U.S. Embassy in Belgium

Life-or-Death Emergencies

You may qualify for a life-or-death emergency appointment if you need to travel to the USA in 3 business days because your immediate family member:

• has died, or
• is dying (hospice care), or
• has a life-threatening illness or injury.

To qualify for life-or-death emergency service, your immediate family member must be a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, sibling, or grandparent. We do not consider aunts, uncles, cousins, or other relatives to be immediate family members for the purposes of life-or-death emergency service.

Your request must include proof of your emergency.   This can be proof of a life-or-death emergency in the United States, such as a death certificate, a statement from a mortuary, or a signed letter from a hospital or medical professional.  Other proof can be proof of other unexpected family circumstances such as proof of U.S. military service; an engagement/marriage invitation, proof of employment, proof of school attendance in the USA.  Documents must be in English.

If you need an emergency U.S. passport, please follow the instructions below:

Please note:  The expedited service for the issuance of a U.S. passport is a service offered only within the United States. The current processing time for the renewal of a U.S. passport via mail through the U.S. Embassy in Brussels is generally six weeks.

If your emergency appointment is approved, you should bring the following documents:

1. Either the DS-82 passport application form (if you still have an undamaged, full validity, 10 year passport issued within the last 15 years in your possession) OR a DS-11 passport application form (for all others) – see also our section on children’s passports for additional requirements for children;
2. Your old passport, if you still have it;
3. Obtain one color U.S. size passport photo 2”x2” (5 x 5 cm) taken within the past 6 months; no eyeglasses. View photo requirements.  We also have a Photomaton photo booth in the waiting room of the consular section which takes U.S. size passport photos.  The fee for this service is €5.00, payable in cash (€5.00 note) or by credit card.
4. The appropriate Passport Services fee must be paid in the Embassy. Please bring exact change for your passport if paying by cash.

Please note: an expired passport by itself is not considered an emergency, nor is running out of blank visa pages.  It is best to renew a passport eight (8) months before it expires or when you have less than three (3) blank pages left and to not make any travel plans or book tickets until all travelers hold a valid passport.