It's going to cost around 250 dollars to do it faster, but you will get your passport in about two weeks. If you do the 150 dollar option, it could take two months. With all the events happening, I would just pay the extra to get it done fast, so that you don't have to have anxiety for two months.
If you owe the I.R.S. more than 60K, you will get rejected unless you have a pre-arranged payment plan in place.
1. PHOTO
Download an app to take your photo at home. If you take it at the passport place, it will be the ugliest version of you that you've ever seen. It's smarter to take a selfie at home. It's easy. and you can adjust your face and hair, and keep taking pictures until you get the Zoolander or Calvin Klein look. I was surprised at how good my picture looked when I took it myself versus having them take it at the place. Alot of apps are junk and hard to figure out but I found one that does everything automatically. You just have to tell it what nation the passport is from. then upload a picture from your smartphone to the app. It will tell you if your picture meets government requirements, and it will even erase the background and replace it with a white background. There are two apps with the exact same name, so look for the one that has this picture as its logo/avatar.
2. DOCUMENTS
- a birth certificate (or if you are an immigrant you need the documents for that)
- driver's license or I.D.
3. POST OFFICE (bring your own pen)
Don't go to a small post office. Google which one is the main one for your city. Go to the main one. I thought there would be hundreds of people there but as soon as I walked in, i got to the counter around 11 a.m. without waiting. The clerk gave me a form to fill out and pointed out a sign-in desk. I signed in, then sat down and filled out the form. The form asks for your address, phone, e-mail, and the names of your parents and when they were born and where they were born. By the time I finished filling out the form, the passport clerk called me.
if your passport is older than ten years or you lost it, or if your picture is ugly and you want a passport with the sexier picture, then just say you want a new one. It's no big deal.
It only took about five minutes. The clerk took photocopies of my items, and had me sign something. Then asks me if I want "routine" or "expedited." I ask for "expedited" (fast processing).
I was surprised that they took cash because on the website it says the government only takes checks or money orders. Altogether it was about $250. It takes about two weeks to get it in the mail. They send it by two-day mail after the two-week-processing, but will put it in your post box, so you don't have to sign for it.