Passport, please

Today, I received the following email.

The U.S. Department of State has mailed your passport book on 09/08/2026.

We sent your passport book to you using Prepaid Delivery.

Your new passport and supporting documents are mailed in separate packages at different times. You should expect two separate mailings: one with your new passport and one with your supporting documents. We will provide another status update on the date we mail your supporting documents. This update will not include the tracking number for your passport.

Your application locator number is (do you really think I would leave my locator number on this post?).

Please allow two weeks for your U.S. passport to arrive at the mailing address you provided on your application. If you have not received your passport after two weeks, contact the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778 (or TDD/TTY 1-888-874-7793) with your application locator number. We will return your supporting documents (such as your birth certificate, previous passport, or naturalization certificate) in a separate mailing that may not arrive for four weeks. You have 120 days from the date the passport was issued to report that you never received your passport. If you do not tell us within 120 days, you will have to reapply and pay the full passport fee.

**If you submitted your passport at a U.S. embassy or consulate, the mailing date in this status update is the date we mailed your passport to the embassy or consulate not the date we mailed the passport to you. Your passport may take two weeks to arrive at the embassy or consulate. Mailing times are different for each country. Once the embassy or consulate receives the passport, they will deliver it to you based on local procedures.

Yep, that’s right. My new passport is on the way!

As we were preparing to leave the U.S., Mikey and I checked our passports just to make sure they were still valid.Can you imagine? The dogs are on their way to Germany and we cann’t get out of the US.  We were all good. Our passports expire in June 2027. At the time, we thought, “Hey, let’s be proactive and renew them before we leave the country.”

Well, when we checked into the process, we learned you can’t renew your passport more than 12 months before it expires.

Well, there went the idea of being proactive.

Our next step was figuring out how to renew our passports when we live approximately 5,000 miles away. Surely there is a process for that. I mean, who wants to travel 30 hours just to submit paperwork?

Not us.

And guess what? There is a process. All we had to do was submit everything through the U.S. Embassy in Uruguay.

First off, in my 55 years, I have never stepped foot inside an embassy. My only concept of what an embassy was came from movies and television.

We all know how accurate those are.

Big surprise: They’re not.

Our friend Blue’s passport was set to expire in December of this year, so we decided we would go together. For about two weeks, we scoured the internet looking for information. The State Department website said one thing, the general embassy website said something else, and the U.S. Embassy here in Uruguay gave us a third version of what we needed to bring. 

Because apparently, everyone gets to have their own version of the rules. It was as if we were asking for a mortgage.

To be safe, we decided to make copies of every document any website said we needed to have. We also had to complete the DS-82 form.

So it was print, print, print.

Get organized. Make copies. Check everything again. Prepare for our appointment.

Given how quickly things have been shifting under the current administration concerning passports, we really didn’t know what to expect.

Here is what happened.

The day of our appointment, we arrived early at the building. The building has large white concrete columns surrounding it. Unfortunately, we all know what those columns are for.

After the columns, there is a wall surrounding the building. No other embassy in Montevideo has the columns. Most of the embassies have a wall surrounding the building, and that’s it. Some don’t even have that. They are simply a building with a door that leads directly inside.

If it sounds like I have been playing “Find the Embassies,” I have.

I have come across the embassies of Turkey, China, France, Argentina, Mexico, and Japan. Apparently, moving to another country has turned me into an amateur embassy tourist and I have the pictures to prove it.

When we walked up to the embassy, an officer stopped his conversation with a colleague and walked over to us. He asked if we needed help. After we told him we were there for passports, he very nicely gave us directions.

We walked around the building and up the ramp to the security post. We were greeted by another officer who stepped outside and asked if we had appointments. She confirmed our appointment times and held the door open while we stepped inside.

Once inside, a gentleman asked for our passports while another employee gave us instructions about what we needed to put through the scanner.

He even laughed when Mikey pulled out, from his pocket,  a roll of Tyson’s poop bags.

Unused, of course.

We stepped through the scanner, and a final officer handed us our visitor passes and let us know that she had to keep our phones and wallets with security.

Every officer we encountered was friendly. All of them were Uruguayan.

We had a short walk outside between the security post and the main building. An employee sitting at a desk gave us directions. We walked through a second scanner, up a few stairs, and arrived at the first station.

The employee asked us for our current passports, passport photos—which I smiled for even though you’re not supposed to—and confirmation of our payment.

She then pulled out a folder and organized all of our materials so they were presented consistently to the staff at the windows.

I mean, the old country’s government could learn a few things about organization.

Next, it was time for the windows.

The woman at the window I was called to was friendly, smiling, and chatted with me for a bit. She signed, stamped, and taped my photo to my form. She gave me back my passport and let me know that I would pick up my new passport at the embassy.

She then directed me to her colleague at the next window, who would conduct an interview.

An interview?

What?!

What is she going to ask me?

“Why are you living in Uruguay? And if I don’t like your answer, I will revoke your passport!”

Nope.

She signed the document, stamped it again, and told me I was all done.

That was it.

All three of us walked out of the building stunned at how simple the process was and how kind, friendly, and helpful every employee had been. 

Again, almost all of the staff we encountered were Uruguayan.

Let me put this into perspective.

We went to the embassy the day after Trump revoked and canceled visas. The office we visited also processes visa requests. Not one person used the situation as a reason to be shitty.

Every staff member seemed to enjoy working there and liked their job. If they didn’t, you would never know it.

It wasn’t like going to the USPS or DMV in the old country, where you sometimes feel like you are interrupting someone's very important day by asking them to do the job they are being paid to do.

This was smooth.

It was organized.

It was friendly.

And, dare I say, it was actually pleasant.

It was a very positive experience.

My passport is currently on its way to the embassy as I type this.

And apparently, renewing your passport from 5,000 miles away is easier than I ever imagined.

Who knew?

Remember: Be kind to yourself and be kind to others.