goverment shutdown affect passport

[morenito0211]

Sent my moms application last Friday and received the new passport yesterday. So no, they are not closed.

[leaveitallbehind]

Sent my moms application last Friday and received the new passport yesterday. So no, they are not closed.

 

As posted by others, if the passport office is in a Federal building and the employees cannot access their office then those applications can't be processed. So not sure it's accurate to say that they are not closed - some may be.

[jollycruise]

We live in Colorado and my Mom received her passport yesterday. At first hers was declined due to a name change. She had to send in more paperwork which happened on the day the shutdown started, but she got it! Hooray!

[Shorex]

Rather than speculate or believe the evening news, how about asking the State Department? Oh wait, here's what their website says:

 

 

• In the event of a lapse in appropriations, the Department of State will continue passport and visa operations as well as provide critical services to U.S. citizens overseas.
  
• Processing time for passport applications remain at four weeks or less for routine service and two weeks door-to-door for expedited service.
  

Need more?

 

ROUTINE SERVICE

As of ( Sunday October 6, 2013 ), we are processing routine applications in an average of 4 weeks or less from the time of application.

 

EXPEDITED SERVICE

As of ( Sunday October 6, 2013 ), we are processing requests for expedited service in an average of 2 weeks door-to-door, when overnight delivery is requested and paid for both ways (to and from the passport agency)*.

 

Need even MORE???

 

My own passport is in the process of getting new pages added. I checked for the status online and guess what? I got this message:

 

Thank you for submitting your application for a U.S. passport book! It is currently being processed.

Your passport application locator number is xxxxxxxxx.

 

And I can expect it to be returned within the standard processing time -- because that is the message I just got from the State Department -- which is open for passport processing.

 

Want to know about regional passport offices? Yes, the Houston passport agency is temporarily closed. How do I know this? It's posted on the State Department website. All of the other ones are open.

 

Whoever has a passport application in process -- go online and get a status update. It's simple. But I guess it's more fun to wildly speculate, I'd rather get the facts from the source.

[familycruiser01]

Thanks Shorex for the facts and information. We don't leave until January, but my darling BF hasn't sent in his application yet - guess what he is doing tomorrow?? LOL Good to know that we won't be scrambling at the last minute!!

[98Charlie]

And apparently the Houston agency is actually operating. It is "Closed to the Public" and has been since September 23 for renovations.

 

Charlie