On Friday, June 21, acting entirely as a responsible adult, I attempted to check-in 24 hours early to my first international flight of 2019: D.C. to Munich, Germany.

mgm technology partners hired me the same day they opened their first U.S. location in Washington, D.C. The custom IT development company has an international presence; it’s headquartered in Munich, but also has offices all around the world, including the Czech Republic, France, Vietnam, and Switzerland. What they’ve found as a 25-year-old international brand is that employees tend to stay longer, be more productive, and be happier when their offices fuse local culture and expectations with what mgm needs as a business.

Guess who was hired to do that for mgm in the States? That’s right: I, as their fourth American employee, have been asked to design the U.S. mgmie experience and employer brand. My flight to Munich took place just one month after my initial start date. The trip was an opportunity to meet my international colleagues (who I’d otherwise chatted with over WebEx), see my new job’s headquarters, and present my ideas for U.S. branding.

My expectations for the Munich office were high given how amazing their Vietnam office appears to be. Đà Nẵng? More like daaaaangg.

Now you understand the stakes at play. I was a new, eager employee, excited to impress my new colleagues, and energized with the same kind of nervecitement felt right before a product launch.

Check-in on Lufthansa’s site started easily enough.

Name: Rachel

Surname: Burger

Birthday: 08/⬛⬛/19⬛⬛

Passport number: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

Expiration date: 07/29/2019

[Enter]

A pop-up appeared.

“Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be valid for a minimum of three months beyond the period of intended stay.”

“Shit.” Refresh. Refresh. “Shit.”

www.google.com ➜ Germany passport entry requirements

www.google.com ➜ Enter Germany with US passport

Scroll.

“No, no, NO!”

It was 7:00 PM. By 10:30 PM, I sent a somber note to four of my colleagues:

Hanna, the person in charge of employer branding in Germany. She was one of the people I’d meet in Munich.

Ansgar, the CMO. He was planning to fly from Cologne to Munich to meet me in person.

Felix, the U.S. CEO (and my boss). He was on vacation at the time.

Christina, the U.S. office administrator. She lives in Chicago and was the first U.S. hire.

It’s worth noting that this all took place on a Friday evening. No one was supposed to be checking their email. Even so, we were able to renew my passport, coordinate a flight to Munich, and reorient my travel schedule over the following three days—most of which can be replicated in the course of 24 hours if it’s a workday.

Here’s how it worked. If you're pressed for a passport fast, I recommend reading the whole article before starting on the journey to renewal. I also use passport agency and consulate interchangeably in the piece because in D.C. they're one and the same.

1. Contact the people you’re supposed to be visiting.

If you’re reading this because you’re in the same situation I found myself in, feel free to steal my tail-between-the-legs email to my boss and his colleagues.

==================================================================================================================================

Subject: Urgent: [Name] in [Place]

Hi [Person 1], [Person 2], [Person 3], and [Person 4],

I want to apologize for the late notice of this email.

Tonight, I went to check into my flight and was unable to do so on the [airline] website. I am very concerned that I won’t be able to leave the United States tomorrow.

My passport expires on July 29th, 2019. When we were arranging travel a few weeks ago, I made the assumption that I would be able to travel up until the date of expiry and could renew the passport when I returned. In fact, I thought that doing so was my only option, as U.S. passports can take up to 8 weeks to go through processing (we bought the ticket on [date]).

Unbeknownst to me, [country] does not allow international travelers into the country if their travel documents are not valid for 90 days beyond the intended date of stay.

I am doing my best to try to problem solve and will still try to check in to my flight tomorrow. (Note to reader: this did not work.) Agencies I’ve found that offer 24-hour processing appear to only be able to service customers on work days, and they charge a huge fee ($500+) for doing so. (Sorry, there’s nothing you can do if it’s a weekend. However, this guide will help you get a passport on any weekday without paying the exorbitant fees.)

Please know that I’m embarrassed by my ignorance of these regulations. I am deeply sorry for the lost time, money, and resources that this mistake may cost [company].

I will keep you aware of any updates. Feel free to call me directly on my personal cell: +1 ⬛⬛⬛-⬛⬛⬛-⬛⬛⬛⬛.

