The Passport Saga
Let's be honest, if I told you I
needed to get a passport, you KNEW it wasn't going to be easy peasy lemon
squeezy. You knew there would be a story and it would be stressed,
depressed lemon zest, right? Right! So let's get down to a tale of
stressed, depressed lemon zest.
My son, the only member of the
family who has a passport, will be traveling to the Galapagos Island this
summer on an educational trip. (Yes you can be jealous...I know I
am. No parent chaperones allowed.) His current passport will expire
in January 2021. His trip is this summer, BUT the date of expiration on
his passport is less than 6 months AFTER he will return. Confused?
I was too, but...
"Before your next trip, make
sure your passport satisfies the six-month validity passport rule. As a general
rule, passports should have at least six months of validity when traveling
internationally. Most countries will not permit a traveler to enter their
country unless the passport is set to expire at least six months after the
final day of travel...it is not a requirement of the U.S. government. The
six-month validity passport rule is a requirement of other countries accepting
foreign travelers. The six- month passport validity rule is enforced because
nations do not want to risk having travelers and tourists overstaying their
passport validity. Six months is now the standard validity requirement for many
countries. Most visitors to the United States are also now required to have six
months’ validity of their passports." (Quote taken from https://www.fastportpassport.com/)
So he needs a new passport and
although he is not traveling until the summer, he needs to have his passport
information entered into the travel company's system by the end of March so
that THEY can reserve the group's entrance into the country. Now the information
on the OLD passport will PROBABLY be the same as the new, but the dates will be
different so...
Meanwhile, my husband and I do not
have passports. (He has never had one; I had one before we were married
which expired before 9/11.) I'm thinking the kid is going out of the
country; IF there is some emergency or issue and he needs us (praying that this
doesn't happen and that my planning keeps the fates satisfied), we need to be
able to get to him, WHEREVER he is. So my Christmas present to everyone
was to cover the cost of new passports, which I wanted to do in January of
2020.
Being the organized planner that I
am, I do my research, starting with the US Dept
of State Website to find what I need to do. The family will have
to apply in person, which is no big deal. I start searching for the
nearest acceptance facility. There are plenty of them, but ALL are booked
up for the month of January! (How the heck can this be? I don't
know but I was unable to make an appointment.) I had wanted to do this on
a Saturday so that it wouldn't interfere with work or school, but...
Luckily, our county clerk visits
our town library once or twice a month and can handle this for us.
Unfortunately, the hours they host are during school/work hours, so...There is
no appointment schedule, you just walk in and you need to be there no later
than a half an hour before they "close" (3:30). I WAS going to
pull my son out an hour early and have his miss his last class of the day, but
then I realized that if I pulled him out 2 hours early, he would miss gym and
could (in theory) be back for French. Plus, if there was a wait, we would
still be pretty much assured of getting everything processed.
Now nowhere on the clerk's website
does it say if they take passport photos. I KNOW they did when we got our
son's original passport, but that wasn't at our town library. (If you are
curious, it was at the library in the town next to ours.) I called the
clerk, but got voicemail. I left a message... (Do I even have to say I
DIDN'T get a call back?) So, to cover my bases, the three of us went to
AAA Friday afternoon and got our photos taken. (And I had a backup plan to that
as well...if we couldn't get there before they closed, we were heading over to
CVS. I already had a coupon for passport photos printed out.)
On Monday, January 13th, I make
sure we have all our documents (as outlined on the website) and copies of
such. I have 3 birth certificates and copies of each (plus our wedding
license just in case), 3 photo IDs and copies of each, 3 photos, 3 forms filled
out (you just enter the information, the website does the filling in for you)
but NOT signed (per instructions) and multiple checks. (One check for
each person for the passport and one check for each person for the
"acceptance fee.") We pick up the kid and head to the
library...where there is nowhere to park! Ugh! I let the boys out
to start the process and go in search of a space.
Once I find one, I rush into the
library and find the boys in a room with 3 women from the clerk's office. (Who
were eating lunch.) Hubby is filling out more paperwork (because apparently
"option" information on the website is NOT optional) for our son.
I'm signing a check for the passport and am informed that the "acceptance
fee" at this location has to be cash. (Apparently each location can
do what they want. Some will take credit cards.) So we're
scrambling for cash...we manage to come up with exact change for the first one.
While this is all going on, woman
#2 says she can start processing another application while my son's is being
worked on. I turn over my information and...
...this is where everything falls
apart. My birth certificate is NOT acceptable. My birth certificate
(which is official and WAS acceptable prior to 9/11) does not have my parents’
names on it. It's no good. I have to go to the office of vital
statistics and get a new one (to the tune of $25). They say I can
probably do it on line, but have no idea how long this process takes. The
clerk will be back my town library in 2 weeks. (Of course, I don't know
if I will have the ability to work from home that day and who knows about
weather in January or even February!)
I am trying to keep my cool...you
KNOW I failed miserably right? I was so shaken/upset that I signed on the
wrong line of my son's application (underage applicants must have both parents
present and both must sign). UGH!
I do manage to write checks for my
son's and husband's passports and we pool our resources to have the cash for
the acceptance fee for both of them. We leave, take my son back to school
(he didn't even miss the full gym period!) and once home I go on line and find
the form to get a new birth certificate. I fill it out and THANKFULLY the
office is just two towns over from me. With my husband for moral support,
we head out with cash for the new one AND a check for a passport AND cash for
the acceptance fee. The office of vital statistics is open till 4.
The clerk is at the library till 3:30. It’s just about 2 PM.
Distance-wise it's not far; less
than 3 miles. HOWEVER, the main thoroughfare that connects us means going
through major construction. Even in the middle of the day when there is
relatively little traffic, the trek takes 15+ minutes as I navigate closed lanes,
construction equipment in the middle of the road and more. (In hindsight
I should have taken back roads.) I find the building (I think...there is
no number on it) and find a place to park (a couple of blocks back) and we rush
in.
I explain to the (very nice) lady
behind the counter what my problem is and she takes my "bad" birth
certificate, reviews my ID, takes my $25 and goes to get me a new birth
certificate. (She didn't ask to see my wedding license, which the website
said I would need, but who's complaining.) As we wait, I can hear a copy
machine continually jamming. (We all know that annoying beep, beep, beep
sound they make, right?) I'm fearing that we won't be able to get this
taken care of, but after 10 or so minutes she was back with a certified copy of
my "new" birth certificate.
We rush back to the car, fight the
construction, make it back to our town, park in a lot not too far away instead
of lobbying for a spot by the library (there was panic when I didn't know if I
had a quarter for the meter and my husband is trying to download the app to pay
for it that way...I managed to find a quarter before he could download) and ran
back upstairs to the room where the clerks were seated. (Lunch now finished and
no one else in need of their services.)
I hand over my paperwork, my ID, my
copy of my ID, my photo and my "new" birth certificate. I write
one more check and turn over more cash for the acceptance fee. I sign the
paperwork and it all goes into their files. All of this done before the
school across the street lets out for the day.
Is the tale done? I HOPE
so. Now we have to wait for our passports and to have our birth
certificates returned (under separate cover). With the postal service we
have...well, I'm going to think about that now...I'm just going to say a few
prayers...
Take a deep breath and about 5 Bikini Martinis. Mom
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