subject: Lost American Passport To New Passport In A Flash [print this page] Realizing that a passport has been misplaced or lost is possibly the worst thing to happen to someone that needs to leave on a trip quickly. Travel plans, particularly those like family emergencies and business trips cannot usually be rearranged with ease. Replacing a lost passports, however, can be accomplished a variety of ways and by many different service providers.
However, a quick search on the Internet will reveal that the passport can be replaced. A sigh of relief until the realization sets in that processing via the U.S. Department of State or Post Office will take a minimum of four, and possibly up to eight, weeks. The stress begins to mount again because this is not a feasible timeframe in this situation.
Further searching on the Web will reveal that there are private companies that provide passport replacement services. These companies will process a passport application and return a new passport within 24 to 48 hours. They charge an additional fee in excess of what the government charges. However, in the situation of a vacation just days away, this fee is well worth paying. The new lost USA passport will be in hand the next day, and the panic of the day before is soon forgotten.
One of the quickest ways to help move this process along is to have all the necessary paperwork in order and copies made before contacting one of these services. Each lost passport that is being applied for requires that governmental forms DS-11 and DS-64 be filled out. These can easily be found online on either the service's website or the government's passport page.
The identifying documents that are required include a birth certificate from the city, county, or state in which the individual was born. Certified copies that do not contain the entity's official seal will not be accepted. Therefore, obtaining the proper type of birth certificate is something that must be done prior to being able to get a new passport.
The other identifying document that the applicant will need to photocopy and submit is his or her driver's license. The government and processing service require that the driver's license issue date be at least six months prior to the date of passport application. If an applicant has a more recent issue date, he or she may provide alternative forms of documentation.. These are listed on the government and provider Web sites, as are the details regarding additional identification that must be included with the passport application.
Some of the other information that must be provided includes a travel itinerary or plane ticket. Two identical color photographs must be supplied with the paperwork. These photos must meet certain requirements because they will be used in the passport itself. Again, it is important to check the list of required documents in order to review the specifications for these photos.
