# Fuck the passport offices in Florida, and the State Department **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 17, 2015, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548 "2015-09-17T08:39:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/21 "2015-09-17T11:13:11Z")
The passport person at your courthouse almost certainly did not say that you needed proof of travel _until_ you told him you wanted expedited service. There is no requirement of having travel plans to simply apply for a passport in the standard way. I recently got a new passport because I had let the old one lapse. I was considering getting it expedited even though I had no specific plans to leave the country within the next month or so. That’s when I found out that you can not get expedited service unless you have an [urgent need](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/expedited.htmlhttp://). That means that you must have an airline ticket already purchased. > [@](#): > > You can request expedited service by mail or apply in person. Generally, you will receive your passport in three weeks, or sooner, if you can show an urgent need. Expedited service will cost an additional $60, plus any delivery costs. That’s where you ran into trouble. You apparently told them that waiting the standard amount of time wasn’t acceptable and then they told you how to get expedited service. The way to get that is to produce an airline itinerary, which you didn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/22 "2015-09-17T11:37:47Z")
**Pizza** , it sounds very horrible what has happened to you. I was lucky – it was easy to get a passport 40 years ago and I’ve never needed anything to renew it except a photo and the old passport. Another Doper, **grude** , recently complained that he has no documents to renew his expired passport. I’m now a little worried for my teenage son who has never had a passport and wasn’t born in the U.S. But I think others are right – you’re dealing with some private organization which is not the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Post Office. Why do such faux-organizations exist and why do they impose such horrendous rules? (I wonder if Congress decided it would be more capitalistic to outsource passport work, like it now outsources prisons, military, etc.) Unfortunately, if you start from scratch and contact U.S. Dept. of State, you may have to kiss your already-paid application fees good-bye. _ **I agree that you should focus on contacting your Congressman and hope he can straighten this out.** _ What a horrible experience. My sympathies to you. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/23 "2015-09-17T11:39:00Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > They have misrepresented what is required by law to obtain a passport to me from the beginning. > > That has to be a criminal offense of some kind. Do you have a funny name (Hussein, Mohamed, etc.)? Are you melanin-advantaged? Unibrow? It’s probably your fault. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/24 "2015-09-17T11:42:17Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m now a little worried for my teenage son who has never had a passport and wasn’t born in the U.S. I’d suggest that you get started now on getting him one, while you have time to work out the inevitable problems. Once he has a passport, renewal is, as you say, much easier. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/25 "2015-09-17T11:49:07Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Why do such faux-organizations exist and why do they impose such horrendous rules? If you need a passport oh-shit-right-now but you aren’t anywhere near a passport agency, you can overnight your documents to these places and pay them to go deal with the passport office for you. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/26 "2015-09-17T12:20:23Z")
Thanks for your input everyone, so far you’ve shown me a lot about this process I didn’t know. (I didn’t know anything at all about it until I got started a couple months back…) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/27 "2015-09-17T12:25:05Z")
I’m trying to figure out why the state of Florida is involved. Passports are federal documents. Processing them is always a federal function. Usually at a post office. I’ve gotten passports for minor children, and although slow, it’s not that hard. The inconvenient part is both parents have to sign in the forms in front of the processing agent. And only a few post offices do the processing anymore. Of course my kids got passports as soon as they got their birth certificates (at about 6 months old, because California can’t be arsed to do it any faster). ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/28 "2015-09-17T12:25:22Z")
OP, another vote for contacting your Congressperson and Senators’ offices. Yes there should be a method to get over a simple error. > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > There is no requirement of having travel plans to simply apply for a passport in the standard way. Correcto. Simply applying for a passport with no short term travel plans requires no evidence of booked travel. _Expedited service_ does require you to explain why you want it. Neither when first applying nor when replacing a lost one was that required of me. And I had it in my hands within a month and a half. But then you get the pitfall: expedited service gets your papers (a) looked at in a rushed manner while (b) at the same time looking for anything funny in them. That’s a recipe for calamity, for some office drone to go into “flag everything that’s not obviously perfect, we got two hundred of these to move today” mode. Especially in the case of the Florida Passport Office (meaning the one _ **in** _ Florida, **Pleonast** , not one run by Florida), as a location with a high population of native and naturalized and mixed-citizenship customers (many of them of them very recent arrivals) who travel internationally more than, say, Nebraskans, they get a large volume of applications both regular and expedited and on top of that they have to deal with a large army of those middlemen agents showing up at the door with their own mailsacks full of applications. > [@septimus](#): > > I’m now a little worried for my teenage son who has never had a passport and wasn’t born in the U.S. He needs to start his application while NOT being in any sort of hurry or rush or need. Heck, start now (I forget at what age they switch from the short-duration minors’ passport to the 10-year adult passport, but it’s worth it to already have one in hand) and when it’s time to renew, renew with a comfortable time margin; countries you visit usually want it to be good for 6 months into the future. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/29 "2015-09-17T12:29:08Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m trying to figure out why the state of Florida is involved. Passports are federal documents. Processing them is always a federal function. Usually at a post office. There’s an office at the Orange County courthouse that accepts passport applications and takes photos. The OP’s issue appears to arise from ignorance of the process and miscommunication and/or misunderstanding with the person at that office. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/30 "2015-09-17T12:39:21Z")
