By Mike Eckhaus (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 11:36 pm: |
I am going to Bonaire Aug 18-25. My US passport is current but expires in November, not quite 90 days after my Bonaire trip. I have heard that a passport should be valid for 6 months after any proposed travel.
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #619) on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 8:51 am: |
I don't think I'm understanding-if you're leaving August but your passport doesn't expire until November, why renew it now (unless you have another overseas trip planned)? It will be good in August; shouldn't be any problem.
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By Cecil (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5734) on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 10:28 am: |
Welcome to BT, Mike.
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By Sue from NJ (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #640) on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 10:51 am: |
I've heard from others that if you pay for expedited service you will get it back in 2 weeks.
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By Tel Aviv (BonaireTalker - Post #100) on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 2:44 pm: |
I suggest that you don't try to renew it at this time. There is a major backlog. Expedited or not, the Passport Offices are overloaded. It took my parents over 2 months to get their passport back and that was in the slow January season. It's gotten much worse since then. You have a return airplane ticket stating you're scheduled to leave well before the passport expiration date.
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #620) on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - 3:41 pm: |
Can someone explain the 90 day rule stated above? I've never heard of it. I called AAA and spoke with a travel agent who said as long as your passport is not expired, you're fine.
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By Norm Scandy (BonaireTalker - Post #13) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 5:16 am: |
I found this on the US State Dept web: "Some countries require that your U.S. passport be valid at least 6 months or longer beyond the dates of your trip. If your passport expires before the required validity, you will have to apply for a new one". So, this is nothing new so I think I would look around for another travel agent to give me advise before travelling.
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By john merriner (BonaireTalker - Post #69) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 6:03 am: |
My daughter paid the expiditing(sp) fee and received her passport within 2 weeks.
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #622) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 7:10 am: |
I've decided that's what I'm going to do-I leave in November, then it expires in Feb. Had no idea about this rule-this is my first time renewing. I'm willing to pay the extra fee to get it done on time-am getting pix tomorrow!
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By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2787) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 7:47 am: |
My passport expired in July. I left Bonaire late April to head to the US for family business and had my passport renewed expedited. It took 2 weeks to come back.
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By Mike Eckhaus (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 10:58 am: |
Norm,
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By Anne B F (BonaireTalker - Post #12) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 11:39 am: |
One of my friends sent his passport in for renewal 10 weeks before his trip to Italy and had to fight to get it in time. I would be very careful of the timing.
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By Jim Willoughby (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 12:59 pm: |
I recently had my passport renewed. It took four months and 2 to 3 phone calls a day for nearly two weeks to get it back on time for a trip to Belize. This was with expedited service. For those of you that had this done in two weeks, you were lucky. The Seattle passport agency just and an article in our local paper that they have 110,000 passports sitting on desks,in closets and cupboards waiting to be processed. When I sent mine in, I was told. "No Problem" You have plenty of time. 4 months later when I had ten days until my trip, I was told the same thing. 3 days before my trip I called again and was told that they had not even started on it.
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By Charlotte (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 1:34 pm: |
You may want to check with your airline. I have heard of an instance where someone was unable to board his flight (not to Bonaire) because there wasn't enough time left on his passport:
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #624) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 1:42 pm: |
Jim, did you go the regular route or expedite it?
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By Tribs, AKA Jah-neen (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4550) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 1:50 pm: |
It seems that processing times vary depending on which passport center you will be handled through. We had several students this year cancel their study abroad classes because they could not get their passports on time. Some paid for the expedited (and did not have them within the 5 weeks they had to get them); some went the normal route and they took more than 3 months. We are outside Chicago and I would assume that the students all used local passport agencies. I did have one student who ended up going to the location in Chicago and paid for an emergency passport - very expensive, but same day service. He waited in line almost 6 hours because the place was packed. You take a risk right now with renewals. Sometimes it comes back in time, other times it does not.
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By Tribs, AKA Jah-neen (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4551) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 1:54 pm: |
Here is a snipet from the DOS website. I suggest everyone renewing head over there. They list the length of time it will take and lots of other information. http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
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By cat logan (BonaireTalker - Post #27) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 3:48 pm: |
My husband and I applied in mid May, and just got ours now. We just did regular delivery.
