Replacement Passport Update (Or, Does the System Actually Work?)

May 12, 2023 Mark

Regular followers of our blog know all about my recent woes from losing my passport on our way out of Ecuador. Although that has been a low point in our travels, it opened our eyes to how helpful a United States Embassy can be for traveling citizens in distress. And we were really happy that the US Embassy in Panama City, Panama could facilitate my getting a “free” full replacement passport, without having to make an unscheduled trip back to the USA.

Amazing.

Our experiences with the Quito, Ecuador US Embassy issuing me a 1-year emergency passport were nothing short of outstanding. So we had our fingers crossed that we would have a similar experience with the US Embassy in Panama City, Panama getting me a 10-year replacement passport in exchange for my emergency passport.

replacement passport two travel turtles — Our saviors?

So far so good!

As mentioned in our last passport update, I mailed all of the application materials needed to the US Embassy in Panama City. We were just waiting for the next steps to happen in the passport replacement process.

On April 28 I received a verification from DHL that my paperwork was delivered, but did not receive any sort of verification from the US government itself.

There is a US passport application tracking website that updates progress on this front, but it explicitly states that it might take a couple of weeks before the system registers the receipt of my passport in mainland USA.

That is a perfectly reasonable timeframe, especially considering the international spin on this whole process.

But as a firm believer in Murphy’s Law, I was paranoid that the transfer from DHL to the right people at the US Embassy in Panama City somehow went sideways.

I waited with anticipation until May 7 but didn’t hear anything back from the US government.

So I proactively emailed the US Embassy in Panama City just to verify that they received my paperwork and everything was moving forward.

Mercifully they replied within 24 hours to verify that they received the paperwork, approved it, and shipped it to the US mainland for processing.

Woo hoo! That was a HUGE relief.

And even better, I checked the US passport application tracker yesterday (May 11) and it said that my replacement passport was just mailed off to US Embassy in Panama City!

If the timetable for international shipping to and from Panama is the same, it might actually arrive while we are in Pedasi, Panama!

Wow.

I can’t imagine a passport application being processed in less than a month back in the United States, even when you throw money at the problem to expedite things.

Even the US government warns you about this!

I guess linking up with an embassy overseas moves your application to the front of the line.

Now I realize that sharing my enthusiasm raises death flags that might cause something to happen to my passport before I receive it.

But I am pretty confident that the worst is truly over.

When the US Embassy in Panama City receives my passport, I just visit them in person and pick it up!

Now there may be inconveniences doing that depending on what town we are in, but Panama is a small country.

So if I have to make a special trip to Panama City to pick up the passport before we leave Panama, it isn’t the end of the world.

But we are hoping that when they receive it they’ll be willing to hold on to it until we are again in the orbit of Panama City.

Wish us luck, death flags be damned.

[For those who want to read the entire series of posts about my passport SNAFU, CLICK HERE.]

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