How Zach Braff Made It to Canada Without a Passport Renewal - Expedited Passports

More proof that passport problems can happen to anyone: Zach Braff, the actor and director who starred the in the popular TV series Scrubs and the movie Garden State, almost didn’t make it to Toronto for the premiere of his latest indie flick, The High Cost of Living. The culprit? An expired passport. As reported on Canada’s National Post website, the drama came to light on Twitter, when Braff tweeted from the airport, “My passport expired on my birthday. The nation of Canada won’t let me in. I am a danger. Any ideas? Government offices closed on sunday.”

Oops! For most of us mere mortals, that would have been the end of the story, at least until Monday. And yet, after tweeting a string of jokes about tunneling into Canada, a few hours later Braff’s Twitter account announced the happy news: “Dear Canada, I’m in.”

So, how’d he do it? Does Zach Braff have super powers? No, but he does have a pilot’s license. Via the National Post:

“He decided to, oh, fly himself after getting rejected by the commercial flight. Keeping his fingers crossed that things might just be less tricky with customs on this side of the border — “it’s tougher leaving the States, but easier in Canada,” a source close to him told us — he arranged to arrive on his plane at the same time as his publicist arrived from L.A., and with a driver parked on the tarmac to give real-time updates to said publicist, the high-wire plot unfolded. Long story short: It worked!”

How was this possible? Well, technically, US citizens are not required to have a passport to enter Canada. All the Canada Border Services Agency really needs to see is photo ID and proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate. However, the US government tightened rules for re-entering the United States after 9/11, to require a passport book if you’re traveling by air and either a passport book or a passport card if you’re traveling by land or sea.

Of course, it’s generally a really bad idea to enter a country without the documents you are required to show to get back home. If you do so, the government has to let you back in if you’re a citizen, but they don’t have to be happy about it. Expect delays and other hassles while they confirm you are who you say you are and you don’t pose a security threat.

Also, keep in mind that since you’re supposed to have a passport for air travel to Canada, commercial airlines won’t let you board without one, no matter how famous you are.

If an expired passport catches you by surprise at the last minute, you do have options other than digging a tunnel or commandeering a private plane. You can make an appointment at one of the 24 Regional Passport Agency offices serving the US, or use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport. We hand-deliver your passport renewal application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to go through the hassle of making an appointment or waiting in line.

Need a passport renewal ASAP? Let us help!

If you’ve found yourself staring at the expiration date on your passport in shock, wondering how a decade could pass in a blink of an eye, you should know that you’re not alone. The same thing happens even to people who travel for a living.

For example, travel writer Crai S. Bower recently planned to jet off to Mexico with his family. Unfortunately, as he explained on the Huffington Post:

Like the cobbler who fails to provide his kids with footwear, this writer of more than 100 travel stories a year failed to get his kids’ passports together for a weeklong multigenerational trip to Sayulita, Mexico, forcing him to cancel the trip, an especially aggravating gaffe considering said travel writer’s partner is a sun-starved school administrator with limited vacation windows.

In his defense, it’s easier to overlook the expiration date on a child’s passport because they are only good for 5 years after they’re issued, instead of 10 years like an adult passport is. Mr. Bower ended up canceling the trip to Mexico and heading to California instead. However, if you find yourself in this predicament, there are ways that you can get your passport renewal rushed. Depending on the method you use and when you discovered the issue, there’s a good chance you can even keep your original travel plans.

If you have at least three weeks to go, you can simply request expedited passport renewal service from the Department of State. This will set you back an additional $60, and you should get your passport back within 3 weeks. Do check the processing timelines at the Department of State’s website, though – they sometimes vary depending on the number of applications that need to be processed.

If you’re really short on time, you can make an appointment to get your passport renewal at a regional passport agency office. The issue here is that there are only 22 of these offices serving the entire US, so it may be a trip in and of itself to get there. Plus, they have limited operating hours, like a bank but more so. If you work during the day, this means you’ll definitely have to take time off.

The third option is to use a private company like RushMyPassport. We’ll personally deliver your passport renewal application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport renewal today!