My best,

[Your name]

==================================================================================================================================

Contacting all these people was critical. Hanna immediately started to rearrange my schedule so that once we figured out what time I'd get to Germany, I'd still be able to meet with the people I needed to. Ansgar could rearrange his travel. Felix could make any approvals necessary should we be able to work out new trip details.

If you're in this situation, consider contacting the following individuals:

✔️ Anyone who's helping you with accommodations

✔️ Anyone who's coordinating an event you might be attending

✔️ Anyone who's responsible for giving approvals for new travel arrangements

✔️ Anyone who you have plans to meet overseas

When you realize you're short a passport, it's easy to forget that this communication and coordination is critical. They'll want updates as you create your new travel plans.

In my particular situation, my ticket was nonrefundable—Christina discovered this after waiting almost two hours on the phone with United (with whom we'd bought my Lufthansa ticket). (United customer service, if you're reading this, 20 minutes is not an acceptable customer wait time, and two hours is like tooth extraction in slow motion. Hire more reps.)

Still, while Christina was working with United, Felix was able to receive my message and give approval for a new flight plan, and Ansgar and Hanna started to reschedule the following week. Luckily, since mgm is such an international company, we were able to scrape together a ton of miles to cover my new flight, most of which came from (and were, of course, reimbursed to Felix). My initial email made traveling later that week much easier.

Most of the rest of that Saturday involved what you're probably doing now: scrambling to find out if it's possible to get an emergency passport renewal on a weekend. As of July 2019, it's not. Please update me when it is.

2. Make new plans unless your airline is gracious enough to transfer your ticket

Here's the Catch-22: You can't fly to any country subject to the Schengen Agreement with a passport that expires within 90 days. You can't renew your passport without confirmed proof of travel.

(By the way, those countries are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Even if the country you're traveling to is not on this list, check. Some countries require that the traveler's passport remain in good standing within six months of the date planned to leave the visited country. I've learned that knowing this differentiates between those who are frequent international travelers and those who are not. Now you can poo-poo your friends.)

Christina and I worked diligently to figure out the process of renewing a passport ASAP. You need to go to a passport agency in person and you must have confirmed proof of travel. Before you book, please consider the following, especially when booking same-day:

✔️ The earliest you will leave the passport agency is 2:00 PM. You will likely not get out until after 4:00 PM. Schedule your flight accordingly.

✔️ You can use a confirmed hotel booking. However, the hotel booking must be for the future. You cannot use a hotel booking for a night in the past—say if you missed your flight by a day. Ask your hotel to reconfirm your stay with updated dates.

3. Book a time with the consul

Here's the secret sauce that got me through the consulate quickly.

When I went to book an appointment for D.C.'s passport agency, I felt horror and disdain. The website claimed, "By Appointment Only." Their appointment booking system looked like this.

Rude.

If you see this and check nearby cities for appointments, don't be surprised if you find nothing. I suspect that the State Department software doesn't allow anyone to make same-day appointments. But that doesn't mean that same-day appointments aren't available.

Here's what I did: I lied about my outbound flight time in the initial form. Instead of claiming it was same-day, I said I planned to fly two weeks ahead of time. Look at what happens to the schedule when you do so:

Suddenly, the passport agency has appointments.

I was able to make an appointment for Monday on a Saturday this way. Alternatively, call the passport agency's phone number to book a spot. And if there's no spot available, not all is lost. The website might say that an appointment is needed, but that's not true. Just be ready to get up early.

4. Prep your paperwork

The consulate has a list of paperwork that you need to fill out to get a passport renewal. Go to Walgreens or an equivalent to get a new passport photo and fill out those forms. Let me tell you why: when you enter the passport agency, nothing happens until your paperwork makes it through screening. Sure, people with and without appointments are separated, but they are separated a second time based on whether or not their paperwork was done correctly.

These are super basic government forms you can even do them online and print them out. The important thing is that they should be in a folder with all of your verification documents. I had photocopies of my driver's license, my birth certificate, my current passport, and my flight information along with originals, and I needed all of them.

To renew your passport, check your local passport agency 's requirements ; some fees and requirements vary. At a minimum, be sure you have the following:

✔️ Your proof of travel, updated for current travel plans (boarding pass or updated hotel stay both work)

✔️ Updated passport photo

✔️ Completed DS-82 form (you can fill it out online with their form filler too) (see below for what to do if you lost your passport)

✔️ Your current passport - or - proof of U.S. citizenship (check here for what qualifies), a photocopy of that proof, a photo ID, and a photocopy of that ID. Renewing your passport is WAY easier if you have your passport in hand.

