Unmanned stations checking IDs?

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In Texas, the DMV doesn't issue driver's licenses, Public Safety does. I should add that refugees and those granted permanent asylum also fall under that category. The limited term would be real ID compliant, would be Real ID compliant, but is subject to the DHS date range.
Immigration Status (texas.gov) 1) It's Texas 2) If that doesn't quite make sense, see #1
 
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Bob Dylan said:
I need to renew my Passport( it expires in October) even if I won't be leaving the Country till 2022!) since by next year there will be a backlog @ Passport Offices as people resume International Travel( mine will be mostly to Canada and Mexico now!)
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There is already a huge backlog.

My passport also expires in October and I sent it in for routine processing renewal the first week of May.

I sent it two day Priority Mail with signature receipt so I know when they received it.

It sat in their mailroom for nearly 6 weeks before it finally showed up as "In Process" with a received date of 6/16. Processing time is now 12 weeks. I pretty much now expect to have my new one in September, having applied for my renewal in early May.

Allow for 18 weeks at minimum for passport application, including the 6 weeks sitting in their mailroom that the State Department disingenuously calls "mailing time". My advice is just renew it since you have lots of time for it to sit at the State Department for months now.
 
zephyr17 said:
There is already a huge backlog.

My passport also expires in October and I sent it in for routine processing renewal the first week of May.

I sent it two day Priority Mail with signature receipt so I know when they received it.

It sat in their mailroom for nearly 6 weeks before it finally showed up as "In Process" with a received date of 6/16. Processing time is now 12 weeks. I pretty much now expect to have my new one in September, having applied for my renewal in early May.

Allow for 18 weeks at minimum for passport application, including the 6 weeks sitting in their mailroom that the State Department disingenuously calls "mailing time". My advice is just renew it since you have lots of time for it to sit at the State Department for months now.
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Thanks! The State Dept is on a par with the IRS and VA when it comes to Client Services!🤬
 
Whenever I or someone in my family renews a passport, we always pay for the expedited processing. Not a huge amount but we've always received it in less than two weeks. Haven't done it recently, so don't know how it is these days. I certainly would reapply a few months ahead (and some countries require six months validity remaining anyway).

I had an interesting good experience once. I was living in Stamford, CT and I got a call from the passport office that there was a technical problem with my reapplication. Something the post office didn't do right. The very nice agent invited me to come to Norwalk, CT, where they happened to have a sekrit "one hour" passport office that for a normally huge fee would make and give you your passport literally on the spot. The guy met us, showed us how they made passports, and made ours while we watched. The waiting room was full of a combination of business people and families with severe emergencies that needed to travel that day. I had no idea it was even an option.
 
I did the expedited mail-in service the first time and it still took forever. They eventually agreed to refund my expedite fee since it was so far beyond the longest estimate but even that took another six or seven months. After that I’ve always done the same-day passport service.
 
Brian Battuello said:
Whenever I or someone in my family renews a passport, we always pay for the expedited processing. Not a huge amount but we've always received it in less than two weeks. Haven't done it recently, so don't know how it is these days. I certainly would reapply a few months ahead (and some countries require six months validity remaining anyway).

I had an interesting good experience once. I was living in Stamford, CT and I got a call from the passport office that there was a technical problem with my reapplication. Something the post office didn't do right. The very nice agent invited me to come to Norwalk, CT, where they happened to have a sekrit "one hour" passport office that for a normally huge fee would make and give you your passport literally on the spot. The guy met us, showed us how they made passports, and made ours while we watched. The waiting room was full of a combination of business people and families with severe emergencies that needed to travel that day. I had no idea it was even an option.
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Life or death or immediate need services have made it to the Passport landing page, and are not so secret anymore...
 
This was a long time ago, and I think you had to search around a bit to find the same day service. I don't think they wanted people with more money than planning overwhelming the system. But always good to know it is an option. And I'm old enough that this may have been pre-web. :)
 
Brian Battuello said:
Whenever I or someone in my family renews a passport, we always pay for the expedited processing. Not a huge amount but we've always received it in less than two weeks. Haven't done it recently, so don't know how it is these days.
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12 weeks these days expedited:
20210703_102417.jpg

Note the disingenuous "6 weeks mailing" is actually 6 weeks sitting in their mailroom before they get around to opening it.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/processing-times.html
 
zephyr17 said:
There is already a huge backlog.

My passport also expires in October and I sent it in for routine processing renewal the first week of May.

I sent it two day Priority Mail with signature receipt so I know when they received it.

It sat in their mailroom for nearly 6 weeks before it finally showed up as "In Process" with a received date of 6/16. Processing time is now 12 weeks. I pretty much now expect to have my new one in September, having applied for my renewal in early May.

Allow for 18 weeks at minimum for passport application, including the 6 weeks sitting in their mailroom that the State Department disingenuously calls "mailing time". My advice is just renew it since you have lots of time for it to sit at the State Department for months now.
Click to expand...
Bob Dylan said:
I need to renew my Passport( it expires in October) even if I won't be leaving the Country till 2022!) since by next year there will be a backlog @ Passport Offices as people resume International Travel( mine will be mostly to Canada and Mexico now!)
Click to expand...

