Passport expiring in August and traveling to Armenia in July

She will need a new passport, so why not get it over with now?

I’d renew it.

@Sam, I agree. I'm just trying to determine how concerned she needs to be. I'm thinking maybe she should book a refundable airline ticket? I just read she cannot renew online within 8 weeks of travel. Most things are harder in Hawaii, and I'm not seeing a lot of Honolulu offices.

She doesn't have the six weeks. Now, the other problem is that I believe she has to surrender her current passport. She has another conference in a few weeks in California so she needs ID to fly. She doesn't drive, the passport is her only ID.

This is all new, the conferences, etc. Bad timing on the passport.

I'd renew it with expedited service. My bigger concern would be an unexpected travel snafu in one of the connecting airports and needing to have a longer validity passport in that location. There are dozens of passport acceptance facilities in Hawaii (usually post office) where she can send her application by priority mail. It's taking 2-3 weeks for expedited passports currently, if for some reason she doesn't get it quickly and is within 6 weeks of travel she can make an appointment in Honolulu to move it along.

I agree she should renew online ASAP and expedite it. Yes to refundable airfare.
How is booking/paying for the conference and hotel? If someone else, she should let them know about waiting on new passport. If she has to book her own hotel, she should pay for the "cancelation up to X days".

Now, the other problem is that I believe she has to surrender her
current passport. She has another conference in a few weeks in
California so she needs ID to fly. She doesn't drive, the passport is
her only ID.

This is unfortunate. Does Hawaii offer a driver equivalent ID? That's another expense of course but it would address the flying the short term situation.

And because I was curious, I got on the online passport application page and put in a random late July date to travel to Armenia. It let me proceed ahead with the application so maybe she should try that today and see if it works. If you apply online it does "expire" your passport but as she's not flying internationally I think she could still use the physical passport for ID. I'm not a lawyer or expert so that's a total guess on my part.

She doesn't have the six weeks online requires, and she needs ID to get to California. I think she has to leave 7/3 or 7/4 for Armenia

She has a passport office on her campus, hopefully she can get an appt very soon.

I'm priority mailing her birth certificate and hopefully she can get a Hawaii state ID. I'm remembering when I got my MN real ID that it wasn't easy to get all the necessary documents. I'm not sure she'd have what she needs, the guidelines for Hawaii don't seem very clear.

OP - She should be able to get a state issued ID (not driver's license) that is REAL ID compliant. I don't know how long it takes.
She will need her US passport or birth certificate (original or certified copy), proof of address, and SSN (original card or payroll/W2). If she can get an appt ASAP for the state ID, she could bring her passport as one of the documents.
Then apply expedite for new passport. Hopefully her university office can help expedite things for her.

Great ideas, Joy, and everyone.

I am hoping she has her birth certificate. Usually, I have all the documents, but she may have needed it for school enrollment. It's still night there. I think I'm going to drive to the county office where she was born, luckily its not that far, to get a birth certificate in case she doesn't have one.

I'm going to tell her to go to the passport office on campus when they open to discuss options.

I appreciate all the responses and will continue to monitor them.

I keep thinking about just a couple years ago when I got thru TSA with my Costco card. I had temporarily lost my DL, and found it later in the trip.

She doesn't have the six weeks online requires, and she needs ID to
get to California. I think she has to leave 7/3 or 7/4 for Armenia

Well that does change things. I don't know where her school is, but if she gets very close to her travel dates she can try to get an emergency in person appointment at the Honolulu passport office. You need to be within 14 days of travel and have proof that you're traveling https://travel.state.gov/en/passports/apply/get-fast/make-appointment/honolulu.html

And just note, even if she gets a Hawaii state ID, she needs to confirm how long it will take to get, as you cannot use a temporary ID to travel as far as I know.

Best of luck.

I really appreciate having folks to discuss this with. Still unable to reach her, I’m hoping she has a certified copy of her birth certificate, and I don’t know when the Berkley conference is.

I found that TSA has a process for folks without realID or passport called TSA confirm. It will cost her, it is what it is.

I will probably have her pop into UH office to get their advice. Then probably have her go apply for ID with passport if she doesn’t have birth certificate. Her only transportation is bike/bus and it looks like the office for new IDs isn’t in the greatest of places, but she manages. After that start passport process.

