PP at this time so he does not have one.

If we decided to cruise somewhere that he needed a PP he would get one, but until then he will cruise closed loop cruises with his BC~ I, on the other hand, have a PP, but I was born in Japan and do not like taking my BC with me since I would have to go through a lot of red tape to get another BC, if I happened to lose it~

[madelinerose]

Also, everyone should have their SS card or a replacement stashed somewhere.

 

Curious...why? When do you use it?

 

p.s. I have a passport. ;)

[CPT Trips]

Curious...why? When do you use it?

 

p.s. I have a passport. ;)

 

When completing an I-9 form?

[RockeyBullwinkle]

Curious...why? When do you use it?

 

p.s. I have a passport. ;)

 

well in Ohio you need one to get a DL and when you go to the SS office to start benefits. again why wouldn't everyone have the basic stuff stashed away. in case you drop dead your kids or next of kin will appreciate they don't have to go to the long drawn out process of getting everything in order. but, whatever floats your boat. also anyone we hired have to have either their SS card or a passport to prove they were not illegal.

Edited May 5, 2013 by RockeyBullwinkle

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Curious...why? When do you use it?

 

p.s. I have a passport. ;)

 

 

Starting a new job or competing on a game show. :D

[cassie55]

I got my passport when the cost wasn't as high as it is now, but my thinking about this whole passport thing is this. I was involved in 9/11 (I worked 3 blocks from the WTC) and after that horrible day, I truly believe that if you are traveling outside of the country for business or pleasure you should have a passport. Now I do understand that the cost of applying for a passport is very high. However, I went on the website for Passport Application and this is what I found. To apply for a passport it is $110, plus they add on $25 for execution fee, which brings the total to $135. There is also The U.S. Passport Card, which can be used to enter the US from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry. This is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The cost for the passport card is $30, plus an execution fee of $25, total cost $55. So to me, no excuse for people not to have some form of passport book or card. The U.S. has been to soft about letting people in and out of our country without proper identification, and we have paid the price dearly for this. Sorry, but what me, and thousands of others went through on 9/11, I'm just a touchy when it comes to identification.

 

A bit off topic but I don't understand your reasoning here - all the people involved where legally in the US with the correct passports and visas. Their ID was never in question.

 

And I'm someone who was extremely and intimately involved in 9/11.

Edited May 5, 2013 by cassie55

[CPT Trips]

well in Ohio you need one to get a DL and when you go to the SS office to start benefits. again why wouldn't everyone have the basic stuff stashed away. in case you drop dead your kids or next of kin will appreciate they don't have to go to the long drawn out process of getting everything in order. but, whatever floats your boat. also anyone we hired have to have either their SS card or a passport to prove they were not illegal.

 

You can start receiving Social Security by applying on-line. No need, or way, to show a card.

[navybankerteacher]

You can start receiving Social Security by applying on-line. No need, or way, to show a card.

 

Where did you get that information?

[madelinerose]

Starting a new job or competing on a game show. :D

 

I have never shown a SS card to start a new job or to renew my license. I've also never been on a game show. :D Doesn't it say right on the card that it's not to be used for identification? ;)

 

Where did you get that information?

 

Absolutely, you can apply online. ;)

 

http://www.ssa.gov/planners/about.htm

 

Sorry for the ot. This thread is about passports.

Edited May 5, 2013 by madelinerose

[paul929207]

I started collecting Social Security about 18 months ago. Applied online. Never went near an office.

[Elaine5715]

I'm beginning to think these "I don't or never need" a passport arguments come from a sense of entitlement. They are unwilling to plan for the unexpected because they do not believe they should be held accountable and that someone else will need to step up and resolve their problems.

Those who pronoun that another country will assist you if need be because "they don't want you" is very naive and suggests they believe these other countries are infected with the American sense of guilt. They are not.

[navybankerteacher]

I started collecting Social Security about 18 months ago. Applied online. Never went near an office.

 

Then they have loosened things up a lot since I had to produce ID and apply in person at a SS office when I started drawing in 2003. Perhaps the eased process might partially explain why SS is running out of funds.

[Lookingforfacts]

I'm beginning to think these "I don't or never need" a passport arguments come from a sense of entitlement. They are unwilling to plan for the unexpected because they do not believe they should be held accountable and that someone else will need to step up and resolve their problems.

Those who pronoun that another country will assist you if need be because "they don't want you" is very naive and suggests they believe these other countries are infected with the American sense of guilt. They are not.

 

I don't see that at all. Going for a passport involves an expense and an allocation of time. The amount of money spent on passports is money which could be spent on vacation related expenses.

 

Assume the family is taking a closed loop cruise and is driving to the port. The cost of a passport for kids is a significant % of the cost of the cruise.

 

The United States wouldn't allow citizens to use the "closed loop" exception if the US government wasn't willing to assist passengers who require emergency documentation in order to fly back due to unanticipated extraordinary circumstances. Expecting emergency assistance is expecting exactly what you're entitled to receive.

[paul929207]

I'm beginning to think these "I don't or never need" a passport arguments come from a sense of entitlement. They are unwilling to plan for the unexpected because they do not believe they should be held accountable and that someone else will need to step up and resolve their problems.

Those who pronoun that another country will assist you if need be because "they don't want you" is very naive and suggests they believe these other countries are infected with the American sense of guilt. They are not.

I think that is a little harsh.

 

These people are willing to take the risk that they will be delayed if they have an emergency need for a passport and that there will be extra expenses they will have to absorb. That is there choice. The odds are they will never be in one of these emergency situations.

 

Should one of them have such a problem and come complaining, they won't get much sympathy.

[zekekelso]

I'm beginning to think these "I don't or never need" a passport arguments come from a sense of entitlement. They are unwilling to plan for the unexpected because they do not believe they should be held accountable and that someone else will need to step up and resolve their problems.

 

Complete nonsense. Why do you feel the need to insult others?

[zekekelso]

These people are willing to take the risk that they will be delayed if they have an emergency need for a passport and that there will be extra expenses they will have to absorb. That is there choice. The odds are they will never be in one of these emergency situations.

 

Exactly.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I have never shown a SS card to start a new job or to renew my license. I've also never been on a game show. :D Doesn't it say right on the card that it's not to be used for identification? ;)

 

 

 

I don't recall anyone saying you could use it for identification...did they? I needed mine when I started my current job. But, that was about 7 years ago, so maybe it's not needed anymore. Years ago, a friend and I were going to get tickets to see the Price is Right. To be considered to be a contestant, you had to have your original SS card. I just looked and they no longer require that--just something "with your SS number on it." So, looks like it may not be necessary for game shows any longer either. :p

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I think that is a little harsh.

 

These people are willing to take the risk that they will be delayed if they have an emergency need for a passport and that there will be extra expenses they will have to absorb. That is there choice. The odds are they will never be in one of these emergency situations.

 

Should one of them have such a problem and come complaining, they won't get much sympathy.

 

 

Agree.

 

I never understand why people put so much meaning behind someone's choice to not get a passport. Until it's required to have one to go on a closed loop cruise, people are allowed to cruise without them. I travel internationally (usually at least once a year) so I have mine, but I certainly don't make character judgements about people who don't! :rolleyes: