Passports

[kimw]

We travel to abaco July 15-22 and a member of our party may not receive her renewal passport in time. Will a receipt and ID/birth certificate work? Any input suggestions. kimw

[bellavista2]

lots of diff info on this. some who have read regs say it only applies to
new passport applications not renewals. suggest you call the airplane flying to Bahamas and ask them what is enough to let you on board.
they are the final decisionmakers as to whether you get on the plane or not.
if not sent in application yet, strongly suggest using a passport expediter like passportexpress.com. Only way to be sure to get it on time.

[elcahun]

Here is the info, plus how to check on the status.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

[captruss24]

Just spoke with the Bahamas Embassy in Washington....same entry requirements into the Bahamas as re-entry requirement into the US. Proof of application of a passport and a valid state ID is all you need. She mentioned that a birth certificate is also helpful to have on hand, but not required.

[momshell]

We just had that happen with our kids. We had their birth certificates and proof of application for passport and they let us back in. That was before they relaxed( temporarily) the rule a few weeks ago. Just print the tracking/search page with search number from passport website, your receipt from when you applied, and picture id. You would want to double check on the travel site/passport site.

[Abacowilly]

. . . . . based on VERY recent and first hand experience. Call your local political reps and call the passport folks every day. Never give up. They are inundated!

And yes, you will wait, wait, wait . . . . . . . . it just takes persistence,

AW

[floridacargocat]

A word of caution. There is so much diffusing information coming from various sides of the media, that it is difficult to keep track and get an authoritative answer.
Concerning travel by air, consult with your airline and have a look at the web site of the Department of State.
Concerning travel by sea, have a look at the web site of the Department of State.
Whenever it comes to a relaxation of passport requirements, please read the text of the DOS very carefully (word for word), as media may not always quote correctly.
This "passport affair" will - at least in my opinion - continue for quite some time until the backlog of application has been reduced to a level that would meet an "acceptable processing time" for non-expedited passports.
Unfortunately some serious under-estimations have been made by some concerned parties(and has been very recently acknowledged by an official representative) - not by the actual adjudicators and passport processing personnel - which will have an impact on upcoming passport implementation activities (land- and sea border crossings).
Again my plea, please check your travel documents well in time (and now I maintain that you should do this up to 4 months ahead of your travel) so that you are not stuck with a situation where you are forced to change your holiday travel or any kind of overseas travel.
Even when there will be some postponements of implementation dates for land and sea border crossings, have your passports ready in time and before. It is worth it.

[bellavista2]

it really worked well for renewal. sent application to them on June 14. saw that my check to Dept of State was cashed June 20. received passport June 25. but for the two weekends involved, would have gotten it in less than 10 days.

the post office suggested i use them and they were right.
passportexpress.com was one i used.