✔️ A check made to "Department of State" for agency fees. I paid $60 for expedited service + $110 for a passport book. Note: many agencies only accept cash or checks. If you're renewing a lost passport, there's an extra $35 "execution fee."

✔️ Your appointment confirmation number (I'd print it out)*

✔️ Completed DS-64 and DS-11 forms if you lost your passport*

5. Get to the passport agency early

I'd made an appointment for 8:00 AM. Everything I read said to get there early, so I got there by 7:00 AM.

The line already looked longer than the queue at Galaxy's Edge.

Here's where having an appointment is really important. This line is bloated—before the passport agency opens their doors, everyone, appointment or not, gets into the same line. An appointment really doesn't mean a 1:1. It means that once the agency opens their doors, appointment holders simply have more attendants and thus a shorter line. They had probably scheduled twenty or so people for the 8:00 AM slot, 8:30 AM slot, and 9:00 AM slot—that's why arriving early is important. It's all one big line for appointments and one bigger line for non-appointments made up of people waiting to be seen at a series of attendant windows like at the DMV.

Because I was first placed into the general line, I had an easy benchmark. I met a woman named Charisse who'd had a rough go of it—she'd lost her passport, spent a night in a Belgian jail, and was extradited to the States because of it, and that all happened to her on a layover to do volunteer work in Uganda! Had I not had an appointment, I would have been on Charisse's time table.

I was able to get in, deposit my forms, and leave by 8:30 AM. The consulate said that they would process expedited forms while I wait—please go outside and find something else to do—and that earliest pick up was at 2:00 PM. Doors close for pickup at 3:00 PM. By the time I left, Charisse, who'd been in the general line, hadn't checked in or gotten through security yet.

6. Return early too

After finishing my initial application process that morning, I headed to a local Starbucks to update my colleagues and get some work done. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, mgm technology partners is just starting to hire in Washington, D.C., and I felt an extra boost of loyalty to the company given how hard everyone was working to get me to Munich. I wrote up some job descriptions, confirmed my new appointments in Munich, and relaxed into the fact that working from a coffee shop isn't abnormal for this company.

(Curious about mgm's as an employer? Check out the roles we're hiring for 😊! )

After getting some work done, I got back at 12:30 PM. The consulate stopped letting people in who aren't picking up their passports, so checking back in with my passport pickup number and getting through security went quickly. At 12:45 PM, I saw a familiar face: Charisse, the woman who I'd been standing with in line! While I had finished at 8:30 AM, this poor woman had only just finished with the teller, meaning she'd arrived at 7:00 AM—same time as me—and, because she hadn't made an appointment, had waited until 12:45 to finish her processing. Whew. Make an appointment if you can.

I was pleasantly surprised that the consulate allowed me to check in to pick up my passport early. They handed me a deli-counter style ticket and asked me to wait. Again, they didn't start handing out new passports until 2:00 PM, and I wasn't the first one to return early. That said, checking in well before 2:00 PM meant that I was among the first forty people to have a fully renewed passport that day. I was able to exit the consulate with passport safely in hand.

7. Fly!

Felix and Christina were smart about booking my flight. While I planned to fly out the same day I got my passport, they didn't look at any flights that left before 8:00 PM. Doing so guaranteed enough time to get from the agency to the airport with two hours to safely make it through international travel checks.

(It's worth noting that mgm surprised me with a very welcome flight upgrade. THANK YOU!)

What happened next?

I landed safely in Munich, met my awesome colleagues, and got all the employer branding and people operations pitches I wanted approved. We're working on doing a pretty big roll out on our careers website which isn't quite ready to launch, but I can tell you that the work we've agreed to do for U.S. employees is pretty epic. More on that and what I did on my trip to Germany, soon.

If you came to this article because you're looking to renew your passport quickly, please let me know if it helped, if I need to make an adjustment to the text, or just say hey in the comments below :). In the meantime, I'm building something exciting with the office in D.C.; check out what we're hiring for and be sure to mention this post for a free application boost!