That may have gotten the ball rolling, but it now appears that under no circumstances should I have trusted these third party companies to be involved with the process. I should have done a standard passport and simply pushed my plans back a few months. Having gone through them, they’ve mishandled my application and given me faulty information at every step of the process. When I dealt with the courthouse clerk, they said all my stuff was in perfect order. They don’t appear to be the ones delaying my process. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/31 "2015-09-17T12:44:27Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > There’s an office at the Orange County courthouse that accepts passport applications and takes photos. It had become more common for the local\* application desk \*to be run from a state/local government office (which usually are already equipped for that sort of procedure). To go back: everyone who may be possibly needing a passport ever, _ **apply for it now** _. Not when you actually need it by a date certain. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/32 "2015-09-17T13:03:38Z")
Wow. Just…wow. I’m really sorry, **Pizzaguy**. That is horrible. Hoping karma comes back and bites those people in the ass. Hard. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/33 "2015-09-17T13:29:28Z")
No kidding. That whole saga is a disaster. Seriously, without a doubt, I would contact your congressman or senator not just to make sure things are straightened out with your application, but also to have them forward a complaint to the State Department on how this passport expediter does business. The State Department will listen when an elected official complains about how a constituent was treated. This is a big deal. I really urge you to provide these details to your congressman. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/34 "2015-09-17T13:34:00Z")
> [@Askthepizzaguy](#): > > [American Passport Office, 1400 Biscayne Blvd, Ste 208-6, Miami, FL 33132, US - MapQuest](http://www.mapquest.com/us/florida/business-miami/american-passport-office-272340682) > > 1400 Biscayne Blvd Suite 112, Miami Florida > > is where I was told to mail all my documents. > > “American Passport Office” > > This doesn’t appear to even be an official arm of the state government, but a private enterprise. When I last renewed my passport, the forms said that all applications, no matter where in the country you lived, go to a single office in New Hampshire. Also, I never talked to anyone. There was a fill-in-the-blanks PDF that I printed and mailed in with the check and the supporting documentation. Also, [this State Dept site](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english.html/) says four to six weeks for normal, non-expedited passports with a cost of $165 for both the book and card. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/35 "2015-09-17T14:04:14Z")
Why did you go to the county to get your passport? As someone who has to go to the Orange County Courthouse several times a week for work, I can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily engage with them. If you can still get a refund, [apply through the State Department](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/apply.html). You can get your picture taken at CVS or Walgreens and use the courier service of your choice to expedite the process, and they won’t ask you for ridiculous information like an itinerary for the trip you can’t actually take yet. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/36 "2015-09-17T14:13:30Z")
Yeah, sounds like **AtPG** was screwed over by going to the state and an expediter. The federal website clearly says 4-6 weeks, and from my knowledge knowing someone in that agency they usually beat that. Word of advice to others that may be in the same scenario - go through a federal office if possible, which is usually the post office. The [state.gov](http://state.gov) site that **Dewey Finn** linked to will guide you to the nearest Post Office that handles passports. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/37 "2015-09-17T14:26:59Z")
Has anyone looked here ([US State Department’s “Get a Passport in a Hurry” page](http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/expedited.html))? It mentions that some offices require proof of travel to get expedited service and has a link to non-government expedite service companies. Probably worth a look. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/38 "2015-09-17T15:11:49Z")
Why are you going to the courthouse? Every passport I’ve done I’ve done at the local post office. You don’t need travel plans. That’s just not true. A whole lot of this sounds not true to me, to be honest. And the passport is controlled by the federal government, not the state. The state cannot change the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/39 "2015-09-17T15:15:41Z")
Holy shit, that’s anal. I am a filthy brown furriner who wasn’t even born in this country and I got my passport with just my Naturalization certificate. Easy-peasy. And I got my photo taken in a post office. Without travel plans. NY resident here. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548/40 "2015-09-17T15:36:05Z")
As mentioned above, I would try and get a refund from the expediter, then apply yourself through the normal government “need passport in a hurry” mechanism. It will mean standing in line all day, but it really does work and you get your passport very quickly in my experience. I’m a doofus and I didn’t notice that my old passport had expired until the night before I was supposed to travel to a conference. I spent the whole next day standing in line, but I got my renewal passport same-day and made the plane. I don’t know if they’re quite that slick for a new passport, rather than a renewal, but I think it’s better to work with the source rather than going through third parties. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-passport-offices-in-florida-and-the-state-department/731548.md?page=3)