Can you travel before you receive your passport

[LTPLTP 5]

I will be applying/paying for expedited passport but travelling via auto, not a booked flight ticket. The booked flight ticket is, in my understanding, what gets the expedited in a week or so. With regular expedited without proof of travel it still could take weeks? If I have to leave the country before the passport arrives can I not re-enter with my original country passport? Or have a family member fedex the passport when it does come in to my home country for use to get back into the US?

[Mike E 11,745]

45 minutes ago, LTPLTP said:

 If I have to leave the country before the passport arrives can I not re-enter with my original country passport? Or have a family member fedex the passport when it does come in to my home country for use to get back into the US?

Assuming you are Canadian, then enter Canada / Mexico over land with your Canadian passport, return to the USA with a photocopy of your USA naturalization certificate (since the original will  be with the USA passport agency).  
 

Be ready for a long stay in CBP secondary inspection.  However your right to enter the USA as a U.S. citizen is absolute, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_passport

 

In Nguyen v. INS, the Supreme Court stated that U.S. citizens are entitled "...to the absolute right to enter its borders."[53]Lower federal courts went as far as to declare that "...the Government cannot say to its citizen, standing beyond its border, that his reentry into the land of his allegiance is a criminal offense; and this we conclude is a sound principle whether or not the citizen has a passport, and however wrongful may have been his conduct in effecting his departure."[54] Therefore, even in the absence of a valid passport, U.S. citizens are not denied entry into the United States, though these travelers may be delayed while the CBP attempts to verify their identity and citizenship status.[55]

 

Do apply for a passport card too.  

Edited March 29, 2022 by Mike E

[Chancy 6,243]

*** Removed duplicate thread.  If you mistakenly post on the wrong forum, click "Report post" to request your thread to be moved.  FYI ***

 

[Family 4,259]

4 hours ago, LTPLTP said:

will be applying/paying for expedited passport

Call the US PASSPORT 800 and speak w a rep. They have Same Day passports at certain locations and since you have an imminent need to travel ( though by car) ask what proof would suffice to get you an appointment. They have granted same day passports now just w bookings within 7 days ( do check) It’s worth a call before you mail it out. 

[Dashinka 24,952]

If you are able to drive to Aurora and can get a same day appointment at the Passport Agency there for Urgent travel, it might be a better option than trying to expedite through the mail.  Here is the information to contact them as well as the Passport Agency in Aurora.  I don't see the need to have a purchased airline ticket to make an appointment for urgent travel.

 

Good Luck!

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/contact-us/passports.html

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies/colorado.html