How long to get a passport now?
 

Anybody apply for/or get their passport recently? How long did it take? I'm not sure if I should do expedited or not...

I don't know if this is recently enough for you, but I applied for my passport at the beginning of August, and had it in three weeks. I didn't expedite my passport, and I was shocked to get it so quickly. I filed it in Massachusetts...I'm not sure if where you file it makes a difference.

This lady I work with got hers in about three weeks. This was about a month ago.

Sounds like maybe the big backlog from last year is all settled. Thanks folks!

Allow yourself plenty of time, though the back up has cleared up. My boyfriend ordered his a couple months ago. While he got it in what I thought was a relatively quick amount of time, it was certainly longer than 3 weeks.

I applied for mine last year. But it was new- I had not gotten a passport since I was 10. The toughest part was the waiting at the post office. I think it took 6 weeks- if it is a renewal, it will probably take a lot less than that.

went for mine back in january and got mine expedited...had it it 6 weeks...just don't wait til 2 months before your trip and try it tho....and for the intial paperwork submission it does depend on where you go...in downtown DC there is a place around the corner from where I work that keeps a line daily of people trying to appply for one....if you know of a post office that is kind of out of the way that does passport paperwork, I suggest you go there.

Yeah, we have an out of the way post office that even does them on Saturday. My daughter will be travelling in June and I planned to do the application on the 8th, so I think she'll be just fine.

I applied the first week of this month (november) and got mine last week. I did not pay to have it expedited since we arent traveling outside the US until summer (hopefully to northern europe). Unless you need it asap i wouldnt pay the extra fee to have it expedited. It's expensive enough.

Alright, so I have two questions:

1) I'm applying for a passport for the first time. How long does this take?

2) Has anyone applied for Irish citizenship? I'm eligible and am thinking about doing the dual-citizenship thing just because I can.

When I applied for mine which was the first time this month and got it this month. I dont know the answer to question 2. However, if i was eligible for Irish citizenship I'd probably do it just because most of my ancestry is from Ireland and I'm proud of that.

Even with the backlog, I still had my passport within about 10 or 11 weeks. Getting it put in now should be no problem.

I just read in one of my local papers that the wait is back down to 3-6 weeks.
Back to normal. More or less.

Still, do not wait for the very last moment.

Also, if a member of AAA, you can get free photos.

Mine took 12-13 weeks because I messed up somewhere along the way...

Basically, to do it without screw-ups, go to your US Postal Service, act very ignorant like you have never been overseas, and let them do the work for you. Just bring 2 passport sized pictures from AAA, drug stores, or Kinko's FedEX.

Remember, if you need your passport VERY SOON, go directly to the US Postal Service--they are your greatest ally... When I went to them, I got all the help I needed. I should have started off with that. None of the other shipping companies could help...

I did dumb things, like failed to send the passport folks a cashier's check/money order...

Thanks again to all who replied. I feel better now! We are definitely going to our post office next Saturday to get it done. Since she has to have one, I'm going to go ahead and get mine and my son's also. Might as well just go through it all one time. It will make life easier if we want to go to Canada too. We're just going to get the photos done at Walgreen's. They are only charging about $8.. not too bad.

Here is the US Gov't site for passport info:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

I got a new passport (I had never had one before) in July, I Paid the extra 60$ and it took less than 3 weeks-seems that money talks! And this was in the middle of the huge backlog problem.

Hey Geeky- I can tell you something that may help you-
My fiance is from England and we were looking into both getting dual citizenship because it would be easier for traveling and whatnot.
However- he is eligible, no problems- but I am not. England does not care if you apply and the US will grant it, however if you are an American Citizen and do any paperwork to APPLY for citizenship then you AUTOMATICALLY renounce your American citizenship.

With that being said- there are people that manage to do it. I am not going to risk my US Citizenship, though. Also, for children that are born as a dual citizen (as ours will be) at the age of 18 they are SUPPOSED to choose one or the other. This doesn't usually happen, but that is actually the law.

Not sure if that helps/confuses more? I did go to Ireland and there were absolutely no issues getting in and everyone was wonderful. But just as a precaution I don't think I would get the citizenship and risk my American just in case, unless you plan on moving to Ireland and staying. Just my info and 2 cents!

Here is a helpful link for those of us who live in Maple Leaf Land:
http://www.ppt.gc.ca/

eta: I got mine through the "Simplified Renewal Process" in 16 days.

Sorry, but this isn't true for most people at all. I have lived in the UK for over ten years and successfully applied for British citizenship over two years ago, with absolutely no risk of losing my US citizenship. I used to work at the US embassy in London, so I do know for a fact that US citizens no longer automatically lose their citizenship when they acquire citizenship in another country. I wouldn't have done it otherwise.

Here's a link to the relevant section of the State Department website:

http://travel.state.gov/law/citizens...nship_778.html

And here's a direct quote from the US Embassy website:

"Dual nationality can occur as the result of a variety of circumstances. The automatic acquisition or retention of a foreign nationality, acquired, for example, by birth in a foreign country or through an alien parent, does not affect U.S. citizenship. It is prudent, however, to check with authorities of the other country to see if dual nationality is permissible under local law. Dual nationality can also occur when a person is naturalized in a foreign state without intending to relinquish U.S. nationality and is thereafter found not to have lost U.S. citizenship the individual consequently may possess dual nationality. While recognizing the existence of dual nationality and permitting Americans to have other nationalities, the U.S. Government does not endorse dual nationality as a matter of policy because of the problems which it may cause. Claims of other countries upon dual-national U.S. citizens often place them in situations where their obligation to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other. In addition, their dual nationality may hamper efforts to provide U.S. diplomatic and consular protection to them when they are abroad."

I hope that helps to dispel any myths out there! :)

Yay!
BTW-My fiance had a HELL of a time at the embassy there- we felt helpless!

But onwards- I read about four different views on it but haven't met anyone that RECENTLY tried to do dual nationalty.

In the end I think we may have to utilize his company's immigration lawyer because we both want to do dual nationality and they changed their minds and decided it is cheaper to get his green card based on our marriage... so now we have THOSE hoops to jump through! I don't think I can do the whole dual nationality thing, though, since we aren't planning on moving back there and I think I have to live in the UK for three years or something like that. Oh well, at least once we are married I can go through the immigration line with him instead of waiting at Heathrow for forty five minutes.

So, we applied for our passports on December 9th and received them on December 21st. Freaky, huh? I didn't pay for expedited either. The kids are all like "Let's go to Canada!" now...lol. They want to USE them.