Still no reply from the US Consulate in Melbourne after four days. The consulate is structured such that you cannot actually talk to any Americans if you go to the consulate. The lobby is a security area and they wont let you in unless you have an appointment already. The only way I can get an appointment is to lie on the form or get a reply from my email. I looked into lying on the form and the earliest I can get an appointment is on Feb. 28……10 days from now.
The site says I should mail my application in, but I’m worried that if they can’t reply to an email, if I put my passport into an envelope I’ll never see it again and I’ll be in deeper shit than I am right now. Also, I wont have a return address. If they can’t even schedule a 10 min appointment for 10 days, I’m not sure how they can process a passport in the time I’ll be in Melbourne.
My other option is to try the consulate in Sydney or the Embassy in Canaberra (both of which I’m visiting), or try another country entirely. I know from talking to staff in the Solomon Islands that the Papua New Guinea Embassy does do passports and my guess is that they aren’t that busy. If not that, I could try Singapore.
The key is to get it renewed before April 20. Many countries wont let you in if your passport has less than six months left. Mine expires in October, so that is my hard deadline.
How many people who travel require passport renewals? How often do Americans in Australia require it? They are good for 10 years. Something this simple and done so infrequently shouldn’t be this difficult. When I went to the embassy in Manila, I was able to just go in, take a number, and see someone at a window. It was just like going to the DMV. While going to the DMV isn’t a pleasant experience, it beats the hell out of having to schedule an appointment to go to the DMV.