Are you planning an international trip? Good for you, but you’d better check your passport expiration date. An expired passport, or a passport that expires in the near future, can cause an unexpected change of plans – never a good thing when it comes to travel.

At RushMyPassport, we help travelers get expedited passport renewals every single day – in fact, one of the most common reasons people come to us is that they’ve forgotten to renew. This isn’t just an American problem, either. A survey from Sunshine.co.uk, a popular British travel agency, revealed that an expired passport had changed or affected travel plans for 8% of respondents, or almost 1 in 10.

I haven’t been able to find a similar study for the US, but this quote from Sunshine.co.uk founder Chris Brown is equally true on this side of the pond:

“Our customer service team often receive enquiries about passport regulations and it’s surprising how confused some people are on the matter. If you’re going on holiday, it’s important you do your homework and check that everything is in place to make your trip run smoothly. You’d be surprised how common it is for people to turn up at the airport, only to be told they cannot fly because they only have a few months left before their passport expires. Even if you are due to return to the UK before your passport expires, you often need a few months left on your passport to be able to travel in the first place.”

That last sentence is key, actually. Even if your passport is technically still valid, many countries won’t let you in if it expires in the next 6 months, or sometimes 3. This applies even if you plan to leave the country in question long before your passport expires. (more…)

If you’ve always wanted to visit Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day, Irish eyes are smiling on you this year. Jaunted dug up a package from TravelZoo that gets you a 6-night stay in Dublin for $599 per person. Airfare to Ireland and a rental car are included.

The only catch? The deal starts on March 19th, a couple of days after St. Patrick’s Day itself. No worries, though – the Irish treat St. Paddy’s Day kind of like New Orleans treats Mardi Gras. It’s not just a day of merriment, it’s a 6-day-long festival that runs from the 16th to the 20th. So, you’ll still be able to catch the tail end of the celebrations.

In fact, if you manage to get into town early enough and you aren’t too tired from the flight, you ought to be able to catch the fireworks in the nearby Viking town of Wexford.

According to the official St. Patrick’s Day website, “The Wexford Quays provide a stunning setting for the formidable fireworks display where bright colours and amazing effects will light up the skies over the river Slaney. A breathtaking pyrotechnic waterfall will create a 300m wide curtain of cascading silver fire.”

Nice! And it’s hard to complain at that price.

To fly to Ireland, of course you need a passport. Even if you already have one, go dig it out and check the expiration date. If it’s expired, you’ll need to apply for a passport renewal ASAP. It’s already too late to send your passport renewal application in with normal processing, as it takes about 6 weeks for the Department of State to send your passport back unless you expedite it. Expediting your passport with the State Department costs an additional $60 and will get your passport to you in 3 weeks.

For faster service, you have two options: make an appointment at one of 21 regional agency offices or use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport. We help you with the application and then personally deliver it to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to make an appointment or wait in line at a passport agency.

Need an expedited passport renewal? Contact us today!

Nobody likes having to keep track of important numbers, and we all have too many to remember: social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers and passport numbers.  We often get asked whether or not the passport number on a passport renewal will be the same as the passport number on the existing passport. Unfortunately, it won’t be – when you get a new passport, you get a new passport number to keep track of and you’ll need to update your records accordingly.

According to the Social Security Administration, a passport number is used to indicated which passport office the passport was issued in. By looking at a passport number, you can tell where it was issued and possibly where it was applied for. For example,  if your passport number starts with “01,” it was issued at the Washington Passport Agency. If it starts with “04″, it was issued in Miami, and so on. If it was issued at the National Passport Center in New Hampshire, it will start with a “15″,  ”20″ or “21,” depending on when it was issued. Passports that start with the number “60″ were issued with no fee to military dependents. “80″ is the prefix for “official” passports, while diplomatic passports always start with “90.”

If you had to get your passport replaced at an embassy or consulate overseas, your passport number will begin with the letter “Z” or the number “70.” Both indicate that the passport, if issued after 2002, was issued as an emergency passport and is only valid for a year.