To Bob Dylan, Zephyr, and others who've been spurred by this thread to check their passport expiration date:

Technically, a passport should be valid for six months after you leave the U.S. "As a general rule, passports must be valid for six months beyond the date the traveler will exit the United States, however, the U.S. has signed agreements with a number of countries to waive this requirement." See CBP Customer Service. Yeah, the list of countries includes most that you'd actually want to visit (and some that you wouldn't). Still, if your passport expires in less than six months, it's best to renew it now.

The requirement to mail in your old passport and be at the mercy of State Department processing times irks me. Freedom of movement is one of our rights. You're surrendering it for an indeterminate period. And there are perfectly good reasons why you might need to travel internationally on short notice, not just to flee prosecution. Maybe you have a job that requires overseas travel. Maybe you have an ill parent who lives overseas. Heck, maybe you've earned a vacation. The government should figure out a way to renew passports without confiscating the old one for weeks or months.
 
Trollopian said:
To Bob Dylan, Zephyr, and others who've been spurred by this thread to check their passport expiration date:

Technically, a passport should be valid for six months after you leave the U.S. "As a general rule, passports must be valid for six months beyond the date the traveler will exit the United States, however, the U.S. has signed agreements with a number of countries to waive this requirement." See CBP Customer Service. Yeah, the list of countries includes most that you'd actually want to visit (and some that you wouldn't). Still, if your passport expires in less than six months, it's best to renew it now.

The requirement to mail in your old passport and be at the mercy of State Department processing times irks me. Freedom of movement is one of our rights. You're surrendering it for an indeterminate period. And there are perfectly good reasons why you might need to travel internationally on short notice, not just to flee prosecution. Maybe you have a job that requires overseas travel. Maybe you have an ill parent who lives overseas. Heck, maybe you've earned a vacation. The government should figure out a way to renew passports without confiscating the old one for weeks or months.
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True this! It makes no sense to send in the Old one, and then get it back Weeks, or Months Later, when you're already in the System as a US Citizen with a Valid Passport!
 
Bob Dylan said:
True this! It makes no sense to send in the Old one, and then get it back Weeks, or Months Later, when you're already in the System as a US Citizen with a Valid Passport!
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Goes to show that they don't really trust their own system :D Actually, I think it is to make sure that the old Passport is physically marked as cancelled. But the whole goddamned thing should not take several months, when India can do it in a couple of weeks.

At one time the US was held up as an example of efficiency. Now it is held up more often as an example of inefficiency, perhaps just after Russia! Sad!
 
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Here in the UK, we can buy train tickets with cash, no name or ID needed. What is the big thing about ID on Amtrak?
Refusing to accept an expired photo ID as ID seems just plain bonkers, what's the rational for that?
 
Not sure there is one, recently expired ID is not unreasonable, if there is a problem, they know who needs to be accounted for. Commuter/regional trains only require ID for special cases (like reduced fares for srs)
 
Others might think it was to prevent you from selling your non refundable ticket, that you otherwise could not use...
 
railiner said:
Others might think it was to prevent you from selling your non refundable ticket, that you otherwise could not use...
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What actual harm would be caused letting someone else use your paid for ticket? Amtrak have not lost anything? There must be some actual American reason for the ID song and dance?
 
caravanman said:
What actual harm would be caused letting someone else use your paid for ticket? Amtrak have not lost anything? There must be some actual American reason for the ID song and dance?
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They would potentially lose an additional ticket sale. That is pretty easy to see. And if the original ticket was non refundable, they get to pocket that fare irrespective of whether someone ever travels using that money in voucher or whatever.

The Id thing BTW is primarily due to a deal Amtrak struck with the TSA to keep VIPER teams off the trains and stations. They were becoming quite a nuisance as I recall, and there was a bit of an uproar about them even on this forum. At that time most seemed to agree that random Id check was a small price to pay to avoid pat downs and sniffing dogs and the works. As I understand it, the ticket scanning iPhone App has a feature that pops up a random "Check Id" to be followed by the Conductor.
 
jis said:
They would potentially lose an additional ticket sale. That is pretty easy to see.
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Yes of course, that is very obvious... But is losing one seat sale a worthwhile reason for all the ID rigmarole? Not heard of viper teams, we don't get any pat downs, never seen a sniffer dog on or around a train this side of the pond. Still, if it works well for you guys to carry ID in the "land of the free" that's all rhat matters. ;)
 
caravanman said:
Yes of course, that is very obvious... But is losing one seat sale a worthwhile reason for all the ID rigmarole? Not heard of viper teams, we don't get any pat downs, never seen a sniffer dog on or around a train this side of the pond. Still, if it works well for you guys to carry ID in the "land of the free" that's all rhat matters. ;)
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I suppose you got the obligatory cheap shot at the US bit off your chest for a while eh? :D
 
caravanman said:
The ID / Security situation in the US is strange to most English folk, more of a US "own goal" than any cheap shot from me. :cool:
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Both the US and the UK are experts at doing "own goals" for a while now. So there is nothing new about that one either side of the pond ;) As you can see, I do take cheap shots at both and almost anything else from time to time too. :D

I hope you are not taking all this too seriously since mostly I am pulling your leg. If you are, I do apologize for my impertinence.
 
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