I had recently renewed my U.S. Passport online while in the U.S, (during a 6-month work trip). It was easy and I had it back 2 weeks later, despite not expediting.
Although a simple process, it was thought provoking with regards other circumstances.
I was wondering if anyone, who are visiting the U.S. for say two weeks or so and staying in an hotel and lives permanently in the U.K. and is a Naturalised U.S. Citizen.
As you must enter and leave the U.S. on your U.S. passport, what would happen if you lost, had stolen or damaged your U.S. Passport while visiting? You can’t simply renew online, but would need to file a longer form and vitally, provide evidence of U.S. Citizenship. For a U.S. born person, you would need to get a replacement birth certificate, which can be obtained same day in person, or via mail with in a couple of weeks. The problem I can see is that if you are a Naturalised U.S. Citizen, you’d need to ‘mail off’ your certificate with the application. As a naturalised U.S. Citizen, I can put my hands on that certificate in minutes and have copies, just in case I lost or damage the certificate, but I keep the certificate in the U.K. and don’t travel with it.
So, as I see it, if you lost your passport while in the U.S., you’d need to have someone overnight your naturalisation certificate and providing you have travel booked within 14 days, you could go to one of the regional passport agencies for same day issuance.
If you have lost your Naturalisation Certificate, you’d need to order a replacement via form N565, which takes about 6 months. You could be in a dire situation where you have left your hotel room, ready to board a flight back to the U.K, but are unable to because you have lost your passport & Naturalisation Certificate and as you must leave on your U.S. Passport. in essence you’re unable to leave the country until the replacement certificate arrives and you then apply for a new passport.
It would be interesting to hear thoughts on this scenario…