To get your passport renewal, you should ideally apply for it at least 9 weeks in advance. Regular processing times average 6 weeks or longer, especially if the passport office is busy. If you spring for the government’s expedited processing, you’ll end up paying an additional $60 and still waiting 3 weeks or longer. For faster service, you can either make an appointment and wait in line at one of the 21 regional passport agency offices in the country, or you can engage the services of a passport expediting company like RushMyPassport. We deliver your application directly to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Let us help you rush your passport renewal today!

Adult passports are valid for 10 years after they are issued. Depending on the country, travel visas can also be good for many years as well. Unfortunately, the expiration date on your travel visas is unlikely to coincide with the expiration date on your passport. What do you do if you have valid travel visas in an expired passport?

Every country’s rules are a little bit different, so the answer to that question depends on the type of visa that’s in your passport and the regulations of the country that issued it. With that disclaimer out of the way: Most of the time, you can still travel on a valid visa that’s in an expired passport.

However, you can’t travel on an expired passport at all. To make this work, you would need to apply for a passport renewal, then take both your new, valid passport and your old, expired passport with the visa in it when you travel.

The advantage of carrying both passports is that you don’t have to go through the hassle of applying for a new visa. You also don’t have to pay for a new visa. However, there are a couple of disadvantages as well. First, you’ll have two passports to keep track of. Losing either one means potentially being stranded in a foreign country while you get either a new passport or a new visa, depending on which passport you lost.

Another concern is that when you renew your passport by mail, your old passport usually doesn’t come back to you in the same envelope as your new passport-and that second envelope, the one with your old passport in it, often comes back a good deal later than the envelope with the new passport. This could pose a problem if you’re on a tight schedule.

Some countries do offer another choice: having your existing visa transferred to your new passport. That way, you’ll only have one passport to keep track of. However, many countries don’t offer this option, and you’ll have to send in both the old passport and the new passport to get your visa transferred.

Whether you choose to get your visa transferred, apply for a new visa, or simply carry both passports, RushMyPassport can help expedite your passport for processing times as low as 24 hours. The experts at our sister site, RushMyTravelVisa, can also answer any questions you might have about the necessary travel visas for your trip.

Apply for your passport renewal today!

You already know that it’s a bad idea to wait until the last minute to renew your passport. But how early is too early to renew?

As long as you’re over the age of 16, your passport is good for 10 years after it’s issued. There’s not really a limit on how early you can renew it, but the expense involved means that you won’t want to renew until close to the expiration date. There are, however, two situations in which you’ll need to renew early.

Name Changes

If you get married, divorced or otherwise change your name within the first year after you get your passport, you don’t need to renew. Instead, you can use Form DS-5504 to get your name changed free of charge. Just fill out the form, send it in along with 2 new passport photos (if it’s been more than 90 days since your passport was issued).

However, if you need a name change and it’s been more than one year since you received your passport, you have no choice but to renew. Follow the directions in Passport Renewal: Cutting Through the Red Tape, and you’ll get a new passport good for another 10 years. Note, however, that the fee to renew your passport has gone up to $110.

Additional Pages

You won’t need to worry about renewing your passport to get additional pages unless you travel a LOT. You can simply have pages added to your passport for a fee of $82. However, once you fill up 100 pages, you have to renew your passport if you want to continue to travel.

Otherwise, the earliest you’d want to renew your passport is about 9 months before it expires. Why so early? Many countries won’t let you in if your passport expires in 6 months or less, so renewing 9 months in advance ensures that your travel plans don’t get derailed.

Renewing your passport normally takes about 6 weeks for normal service and 3 weeks for expedited service. If you need it processed more quickly, an expediting company like RushMyPassport can have it done in as little as 24 hours, with no need to take time out of your day visiting a passport office.

Renew your passport with us today!

To get a new passport, you have to appear in person at a passport acceptance office, usually a post office. What a drag! However, if you already have a passport that’s either approaching its expiration date or already expired, you may be eligible to apply by mail instead. How do you know if you’re eligible to renew your passport by mail? Just go through the checklist below-if you can answer “yes” to every single one of these questions, you can skip the passport office:

• Were you at least 16 years when you received your current passport?
• Do you still have your current passport?
• Is your current passport in good condition?
• Was your current passport issued less than 15 years ago?
• Was your current passport issued in the name you currently use OR do you have legal documentation of your name change? Note: Depending on the circumstances, “legal documentation” can mean a marriage certificate, divorce decree or court order.

