Passport Requests Impacted by Katrina

[picktowncruzr]

This info may help some people - - sure helped me when I found out today! The only copy of my birth certificate is floating in New Orleans somewhere!!

The New Orleans Passport Agency is CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE due to impact of Hurricane Katrina.

In order to assist customers whose applications are being processed by the New Orleans Passport Agency:

 

• If you applied BEFORE August, 25, 2005 at an Acceptance Facility in the New Orleans Passport Agency Region (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia (except DC suburbs including the Cities of Alexandria and Falls Church and the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Prince William, and Stafford), Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico), OR
  
• If you applied BEFORE August, 25, 2005 at an Acceptance Facility in Southern California (all Counties South of and including San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino), Clark County, Nevada, New York City, and Long Island, AND
  
• You are traveling within the next 4 weeks and submitted your passport application from any of the above listed locations, THEN
  

Please contact the National Passport Information Center (NPIC), toll-free, at 1-877-487-2778 (TDD/TTY 1-888-874-7793) to get specific information on how to proceed in getting your passport.

[cherun]

Thanks for this information, my husband is still waiting for his to come. Guess we will get another birth certificate, he doesn't have to have it this cruise anyway.

[wrp96]

This should also serve as notice to people that are waiting to apply for passports. With one passport office completely shut down until further notice, the waiting times for passports will most likely increase dramatically.

[judyzoo]

Looks like we're lucky on this one -- DH's renewal application went to Pittsburgh, not to New Orleans; and his new passport arrived yesterday. We're also lucky -- extremely lucky -- because all we got from Katrina was her category 1 winds and no flooding.

[bsdmhutch]

I received my passport on Monday afternoon... it had gone through NOLA:(

[TidePrideGA]

Thanks for this! I just called as my passport application and DS's are - you guessed it - sitting in NOLA. They said "don't do anything, don't worry, we'll have Plan B-Z in place in a couple of weeks". They are only actually doing anything for folks travelling within 14 days right now.

 

DH hasn't applied for his yet (birth certificate issue) and I asked about processing time. She said they'll just farm them out to other locations, but it shouldn't affect processing time by much, if any.

 

Take that with a grain of salt... I did.

[KalenaD]

That happened to my husband when the mississippi flooded a few years ago. He had no birth certificate, we were going to mexico and the county where he was born was COMPLETELY underwater. This was pre 9/11 so fortunately they accepted his license and voters registration, it took over a year to get it.They weren't on computer yet so we had to wait until the town dried up. Will be interesting to see if the passport requirements are put on hold by this.

[Loves_Dogs]

My son and I applied for our passports Tuesday afternoon. The lady at the Post Office told me she could give me no time frame for getting the passports as they were normally sent to New Orleans. Lucky for me (or unlucky I should say), our next cruise isn't until 6/06, so we should be fine. I'm glad I didn't wait until the last minute to apply. I guess you never know what could happen.

[picktowncruzr]

We cruise on 9/18 so we have no chance of getting a passport unless we want to drive to Chicago and do an in person application - - then they said they may feel sorry for us and give us one while we wait. We each called our birth states (CA & NM) and they were VERY accommodating. We had to pay more $, but we should have BCs within 7 days. In the grand scheme of things, we're lucky this was the only way Katrina impacted us. We wish the best to those who would much rather be processing our PP for us!!

[Loves_Dogs]

We cruise on 9/18 so we have no chance of getting a passport unless we want to drive to Chicago and do an in person application - - then they said they may feel sorry for us and give us one while we wait. We each called our birth states (CA & NM) and they were VERY accommodating. We had to pay more $, but we should have BCs within 7 days. In the grand scheme of things, we're lucky this was the only way Katrina impacted us. We wish the best to those who would much rather be processing our PP for us!!

 

Hi Picktown-

I just realized you're a Buckeye too .. We're nearly neighbors...I live far north Westerville/Polaris area.

[picktowncruzr]

Absolutely! Go Bucks!

[Ehpride]

I wondered about this too. Thankfully, all three of us cruising in January already have our passports, but I really feel for the people whose records and bc's are in NO.

[Starfire_rules]

I'm glad I got mine back in July. It came from down there. I feel so horribly for all those affected by Katrina.

Unfortunately my DBF didn't apply for hers until just this week:eek: . I just looked at her and shook my head. Well, guess she won't have hers until after the cruise.

[ppeckham]

My husband is a goverment employee. His next paycheck may be delayed as the payroll processing is done in NO. Good thing I'm working and we have a little set aside for emergencies.

[Gryphon]

Just called and checked.. DH's passport is underwater in New Orleans. They said to call back in 3 weeks since our cruise doesn't leave until after that. The guy on the phone said that everything in New Orleans was "secured" but didn't know what if anything was destroyed. The Passport office has extended their hours of their phone center. They are now open from 7 am - midnight EST.