Let me guess: you have an international trip coming up, and your passport STILL hasn’t arrived. What are you supposed to do! This is so stressful! Will you have to cancel all your plans? What all is refundable and what isn’t? Will you lose thousands of dollars simply because the passport agency is taking forever? Slow down, and listen up. I have one secret trick that might just work for you. So, how can you get your passport sooner, you might ask? Here’s how: contact your congressman.
Our bullet-proof secret is to contact your congressman.
Does Contacting Your Congressman to Get Your Passport Sooner Actually Work?
Yes and no. You need to realize right off the bat that this is an absolute last resort approach that shouldn’t be used if you still have months until your trip or if you haven’t waited the full processing time yet. Like anything, I recommend applying for your passport early to avoid the issue of a delay in processing occurring. However, even if you do everything perfectly, there is still a chance that things can get stuck, and this trick might just keep you from losing out on a nice trip and all the money that you’ve sunk into it.
So, how do you reach out to your congressman to speed up the passport process? Who even is your congressman? To answer the latter of those two questions, simply Google it. You’ll be able to figure out who your congressman is based on the state and town that you live in. Typically, a congressman’s constituency is determined on a county-by-county basis.
Contacting your congressman should be a last resort.
When you reach out to them, I recommend going with both a phone call and an email. You never know who is going to see it, and you want to make sure that you get a response! Once they respond, it will be with a few information forms that you need to fill out, potentially including the details of your previous passport, the date that you applied for the current one, and your mailing address where the new one can be sent. If you get a congressman to help you out, your odds of getting your passport quickly, regardless of the time or circumstances, are pretty solid. Now, if you need one the next day, don’t do this – make an appointment directly at a passport agency who can print one for you on the spot. If you have a little more time, though – like a week or two – and don’t live near a passport agency, this is absolutely the move.
Like any service provided by a congressman, it is absolutely free. Maybe just toss them a vote in the fall when the elections roll around.
I Have Personally Contacted My Congressman to Expedite My Passport
Now, do I have personal experience with this? Yes I do!
I got married and planned a nice honeymoon to Tulum, Mexico. We couldn’t wait to go, as we planned on just staying in Mexico afterwards to move into our new home in Puebla where we were going to graduate school. This was all happening in the peak of Covid-19…specifically July 2020…and I still hadn’t received my passport.
My current passport had completely filled up, and I had applied over 4 months beforehand, in February, to renew it so that I had space for my Mexican visa. My application (and current existing passport), after 4 months, were still sitting in a warehouse somewhere while the government was shut down. Our plan was doomed.
One day, while I was complaining about the situation to a friend, he told me that I should contact my congressman. I’ll admit – I kind of laughed in his face. I was like, haha, that’s funny, man. Contact my congressman. That is what people did in 1940 when their crops dried up! That won’t work in 2020.
…Right?
We initially laughed when we were first told to contact our congressman…But then it arrived within 5 days of calling!
He put me in touch with my congressman in Pennsylvania, and within 5 days I had a brand new passport at my door. I was able to make my flight, as the passport literally came 36 hours before takeoff. I still don’t know how this happened, as my existing passport was still sitting in a warehouse in Missouri and my application was there with it. However, this process worked nonetheless and I gained a newfound respect for our congressmen! Shoutout to Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania’s 9th district!
While the U.S. passport backlog that arose from Covid has been resolved, there are still plenty of reasons that your passport might be stuck and you need it NOW. If this is the case, and the passport agency thing won’t work for you, just do it. Contact your congressman!
Thanks for reading my post on how to get your passport sooner by contacting your congressman. Hopefully this post helps you out while your in a bit of a passport pickle! If you have any questions, be sure to drop a comment below.
