I need help with renewing my passport

by Darla

Right now I am about to go on vacation to Hong Kong and mainland China. I went to apply for the China visa and the person helping me was so rude! She gave me a bad attitude and told me my passport is no good. According to her I can't get a visa from them since my passport has only five months left before expiring.

I told her just because it's about to expire doesn't mean it is expired. I was going to go in a couple of weeks for only around 10 days so I would be back easily in time before it expires. Do you know if this is true or did I just get a mean person? Also how much does it cost to use an express passport company? I really don't want to pay for that but I don't want to reschedule my vacation either.

Thanks in advance

ANSWER:

Hello Darla, I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience at the China Embassy. I have actually been to a China Embassy a few times and I think it all depends on which agent you get. Some are very friendly and some are not, unfortunately.

I hate to tell you this but that particular rude agent was actually correct. Most countries have a kind of strange requirement that you need at least six months left on your passport before entering their country. Surprisingly, there are a few that actually want six months left AFTER you depart their country.

So what you could do is contact one of the passport expedite services listed on this site. We only list services that are verified businesses that have been registered for years with the US Dept. of State Passport Agency. They have different processing times with various prices. If you are not leaving for another couple of weeks then try to get 1 week processing so you have enough time to get your passport back.

Hope everything works out for you, enjoy your trip!