Longest wait for a new passport?

[cnvh]

For anyone who has applied for a new (i.e., non-renewal) passport in the last 6 months, what's been the longest wait to recieve it?

 

DH and I applied for our passports back in June, for our October 31st sailing on the Noordam-- which left 19+ weeks for them to arrive. I am normally paranoid by nature anyway :), so of course I am on pins and needles waiting to get our passports... our TA has assured us that birth certificates will suffice if our passports don't arrive in time, but I remember reading in the HAL literature that passports are required. And I know I can print off the "application receipt" from the passport.gov website, but apparently those receipts are only being honored through September 30th.

 

We're sailing out of (and returning to) NYC, which doesn't require us to fly anywhere, and I know the Caribbean isn't requiring passports until 2008, so the only instance where we would NEED them would be in case of having to take an emergency flight home.

 

So, has anyone out there had to wait longer than 19 weeks for a first-issue passport??????

[sail7seas]

That is, indeed, a long time.

 

Have you checked the status at the Government site?

 

Try: http://www.state.gov/m/a/dir/forms/ to see the status.

 

Good luck.

[bruceh4]

You can check the status of your passport at the following website:

 

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/status/status_2567.html

 

19 weeks is the longest I have heard of.

[1055]

Mine took 10 weeks and my husband's took 12 weeks. We applied in March (I think). Good luck!

[temple10]

wow!! thats a long time. I went and got ours about 6 months ago, and before I left the office I said to the gentleman so how long does it take to recieve these? about six weeks? and he said oh no you should have them in about 3 weeks. I was shocked when he said that. but needless to say I had them in 4 1/2 weeks. Christine:)

[cnvh]

Sorry if I was unclear-- we haven't actually WAITED 19 weeks yet; that is just the time period between when we submitted our applications and when we cruise. I'm just hoping no one ELSE has had to wait longer than 19 weeks for their first passport!!

 

The government website still says they're being processed.

[ore-ee-gun]

DH received his passport 14 weeks after applying; he had been told it would take 10. :rolleyes:

[Orlandocruiser]

My renewal passport took 11 weeks from my mailing it to my receiving it. (mailed it Feb 26, 2007 received it May 14)

[Nursekaye]

Apparently the length of time it takes to get you passport depends to some extent on where you apply for it. I applied for mine March 20 and I didn't receive it until June 30. The daughter of a friend of mine had hers in less than a month. We applied in different cities in different states.

[lb0103]

It took us 15 weeks for renewals, we were told new or renew did not make a difference. I thought that odd in that I thought they would check out new ones more closely than renew, but what do I know.

 

The website will give you calming effect of knowing they got them. The week ours were shipped it did say shipped, so that should be your clue.

 

Also they say the backlog is gone so unless they didn't receive them, check the web, by 19 weeks you should have them in hand.

[LegalSailor]

My renewal took 10 weeks at the non-expedited pace, and my younger sister went to Spain last week, her first time passport took 14 weeks, and that seems to be the upper range that I've seen.

 

They are now saying that renewals should take no more than 5 and new ones should take no more than 8...but it is the feds so I'd be uneasy about that!

 

19 weeks though should be plenty of time. I wont tell you not to worry, but go pour yourself a scotch and forget about it!;)

[WillieF]

Talking of passports - any Canadians out there who applied to Ottawa for renewal?

 

I did mine mid-July and nothing so far. Begin to think I should have spent the day at our local Passport office. I've checked and ascertained that the application was received two days after it was mailed (Registered Mail of course).

 

Anyone know who I should contact in Ottawa? - I'm thinking my MP. No immediate rush but considering original birth certificate, expired passport etc. etc. had to be submitted, I'm becoming a little concerned.

[Two if by Sea]

The government claimed last week that the passport backlog is officially over. That would mean that you shouldn't have to wait more than about 6 weeks anymore for a regular application or 2 weeks for a rush job.

 

If by some mischance you do NOT get your passports within 2 weeks of sailing, then you have to go in person to a passport office (with an appointment) to get them done more or less on the spot.

 

We renewed in August using "rush" and got them in exactly 2 weeks.

[cnvh]

I'm the one who started this thread... I should have dug it up and updated it, but I neglected to do so-- oops!

 

Hubby and I got our passports a couple of weeks ago-- it took 1 day less than 13 weeks from the day we applied. So that was a big relief... now we're just waiting for our cruise docs to arrive. A lot of others on our roll call have already received theirs (for our 10/31 sailing); we booked through AAA and as of yet, no word on their arrival. I believe our TA at AAA said they would get there about 1-2 weeks before our departure date, so I guess I'm not officially allowed to start getting impatient yet! :)

[Palm Beacher]

My friend applied for his passport in April '07 and only just received it last Saturday, 9/15...he leaves in two weeks.

[Bramcruiser]

Talking of passports - any Canadians out there who applied to Ottawa for renewal?

 

I did mine mid-July and nothing so far. Begin to think I should have spent the day at our local Passport office. I've checked and ascertained that the application was received two days after it was mailed (Registered Mail of course).

 

I did and it took three months. I mailed my passport application to Ottawa back in December 2006 well in advance of the August 2007 cruise in Europe. The passport came to me exactly three months to the day I first mailed it - in March 2007.

 

I see that the Canadian government has finally changed the system recently to allow one to renew without going through the process of obtaining a brand new passport every 5 years. Unfortunately, those already in the system are going to go through painstakingly slow. The system is majorly overloaded in Canada too.

 

Willie, how long have you been waiting?

 

David