Sometimes life has a way of throwing some interesting curve balls our way. We think everything is going great and then all of a sudden something happens and we have to jump on a plane to Europe on short notice. If you don’t have a passport or it is expired, expedited passport services can make this problem go away in a snap.

While the government may try and make the process quicker and easier, their idea of quick may not mesh with what the average person thinks is quick. Granted, they are quicker than they have ever been, but expedited services can give the whole process a much needed boost to get the passport back even quicker. By paying an extra fee, rush service can be ordered and the passport should come back in about two to three weeks.

This rush service that is being paid for encompasses the time from when the application is received and accepted until the passport actually shows up in the mail box at home. If this is still not fast enough, there are other passport agencies that are outside the government that can put an even quicker rush on the documents. While there services are faster, they also charge even more money.

As you can imagine, there are some significant fees for any service over and above the standard processing fees. For regular service, the applicant will have to pay $120 to get both a passport and passport card. Getting the book alone is $20 cheaper, but is a good idea to have them both. Fees for minors are slightly less.

If expedited service is needed, there will be a $60 fee tacked on to all of the other standard charges. In addition to these fees, the forms should be shipped via overnight mail for security reasons. Sending documents like this via regular mail is simply not recommended. This can be ordered when filling out all of the forms at the passport office.

The overnight delivery will cost about $15 in addition to all of the other fees that are being charged. While some people may be rolling their eyes at this point as the costs continue to add up, this is a fee that is money well spent. The documents will be secure and able to be tracked this way and considering how important they are, $15 is nothing compared to the aggravation that would ensue if they were lost.

If the rush is requested for a renewal, the form used is DS-82. If the submission is done by mail, the word expedite should be written in clear bold letters on the outside of the mailing envelope. Here again, the Department of State suggests that overnight delivery is the best bet.

The process for receiving an expedited pass port is little different than the regular requirements. The key is to use overnight delivery services and to make certain if one opts for regular mail, for goodness sake, use a certified or registered process. This is the only way that it will be possible to track the American passport in the event of a snafu. One final tip is to be certain to use good packaging materials like a Tyvek mailing envelope to protect critical identification documents.