In today’s global economy, more and businesses are sending their employees overseas for conferences, training and meeting with international clients.  What happens if your company wants you to go on an international business trip, and you don’t have a passport?

If you have an important business trip coming up in the near future, there are a few different ways to go about getting an express passport. First, if you have at least two weeks, you can use the government’s expedited passport service to apply for an express passport. Mark your passport application envelope as “expedited,” send an additional $60.00 to pay the expediting fee, and pay for overnight delivery to and from the passport processing center. Then, start checking your mailbox obsessively. With this option,  you should have your passport within 2 weeks.

If you need your passport sooner than that, you can make an appointment with the nearest Regional Passport Agency office by calling 1-877-487-2778. You’ll have to appear in person to apply for an express passport at a Regional Passport Agency, and they won’t see you without an appointment. However, they can get your passport ready for you on the same day if necessary. In addition to the normal documentation and photos, you’ll also need a travel itinerary or a company letter to confirm your travel dates for the agency.

However, the best option for busy business travelers who need an express passport is to use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com. For a fee, a passport expediter will hand-deliver your passport application to the US Passport Agency for processing, and then rush your passport back to you. With an expediting service, you don’t have to wait weeks for your new passport. Even better, you don’t  have to spend time you don’t have at a Regional Passport Agency-you can simply send everything to the expediting company and they will take care of it.