I completely agree it highlights the importance of RealID. She doesn’t drive and she thought she was moving this year and was waiting to find out where she’d be.

I will certainly entertain any additional comments.

I'm confused why everyone is saying she needs to surrender her passport. When I renewed my passport, I did it online and I did not have to send in my passport. I just kept it.

That said, it is invalid from the date you file the application, but it's really quick and I received my passport back within two weeks.

Is there some reason she doesn't want to or can't do an online renewal?

Mardee, the reason she can't renew online is because it requires travel outside of 6 weeks, and she doesn't have 6 weeks. (Yes, mine only recently took 13 days, but the online policy is outside of 6 weeks.)

jules m, According to the TSA website, TSA currently accepts expired (up 2 two years) ID such as her passport for her domestic travel. So once she applies for her new passport it becomes expired/invalid but perhaps usable for acceptable domestic travel ID?

Many moons ago my husband had to have his passport renewed in a hurry. IIRC it was expensive to have it expedited but it could be done. I don't know the cost because his company took care of it. They needed him someplace in a hurry after another employee experienced a death in the family and had to return home. You might check see if expediting can still be done. Seems to me it would have to be.

Good luck with it all. It sounds as though it will be an interesting trip.

Traveler Girl

So, it is 1:54pm, and I feel like I need a celebratory cocktail. Finally reached my daughter. She and I had a bit of a "freak out" when she said Berkley conference is in 2 weeks. We discussed TSA ConfirmID for those without real ID. Then all of a sudden she remembers she got a Hawaii Driver's permit a few months ago since she's staying in Hawaii for at least a year. She got it on a whim thinking that if she had the opportunity to practice driving, she would have a permit. We did some internet investigating and not all driver's permits are real IDs. However, hers has a gold star on it which means it's real ID! Now, she is off to work on the passport. I told her that if people tell her that her passport is good for Armenia, she should renew and expedite it anyway.

She's learning a lot about adulting that they don't teach in grad school!!! Safe travels to all her destinations!

@KD, she sure is. In many ways. Now lets see if she can figure out how to get to Yerevan, Armenia. I think the answer is Condor, but we'll see what she comes up with.

I'm glad to hear that progress is in....progress. Definitely some adulting lessons in this situation. I hope the passport renewal goes quickly and smoothly but you have a plan B if not.

@jules m - Great news! Thank you for coming back here to share the update. "Oh... the places she'll go.." with that ID and new passport :-)

She is saying that very few of the Oahu offices do renewals and she is supposed to mail the application and photo, etc. Just seems so risky.

She is saying that very few of the Oahu offices do renewals and she is
supposed to mail the application and photo, etc. Just seems so risky.

She doesn't really have a choice unless she wants to wait until less than 14 days before her trip and hope she can get an emergency passport appointment in Honolulu, which is not guaranteed. To me, even more risky. She should send her application the fastest and trackable way via USPS today or tomorrow and hope for the best. I did see there is a FedEx expedited passport service but it is super expensive https://www.office.fedex.com/default/passport-services

Not all passports are physically eligible for online renewal, but my new one was back in 8-10 days, ready to use, no expedite fee. Do you feel lucky?

My husband just renewed his Passport and received the new one short of two weeks- and this was not the expedited mode. Good luck!

@Tim, I'm inclined to say, no, not lucky. However, she did just happen to have a real ID, without really intending to. I mean she had a passport for travel but a month or so ago decided to get a driver's permit and she just happened to get one that was real ID compliant. She recalls the person saying she had all necessary documents so she could get one, if she wanted. But, never thought any more about it.

@Pat, hope that's true for Hawai.

Thanks to all that helped us. She arrived home to Honolulu from Oakland California, and her passport was waiting in her mail. Looks like it took about three weeks.

Great news Jules!! Glad it worked out for her.

Many foreign destinations require your passport to be valid for at least six months beyond the dates of your trip. Glad she has obtained her new passport just in time for her trip!

@Mindfulness, for clarity, Armenia does not require six months, but indeed, I am relieved she did get the passport renewed. She connects thru Germany and just about anything can happen. Glad she is covered.