Re: Passport Delays
 

6 weeks eh?

Thanks for that. I think I am done for, what a shambles!

Re: Passport Delays
 

Re: Passport Delays
 

From what i can tell the careline can't do anything until the payment has been processed. They received my app (signed for) on the 6th April. No payment taken yet for me. I haven't tried the careline myself but from the replies people have previously made its pointless until you have been charged, then its possible to attempt to make them hurry up.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Re: Passport Delays
 

CARELINE update

So I tried calling Careline again and this time I got to speak to someone right away! The person I spoke to was very professional and could see that it had been 8 weeks since my credit card had been charged (Mar 16). He said that ordinarily it should take 6 weeks for a new passport so was going to get in contact with one of the passport examiners in Washington who would call me later this week to let me know when to expect the passport. Let's wait and see!

Re: Passport Delays
 

:sad_smile:Just joined today...I am at my wits end, I send my passport to DC for renewal March 24th, arrived on March 25th and the charged my Visa on April 7th. I sent proof of travel for May 14th with my application clearly no attempts have been made to speed it up. I have made several calls to Careline just to get the same response "I can completely understand your concerns, however there is nothing that we can do" Last Thursday was 4 weeks since my Card was charged and only at that time (5 business days prior to travel) did they escalate it...meaning they send an email to Washington and told me someone would contact me within 2-3 business days...I am now on day 4 and still awaiting a call.
There is no point in going to Toronto to get an emergency travel doc as the US "may or may not" allow it and I cannot take that chance travelling with 2 small kids. It is a mess, there is NO support, we have to pay Careline to talk to people who have been programmed with responses as they know NOTHING other than what is on their screen!
This trip scheduled for Sat is a bust:frown:...it is Wednesday and no passport, my 6 yr old is heartbroken and it will cost us about $1300 to reschedule or lose $4500 by not being able to go at all.
Something has to be done about this!!!....it has been a nightmare since day 1 apparantly.

Re: Passport Delays and useless Helplines
 

My (UK) passport was received in Washington March 15th, payment was processed on April 12th. At the time of send the wait time was listed on the web as "4 week" turnaround.

I called the UK Careline number. After about a 15 min hold, I was told after 3 attempts that my touchphone didnt register my credit card number and so I couldnt continue the call. I then tried the "ultra" premium number in desperation - this time a recorded message from Charter said I wasnt authorised to make "that type of call". (call to Charter to fix simply resulted in them saying they did not have the option for me to call a 1-900 number at all).

So, now using my cell phone which has international access (and will be costing a small fortune) I try again - spoke to pleasant gentleman who told me that the passport was received on the 15th March and Processing started on April 12th................well duh, I already knew that! He could not tell me any more - could not put a note on the system to say I needed to travel in the next few weeks to renew my E2 visa - in fact couldnt do anyting except tell me those 2 things. But I could call back in a week to see if there was any progress, and that he did believe that it would be 4 weeks from the date of payment (12 April).

I called the week after - spoke to another operator who told me Careline was just a sub-contracted agency - who had limited access to the Passport agency - and they couldnt make notes on the file or flag up any emergency. So I really needn't have called again - as the information was exactly the same - received and "in processing".

4 weeks from payment (8 in total) is up tomorrow so I will post on here when this is received. It is frustrating to have no useful contact numbers - and the contact numbers provided are very expensive and not useful in the slightest. I cant go for my interview without my passport and without my passport I cannot travel anywhere ! More frustrating the "no-one knows" about anything black hole that these passports fall into ! :thumbdown:

Re: Passport Delays
 

TNwaltz, your story sounds very similar to mine, only you applied a bit earlier but were charged later:huh: In 24 hours I will be officially admitting that my families vacation plans have been ruined. I can't even rebook cos I don't trust when I am going to get my passport back. There really is noone to help us out! Time for me to become a Canadian Citizen I think!
Good luck !

Re: Passport Delays
 

Travel insurance cover things?

Re: Passport Delays
 

I noticed on the website it no longer states that they are having delays. Fingers crossed this means they have sorted themselves out... although i doubt it, its more likely just an oversight and we can continue to look forward to weeks and weeks of continued incompetence.

Re: Passport Delays
 

The message is still on the Embassy passports page noting the delays.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Still no call pr email from washington, flights getting cancelled tomorrow :( what a complete joke this all is!!!

Re: Passport Delays
 

oh i must be blind then apologies for any excitement that might have caused

Re: Passport Delays
 

My daughter applied for her passport renewal when she was in England in February. Mailed Feb 15th, new passport received Feb 26th. She came back to the US on her US passport and I picked her UK one up when I visited my dad in April.

Not 100% Kosher I'm sure, but if they are going to charge us expats through the nose for a sub standard service - screw 'em.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Here's my timeline for my passport renewal:

18-Mar Passport received in Washington
12-Apr Credit card charge appeared
(numerous calls to Careline in between)
09-May Careline sent an e-mail to the passport office

But today still no passport.

I know this has been mentioned elsewhere, but it's pretty clear that the Careline can't really do anything. They don't even get to see your application in the system until the point where the passport office begins to process it, and that (it appears) can take many weeks after they actually receive it.
I've actually been calling the Careline every couple of days, just to see if there was any progress, but nothing ever changed. Finally, on Monday I'd reached the four week mark since processing started, and it appears that at that point they can do something else. They took some details from me, including phone numbers and e-mail, and said that they would send an e-mail, and someone should contact me within 72 hours.
I'm still waiting for that call, and after other comments here, I know that it's probably not coming. I'll call the Careline again tomorrow once the 72 hours are up, just to keep jabbing, but I'm not expecting anything useful to come of it.