Passport in Nevada!!?

Question

Is there anyone who applied a first passport using expedited service and currently got it in Nevada? How long did it take?

Answer 1

I was there a week ago. They told us that it will take about at least a month for expedited service. The regular way is six month. They cannot guarantee the time as well.

Waiting on passport? Here are some options
1. Pay for faster service. 2. Call congressman. 3. Hire an expediter.
BETH J. HARPAZ
Associated Press
Related Content

Need a passport in a hurry? Good luck!

You can pay extra for expedited service from the State Department, but there are no guarantees. You can ask for an appointment at a passport center, but you may not get one. You can ask your congressman to intervene. Or you can hire a private expediter.

The six-week process for obtaining a passport ballooned to 12 weeks when new regulations were imposed in January requiring passports for air travel from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean. In June, those rules were relaxed: Now Americans returning from those countries only need a receipt showing they applied for a passport.

But a backlog in processing passports remains. Here are options for desperate travelers.

• You can pay $60 plus overnight delivery fees for expedited service from the State Department. "The process can generally be completed in about two to three weeks," said Ann Barrett, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services.

Maura Harty, assistant secretary of consular affairs, said that "we regularly provide passports in one day or, in some cases, the same day, for travelers with urgent needs," including "life-and-death emergencies."

For leisure travel, Jessica Labaire of TNT Vacations in Boston said the expedited service "often works, but in many cases, it has not worked. It's been completely sporadic." Many TNT customers canceled trips this year when passports did not arrive in time. "We estimate a 10 to 20 percent loss in business because of this," she said.

• Try getting help or an appointment by phone. "We encourage applicants seeking expedited service to contact us first for an appointment. Depending on the situation, we may be able to provide expedited service without having them come to a passport office," said Barrett.

• You can contact your congressional representative.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who called the passport backlog "outrageous, incomprehensible, unconscionable" at a July 11 congressional hearing, has helped 100 constituents with passport problems.

• You can pay a private expediter. Some 200 private companies are authorized by the State Department to obtain passports on behalf of others, according to Robert Smith, director of the National Association of Passport and Visa Services. NAPVS represents 20 of the largest expediters, handling hundreds of thousands of passport applications a year.

Each company is allotted a quota of daily appointments at passport offices. But they can't fish your passport out of the bureaucracy if you've already applied, unless you cancel your original application and start the process over.

CIBT Inc. -- www.us.cibt.com -- the nation's largest expediter, charges $174 to get a passport in four days or more, and $254 for a "super-rush emergency," said spokesman Steven Diehl. "We've seen a 50 percent increase in passport work during the first six months of 2007."

CIBT deals mostly with tour operators and corporate clients, but has been able to accommodate most requests from the public, Diehl said.