To renew your passport by mail, send the following documents to the Department of State (the address will be on the application) in a sturdy protective envelope:

• 1 completed passport renewal application, Form DS-82 (don’t forget to sign it!)
• Your current US passport
• Name change documentation, if applicable
• Two passport photos
• Passport Fees: $110 for a passport book, $30 for a passport card, or a $140 for both together. If you’d like expedited service, pay an additional $60. It’s also suggested that you pay $14.95 for overnight shipping.

Once you’ve sent in your application, all you have to do is wait. Please be aware that if you order regular processing, it could take 6 weeks or longer for you to get your passport. If you requested expedited processing, you can expect to wait at least 3 weeks.

For faster service, you can apply in person at your nearest Regional Passport Agency Office, or use a private passport expediting service like RushMyPassport.com.

Using an expediter is a much more convenient option, since you don’t have to make an appointment or drive to the passport office. Plus, you’ll get personal service from an experience passport specialist, helping you avoid mistakes that could delay your application.

Renew your passport with us today!

Do you like to travel “off the beaten path?” Are you looking for some travel inspiration? The list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites just got longer, giving you 21 new reasons to check the expiration date on your passport.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Program aims to “encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.”

To make the UNESCO World Heritage List, sites must meet one or more of a specific set of criteria, such as representing a “masterpiece of human creative genius,” featuring remarkable examples of architecture or natural beauty, or providing refuge to vanishing plants, animals and human cultures.

These criteria make World Heritage sites worth visiting for anyone with an interest in human history, art, or nature. For example, new sites include rainforests in Madagascar, sites where British convicts were housed in Australia, rock art in Portugal and the lush Central Highlands of Sri Lanka.

If you don’t want to leave the United States, you can still visit places on the World Heritage List. The US has 21 World Heritage Sites in total, including Papahānaumokuākea in Hawaii, which was just added.

However, if you want to expand your horizons and visit another country, the list is a great reference that can help you find interesting places to visit that go beyond the standard tourist traps.

If you’re leaving the country, it’s recommended that you get a passport renewal first if you have 6 months or less before your passport expires. Most passport renewals can be done my mail-for more information, see Passport Renewal: Cutting Through the Red Tape.

RushMyPassport can help you get your passport renewal much more quickly than even the government’s expedited service. We personally deliver your application to the Department of State for processing times as low as 24 hours!

Need your passport renewal ASAP? Apply with us today!

If you’ve been putting off a trip to Europe due to the expense and the unfavorable exchange rate, now might be a good time to pack your bags and say “Bon Voyage.”  According to this press release from Hotels.com, the euro is trading at its lowest rate since 2005. Not only will you lose less of your money if you travel overseas, but there are also a lot more great deals to be had on lodging, even in traditionally expensive cities like Paris, London and Cannes.

In the press release, Taylor L. Cole, APR, director of public relations for Hotels.com, explains why you shouldn’t put off that trip to Europe any longer:

“With the large selection of European hotels on hotels.com, and many offering summer promotions, this is an ideal time to travel abroad. The Euro is down and the dollar’s gaining, so Americans traveling to Europe can get more for their money. Additionally, we’re seeing an increase in online searches for travel to Europe which demonstrates that travelers are catching on to the bargains.”

Well, they would say that…but they also provide a list of sample room rates that look pretty tempting. A four-star room in Barcelona for $73 a night, anyone? How about a room in Capri for $84?

If you want to take advantage of these deals, now ‘s the time to go. You’ll need to apply for a passport renewal if yours is expired, of course. As you plan your trip, remember to allow enough time for your passport renewal to be processed.  If you apply with normal processing, you’ll need about 6 weeks, while applying for expedited processing from the Department of State can cut processing time down to 3 weeks.

If you find a truly irresistable last-minute deal, you can also use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com to get your passport even more quickly. An expediting company can get your passport renewal application processed in as little as 24 hours, with no need to travel to a passport agency office.

Renew your passport today!