thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy amable
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Passport approved in one week--- Un Milagro!!!
Discovered my passport card has expired and only six months left on the full passport. So I quickly mailed in my app, photo and check on July 3- got
the full new passport back today, issued July 12 (With July 4 weekend in the middle)
No passport card yet, but I surely am not complaining.
I had read horror stories of months of waiting, and having gone through the 19 month wait a year ago for my Sentri pass I was, to say the least,
astonished.
Maybe the fact that I live in Arizona and sent it to Phlly made a difference.
Quien sabe??
Just happy to have the State Department actually do a good job on something, indeed "un milagro"
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BooJumMan
Senior Nomad
Posts: 897
Registered: 8-11-2007
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
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Funny you bring this up. Same thing happened to me. I used the online app version. I applied on a Weds and the next Tuesday the new passport was at my
door. (This was the last week of June).
In that pre-Google Earth and social media epoch, The Code was adhered to. It was based on a simple verity: if a locale had been transformational for
you, and you had put the hard yards in to get there and to learn it, to know it, why in god�s name would you broadcast the news, thus ruining the
future experience not only for yourself, but for future adventurers?
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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So, both mailing it in and the on-line app worked quickly... great!
I wonder if doing it at the post office is the same...?
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pacificobob
Super Nomad
Posts: 2308
Registered: 4-23-2006
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While working for a large international air cargo company i had my passport renewal happen in 3 days including shipping. They used some expediting
service.
On another occasion i renewed in 45 minutes at the US embassy in hong kong.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6029
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
Member Is Offline
Mood: Retireded
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My passport, and passport card have the same expiration date. I just assumed that the card and book were both based on the original application, but
apparently not!
I wonder if first time applications are also being processed faster than they were a few years ago?
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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We got our new pasports and the cards together. I have used both to get FMMs but there is no preference. Maybe that the card fits in my wallet makes
it more useable? Something cool about a passport book, however.
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chatolj
Junior Nomad
Posts: 99
Registered: 3-17-2014
Member Is Offline
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Can't fly back to US with the card if the need arouse.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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That is true, but an emergency medical evacuation probably negates that?
Of course, we also all know that to drive down and willingly leave your car in Mexico to fly back home is illegal, too (for FMM holders)... of course
we all probbaly know people who do this knowing or not knowing the rules against leaving property in Mexico at the end of your vacation. Maybe that
has changed?
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy amable
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The enormous advantage of the passport card is that it fits in your wallet (or purse) and you always have it on you.
Passport, of course, gets you more places, on more forms of transport, but I doubt if anyone on this board carries it on their person 24/7.
Just recognize the limits and advantages of each, they are indispensable.
Before passport cards I use to challenge people....."Bet you do not have proof of our US citizenship on your person." Don't think I ever lost that
bet.
I carried my private pilot license and it indicated my citizenship and also was Federally issued. No longer the exclusive answer with the addition
of the passport card. (Plus I doubt if that pilot license would have gotten me across many borders.)
You could also carry your voter registration card, but it was paper and got pretty mushy in the wallet in no time at all.
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surabi
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4940
Registered: 5-6-2016
Member Is Offline
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Years ago, when I went to renew my Canadian driver's license, you had to show 2 pieces of ID, one a "primary" ID, and a "secondary" ID.
I had brought my passport for the primary ID, but the girl behind the counter said "Oh, we don't accept a passport as primary ID". I was gobsmacked
and asked why not. She said "Well, because you don't have to be a citizen to have a passport".
I couldn't believe this level of ignorance and said, "Of course you do- that's what a passport is- proof of citizenship." The bimbo's response was
"Oh, well, I wouldn't know, I've never gone anywhere I needed a passport."
I actually had to go back home, dig out my tattered 60 year-old paper birth certificate, with no photo, and THAT they would accept as primary ID.
When people complain about Mexican bureaucracy, I tell them it's often a lot less of a hassle than NOB.
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stillnbaja
Nomad
Posts: 413
Registered: 5-4-2023
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the card got real popular with the introduction of the Readylane, didn't take long before everyone had one, its time to merge the Readylane with the
regular lanes.
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6029
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
Member Is Offline
Mood: Retireded
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How about a pet passport?
Just in case the new requirements for having for having verifiable chips in pets crossing the border, I was thinking about getting one that would have
a photo ID and a link to her chip and shot records.
Has anyone here done that?
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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BoenBaja
Nomad
Posts: 148
Registered: 12-24-2023
Member Is Offline
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Just received my Sentri card as my old one was set to expire in September. Took less than a month!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy amable
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Second miracle
Got the passport card today
Clean sweep!!!
Exactly two weeks from mailing in the apps to receiving both the card and the passport book.
Happy and relieved.....
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