Perrin Beitel Post Office/Passports (Alamo, Alamo Heights: title, area, required) - San Antonio - Texas (TX) - Page 6 - City-Data Forum

nismospec · 03-23-2010, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getgoing2010

You can also go to the Bexar County Courthouse. There is usually no line there.

My g/f went there to get her passport. She had it expedited because we were trying to make a last minute x-mas trip to see family. A week before we were due to leave, the gov't sends her a note stating that her pictures were too "flushed" or "whited out". So her passport was put on hold until more pictures were provided.

I would've figured the courthouse would be more trustworthy/official than anywhere else, but I was wrong. Not to say that this can't happen anywhere, but just a word of caution.

skeet09 · 03-23-2010, 01:15 PM

I did the passport photos at the Fed Ex to save myself the time at the post office or courthouse.
Just FYI for anyone out there planning to get passports.

zhugeliang1 · 03-23-2010, 08:52 PM

Has anyone here had problems with the passport people complaining about the length of the birth certificate? The boys birth certificate is from out of state and has all the information, but it takes half page. The post office guy complained that he could not accept it because it is only half page. But it has all the seals, watermarks, stamps, signature, etc. By the way I went to the Alamo Heights post office.

hadleyzoo · 03-24-2010, 05:39 AM

Didn't have that problem zhu....my husband's birth certificate is the size of a postcard and we had no issues. We used the Richland Hills post office off Potranco/151.

zhugeliang1 · 03-24-2010, 03:36 PM

Bexar County Courthouse is having a passport day this Saturday the 27th from 10am to 2pm. It's in today's paper.

Alamo Height Post Office, I am not sure I want to go back there again now that a couple of sources have confirmed the short form birth certificate is acceptable. So I'm going to try again at the Nimitz Post Office, hopefully they aren't going to give me a hard time like they did at Alamo Heights Post Office.

catriona · 03-24-2010, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zhugeliang1

Has anyone here had problems with the passport people complaining about the length of the birth certificate? The boys birth certificate is from out of state and has all the information, but it takes half page. The post office guy complained that he could not accept it because it is only half page. But it has all the seals, watermarks, stamps, signature, etc. By the way I went to the Alamo Heights post office.

My husband's official birth certificate is from Michigan and it is a little bigger than an index card. No problems with it at the Lockhill station.

zhugeliang1 · 03-24-2010, 04:05 PM

Lockhill Post Office is booked solid through May is what their passport guy just told me on the phone. I'm going to do Nimitz Post Office on April 2nd. I hope the Nimitz Post Office passport guy will be nice. At any rate I just sent for the long form birth certificate from Kentucky just to be on the safe side.

zhugeliang1 · 03-28-2010, 08:04 AM

Update time. I was told by the clerk at Bexar County Courthouse that the half page, short form birth certificate was fine and that I could come to Passport Day at the courthouse. I went there yesterday, waited in line two hours, but they were all very professional, very courteous, very helpful. I was extremely pleased in spite of the wait.

So here is my advice to San Antonio folks wanting to get a passport -
1. Perrin Beitel - walk ins only. It is a long wait there is what everyone says.
2. Alamo Height Post Office - appointments only, they can get you in within a week or so, but staff there are not very courteous and they can be very very picky about what documents you have. No copy machine on site, which will be a problem if you end up needing copies of your documentation. If you set an appt, be sure you tell them how many people are applying, they are very very picky about how much time to allot for each person. I would not want to go there again for those reasons.
3. Nimitz Post Office- appointments can be set in a week or two.
4. Lockhill Selma - they are constantly booked solid for two months.

Be sure you bring checkbook, credit cards, and cash - the Bexar County Courthouse wanted checks, not cash for the passport payment, so good thing I had my checkbook!

Be sure you bring plenty of copies of your driver's license - back and front - on the same side of one page - both you and your spouse (or ex, if you are divorced and applying for your kids).

I hope this write up helps, I wish I had had something like this before I started applying for the kids passports...

pobre · 03-28-2010, 10:03 AM

Awesome advice, thanks zhugeliang1!!

While we will be mailing in my husband's renewal, I JUST realized that dd's pp expires VERY soon.. this necessitates BOTH of us taking time off work to get this done.

I truly wish that there were more PP days, and Saturday hours, etc.

zhugeliang1 · 03-28-2010, 10:16 AM

I don't know what to tell you in terms of more passport days and Saturday hours, for one thing the passport fees are going up sometime in April and for another thing I see the the US Postal Service is under a lot of financial strain. Let me note here that the post offices are open this Good Friday which is a school holiday so try calling Alamo Heights (if you think you can tolerate the Alamo Heights treatment) or Nimitz. Also I think Battle of the Flowers on April 24? the post offices may be open that day too, even though it is a school holiday. Call the post office first. The Bexar County Courthouse will be closed Good Friday and I think Battle of the Flowers too so don't go there if you're ready to use your free Friday for appling for passports.