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By keith sutton (BonaireTalker - Post #47) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 4:13 pm: |
Called the Dutch embassy yesterday and they verify that all you need to enter Bonaire is a proof of application for US passport and a government-issued photo ID, same rules as are required to re-enter USA with the present passport SNAFU. Rules apply until September 30th.
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By Jane Rene Dozier (BonaireTalker - Post #54) on Thursday, July 12, 2007 - 11:06 pm: |
Our passports expire Dec. 7, so I wanted to check into renewing them. The post office (where I was going to get them) said that they are extremely backed up. One guy that worked there put in (and paid for)for expedited service in March or April, and has still not received them. I got on the website to fill out all my forms and ran across a document you can download that verifies that you are in the process of renewing your passport. If you show that document, that will get you into anywhere in Canada, USA, Mexico, and Caribbean. It does NOT cover you for any other countries. I don't have the web address, but am sure you can Google it. Hope that helps.
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By Norm Scandy (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 4:49 am: |
Mike - maybe it has changed now, but we did experience both in Jamaica two or three years ago and last year in Bonaire a few Americans that would stand at the counter at immigration in the airport and show a combination of birth certificate, marriage certificat, drivers license and god knows what else. It seemed a bit strange when a passport will do the job. Perhaps the problem is that everybody is rushing to get one now. I hope you all make it and don't get planed holidays messed up. Norm
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By Jim Willoughby (BonaireTalker - Post #15) on Friday, July 13, 2007 - 1:41 pm: |
Mary,
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #626) on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 11:46 am: |
Well, today I went to the P.O. and had the renewal app sent priority with a return receipt, so I will know when they received it. I marked the envelop "expedite" on the outside.
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By cat logan (BonaireTalker - Post #29) on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 12:34 pm: |
You didn't have to do the return receipt. Don't forget, if you go to travel.state.gov/passport you can check on the status of your passport. It will let you know when it was received, the status (ie processing) and when it ships they will give you the delivery confirmation number.
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By Jim Willoughby (BonaireTalker - Post #16) on Saturday, July 14, 2007 - 8:24 pm: |
I think the return receipt was probably a good idea. It took 3 months before my status showed up on the website. In fact having proof of delivery may be the only reason that I did get my passport back in time even considering that it took 4 months to get it back.
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #627) on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 9:23 am: |
Oh yes, $127 dollar check enclosed. And I wanted them to have to sign for it, because I can use that if there's a problem.
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By cat logan (BonaireTalker - Post #30) on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 9:29 am: |
This is what I find strange. I know all about the problems they are having getting all these new passports out on time. But we paid for the regular 10-12 week processing time, and got ours back in 8 weeks. The only thing I can think of is, I've been watching the status on the passport site. It always said processing, so I emailed them regarding mine and my husband's, because there is a link to email regarding an update on the status. It said you get a response in 2 days. Well, 2 days later, I didn't get a response, so I checked back, and apparently they had been shipped. Maybe just because they had to actually check on them, they processed them? I don't know. I just find it weird that people are waiting a lot longer than the 10-12 week time and we got ours in 8. Maybe email them and see if it works for you too?
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By mary pequinot (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #628) on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 4:52 pm: |
Sounds like a good idea-which is also why I had them sign for it. They have to sign a receipt, maybe they'll notice the "expedite" on the envelope. Anything to make it stand out from the masses (unlike tax returns!!!!!)
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By Tararaboomdeay aka Kali and Kai (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #4080) on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 6:38 pm: |
sheesh, and I thought I ran a Mom & Pop joint
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By Philip Dunn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Sunday, July 15, 2007 - 8:31 pm: |
1) We went to St. Martin early June for a week. My wife's US passport expired July something this year.
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By Mike Eckhaus (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Monday, July 16, 2007 - 7:01 pm: |
Well, I did decide to renew ahead of time, so we'll see how that goes. I did mark expedite, pay the expedite fee, plus I also provided an expedited return envelope. The information that I can still travel with proof of renewal application and my birth cert/driver's license helps a lot since then it really doesn't matter if I get the actual passport back in time.
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By Mike Eckhaus (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Friday, July 27, 2007 - 4:32 pm: |
So, there was a panic for no reason on my part. I got my passport back in two weeks. Maybe the fact that I was renewing a currently valid passport helped, or maybe all the people they just hired are actually getting down to work, or whatever, but I'm happy.
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