Sometimes you are forced to leave the country unexpectedly, and realize that you still need to apply for a passport or renew your expired one. In this case, going through the routine passport application wouldn’t be an option. Currently, you’ll need to wait four to six weeks to have your passport processed for routine applications.

In family emergencies, you wouldn’t be able to wait that long for your passport to arrive. This applies to family emergencies where you’ll need to travel out of the country as soon as possible. Good thing there’s an option for you to get a passport faster than is regularly allowed. For family emergencies, you’ll need an emergency passport.

Emergency passports are issued to US citizens who have family emergencies outside the country and have to leave within the next 48 hours. So, if you need a passport quickly, an emergency passport is what you need. Applying for one ensures that you’ll be able to leave the country immediately.

Now let’s discuss on how you can acquire an emergency passport. To get one, you’ll need to get in touch with the National Passport Information Agency (NPIA). They are the ones tasked on assisting people like you who need emergency passports. Call them any time of the day, and they’ll help you schedule an appointment with the passport agency nearest you. The passport agency will then help process your emergency passport.

In case the NPIA is unable to schedule an appointment for you, simply hang on the line. You will then be forwarded to a customer service representative (CSR). In turn, the CSR will handle your call and provide you with options on how you can get your emergency passport.

However, if your reason to leave the country isn’t as urgent as a family emergency, there’s still an option for you to speed the process up. You can choose to get an expedited passport. This is ideal if you need to leave the country within the next four to ten weeks.

The expedited passport option is a kind of a value-added service. And because of this, your passport application will be given priority over the routine passport applications. Thus expedited passports are a lot faster to process. And as a value-added service, you can expect an expedited passport to have an extra fee added to the regular passport application fees you need to pay. This is a non-issue, of course, if you need to get your passport quickly and don’t want to break a sweat doing it.

In cases where you really need to leave the country soon for family emergencies, you can always apply for an emergency passport. Applying for one cuts the processing time to just 48 hours. However, if you aren’t really that in a hurry yet need to travel in four to ten weeks, then you can instead apply for an expedited passport. An expedited passport gives you a quick and convenient alternative to the routine US passport application.