05-JUL-B-4

 

THE SCRAMBLE NEAR TAKEOFF TIME FOR VISAS

—WITHOUT EVEN SO MUCH AS A PASSPORT—

NOT YET BEGUN IN PROCESSING THREE WEEKS AFTER CASHING THE SECOND CHECK FOR ITS RENEWAL,

NOW IN A LAST DITCH EFFORT TO GET IT BY SATURDAY

FEDEX DELIVERY FOR TAKEOFF ON SUNDAY

 

July 20, 2005

 

I called the US Passport agency, to say my mailman had just called to say there is no [passport for me in today's mail.  I had sent it in June first for renewal. They returned it saying that the fee had been raised and I would need to add more funds.  I did so.

 

They said that they only received it for processing on July 7th.  "How come my bank statement reports that the second check was cashed June 30?" 

 

Oh, yes, that!  Well we can send an email asking that they pull it out of the queue and express deliver it for a couple hundred dollar expedited fee to see if it can be delivered on Saturday morning (I fly out on Sunday)--which means I go to the Eritrean embassy tomorrow with everyone else's passport but mine, for whci I have only a promissory note--and no guarantees that it will be here on Saturday even without visas!

 

Why, if they can simply issue it with an email, does it have to lie in a desk for three weeks after they have cashed the second check and wait a few more weeks before putting it together?

 

 

 

 

I had sent in my passport renewal materials in early June, with fees photos and my overstuffed prior passport. I am leaving on Sunday July 24, 2005 from Dulles on an extended medical mission I am leading. In mid-June, I got all my envelope back with a note that the fee had been raised. I immediately sent it back with my passport and the new check--which was cashed on June 30. I have all the passports from my group of volunteers in hand and have had the Eritrean embassy hold until I can hand carry them all tomorrow for visas. However, after waiting daily at the local post office, I have not received my renewed passport without which I cannot travel, let alone lead, the medical mission on Sunday (itinerary below) I am desperate, since it would mean tripping up all the medical student volunteers if my own passport is not here tomorrow--even with special trip to two embassies after hours, which one has agreed to make possible. What do I do? Glenn W. Geelhoed MD Departure BA IAD 7/24/05 9:55 PM LHR--Baku--LHR--FRA--Asmara, Eritrea             Click the following to access the sent link:     Travel.State.Gov - Passport Home - Wed July 20, 2005, 3:25 pm*         *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html