No parent wants to get the phone call that their child has been hurt. Imagine getting that phone call when the child is on a trip abroad and not having a passport. While this can be a very stressful situation, it is made easier with emergency passport application services. There are services that will allow someone to forego all the normal waiting periods and have a passport ready to go in as little as a single day.

When an emergency situation arises, the other family members can contact the Department of State Passport Information Center and they will get guidance on exactly what to do in order to get their passport pushed through. As long as the situation meets their criteria for emergency care, they will usually have a passport in hand in less than 48 hours.

They have an automated system to make appointments and live operators from 6am-midnight EST to answer any questions pertaining to emergency passports. If the automated system cannot offer an appointment that is quick enough, talk to one of the live operators instead to see what can be done. More than likely, they will be able to expedite the situation or put you in contact with an agency that can handle the task at hand.

However, many people in the midst of a family event of great seriousness may wish to opt for using a private passport expediting service, especially when it is a weekend or other time when government representatives may not be available. These for-profit agencies specialize in cutting through the red tape to move an emergency passport through the process at lightning speed. For a non-critical application, they can get the job done in two to three days.

If the passport is needed in 24 hours, services like this can usually make that happen without a problem. They have been known to put a passport in people’s hands by the end of the same day. Because of this, the family can get their tickets that much quicker and be on their international flight as soon as possible.

Most of the private passport agencies perform transactions online, especially when it comes to renewing an existing passport. It is a great relief to be able to leave passport problems to someone else and to only need to fill out some simple online forms rather than deal with an in-person visit to the post office. These firms specialize in knowing exactly what to do and can conduct most communications with the family via email, leaving phone lines free for more pressing matters.

Naturally, the cost of using a private agency is going to be more than simply going the government route alone, but it is true that time is money. The comfort of leaving the details to someone else can be worth its weight in gold. A two to three day turn around will cost the applicant about $200. Bear in mind that the government fees will also be assessed on top of the agency’s fees, so figure that everything will cost about $300 or more.

While nobody ever wants to pay the fees that are associated with rush service, sometimes there is no other choice but to use emergency passport services. It is for this very reason that everyone should always have a valid passport on hand. However, it is nice to know that should we neglect to get our passport in time, there are American passport expediting services out there that can make this happen and allow us to get with our loved ones in an emergency.