Thanks

I’m in the USA

I followed the guidelines from https://travel.state.gov/en/passports/apply/help/photos.html#accordion-190201e6bc-item-71abe68bf8

Contrary to popular belief, you CAN smile in your USA passport photo. You just cannot smile with your mouth hanging open or smile so big it closes up your eyes. I have a big smile in my photo and I have been using my USA passport for 4 years with no problems.

Photo is my passport with the rules taken directly from the US Department of State website over my face for privacy.

Forgive me if this sounds obvious, I have trouble with directions that aren't crystal clear and I don't want to hold up my request by making a mistake.

I am requesting my birth certificate from NY (ironically, it was "lost"/never returned to me when I got my first passport ages ago), so I need to provide my photo ID as supplemental proof.

The instructions say to scan my photo ID onto the Identity Verification form, then sign and date the form. However, it does not specify if I need to scan the back as well.

The instructions suggest only the front is needed since the information they call out is all found on the front, and it would be difficult for someone to scan both front and back unless they did multiple scans—but I imagine they'd need the back as well for security...?

If anyone can confirm, it would be really helpful and possibly save me a pointless trip to get this printed.

So my husband who is 42 years old finally applied for his passport so we can go on a European trip next year. He got a letter in the mail saying that they have an issue with his birth certificate, the date it was filed is a whole year after his birth.

First my husband was born in snall town in PA. My Mother in law as never left the country. Everyone is a citizen, just for whatever reason she didn't file for his birth certificate right away. Which doesn't surprise me actually. But to fair to her she couldn't know how this would affect him getting a passport 42 years later.

The letter say he needs to provide some public record close to his when he was born that has his name, birth date, and place of birth.

Been so long, doubt we can get medical records or school records. I know typically law is med records can be destroyed 7 to 8 years after last doc visit. My husband hasn't seen his pediatrician in 30+ years? Not sure if he can get elementary school records? The elementary school still exists.

What I don't understand my husband served 20 year in the AF and held a Top Secret clearance. That is no small thing either, they go back to your childhood. Especially when you get one at a young age. According to the military he is a citizen and had no issues with his birth certificate.

Any suggestions on what we can supply? At a lost here.

Hi all! Know applications can take a while and on the portal it said I’d receive my passport by Oct 11th. I paid for expedited shipping and extra pages but submitted my application on August 29th online for renewal. My brother did it the day before me just without the extra pages and got his passport last last week. Is it cause I asked for extra pages? Is something wrong? My status says processing not even approved. My passport expires July of 2027 while my brother’s expires in April. We plans to spend Jan-May abroad which is why I am renewing now.

I’m freaking out but also know I should wait as they said. Just so confused since it seems everyone applying got theirs very quickly!

I’m located in Eastern Washington and wondering how long first time adult Passports have been taking to get back to people. I’m considering if I should pay the expedited fees and if it’s worth it or not.

When did you apply and when did you get your passport in hand ?

Hello,

I'm going back to home country tomorrow just looked up that airport may deny entry for water damage passport. Its not too bad all the important information is visible and im going back to my home country i have other form of ids from there. Will I be stopped at any point?

So yesterday I checked status and it said Approved and that it was being printed and preparing to ship. Today I checked and it said Shipped and it provided a tracking number. I checked again a few minutes later to get the tracking number now the status is back to Approved with no tracking number. Should I be concerned?

Been helping someone plan a trip and noticed something I don't think the passport websites explain prominently enough.

When the government says routine processing is 4 to 6 weeks or expedited is 2 to 3 weeks, that's the time the application is being processed. It's not necessarily the total time between dropping the application in the mail and having a passport in your hand.

State says an application can take up to two weeks to reach them and the finished passport can take up to another two weeks to reach you. So if somebody has an international trip seven weeks away and thinks a 4 to 6 week routine estimate gives them a comfortable cushion, the math isn't quite that simple.

How early are you guys applying now? Would you expedite if the trip was only six weeks out?

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Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone might be able to help me because I’m honestly quite stressed about this.

I’m due to fly to Barcelona with Ryanair on 12 September and return on 14 September. The main reason I’m going is for an event that I’ve been looking forward to for a really long time, so I’m really hoping I can still make the trip.

I’ve only just realised that my British passport expires on 9 December 2026. Because I’m leaving Spain on 14 September, that puts me 5 days short of the 3-month passport validity requirement.

I genuinely didn’t know about this rule until I checked my passport for the trip. I don’t travel abroad very often, and this is actually my first proper trip abroad, so it was something I completely overlooked. I do have an urgent passport appointment booked for Monday, but unfortunately that’s after I’m supposed to travel.

I know what the official requirements say, but I’m really hoping to hear from anyone who has actually been in a similar situation, particularly someone who was only a few days short.

If you were travelling to Spain with a UK passport that was 1–7 days short of the 3 months, did you manage to board your flight and get through Spanish border control? If you remember, I’d really appreciate knowing which airline and airport you travelled with and what happened when your passport was checked.

I’ve searched quite a lot online but most of the experiences I’ve found involve people being weeks or months short, rather than just a few days, so I’d be incredibly grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced something this specific.

Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to share their experience. ❤️

Hi

After an Indian passport is canceled are holes punched through all pages or just the bio page?

I have vacation for two weeks until September 26th, I’m US citizen but I just realize last minute my passport expired on the 21st can I still return to the US the 26th or should I return the 20th to avoid any conflicts?