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My wife applied for a renewed US passport 8 months before an international trip. 7 months and dozens of calls, emails and letters later, we had no response besi
by xnyan 6y ago
My wife applied for a renewed US passport 8 months before an international trip. 7 months and dozens of calls, emails and letters later, we had no response besides "we are busy and can't tell you when we will be done, but it will not be sooner than a month."
My mother recommended that we contact our local congressperson, David Price. I was extremely doubtful that anything would come of it. We had never had any contact of any kind with him or anyone who knows him before. We are not wealthy or have any special status. We wrote an email to his office, two days later his office called us to tell us that they had contacted the passport agency, and the next day fedex delivered a renewed passport that had been overnighted to us.
I did some research and this is actually pretty common. If you want something like a phone call or letter of inquiry to a federal agency, congresspeople are generally happy to do it because it's easy to do and generates goodwill.
- xxpor 6y agoSame deal with state agencies in my experience. My mom (unsurprisingly) had issues with unemployment earlier this year, she'd worked 1099 and W-2 jobs in multiple states so determining eligibility was taking forever. One call to her state rep and it was all cleared up within a week.
- amf12 6y agoAnother anecdote. I was at one point working in the US and had applied for status renewal. I was at a point where if I did not get the approval in 20 days I would have to stop working (after waiting for 5 months already). I reached out to my local congressperson - doubtful they might help me, a non citizen. Lo and behold, I got a letter back from the congress person and renewal in 2 weeks.
- tppiotrowski 6y agoIf you’re a foreigner attempting to visit the US, you do not have a representative to contact.
- ornornor 6y agoNot sure why you’re downvoted because it’s very true. What do you do then?
- tppiotrowski 6y agoMaybe I should have said “local congressperson”? You could technically contact a “representative” at the US embassy.
- myrandomcomment 6y agoGreat to hear this worked out! In general the offices of your local representative do try to resolve issues - it is their job, and it is good PR. As to renewing a passport, I just always pay up for a service that takes care of it for me. Less risk. I once got a new passport and a China visa in 5 days, but it did cost $600.