Peninsula Visa & Passport

Came here needing to renew a passport as soon as possible. We had a good experience here from the beginning to the end of the whole process. Dave, the person we worked with was very professional and answered all our questions and concerns we had about the transaction.
In terms of getting a passport renewed, its pretty much the same way as if you did it at a post office or through the mail. Fill out a few forms, mail them out, submit, etc. The difference here of course is they will process the visa for you and expedite it very fast depending on how soon you need it. Of course, depending on how fast you want it puts a premium on the cost of getting your visa. For me it took about 10 business days to receive. I believe they also offer less than 1 week service as well.
Overall, I would recommend this place for people who need a passport asap, and who don’t want to deal with waiting 1 hour or more at the post office.
side note: usps now hands out limited number of tickets for people who need a passport… so even if you wait in line you may not even have a chance to get that passport renewed…

In 2012 I needed to get a replacement passport and a Chinese visa with only about 3 weeks notice. My employer used Peninsula Visa exclusively for business travelers and even though this was personal travel, my manager recommended I use them. I got my new passport and a visa with time to spare, and considering how much time and effort their service saved me I think their fees are terrific value. Since then I have used them to get multiple visas to other countries, and the service has been flawless.
At both my previous and current employers, Peninsula Visa offered free courier service for both pickup and delivery of my passport and paperwork. This is a time and money saver, so check if they can do this for you at your location.
My recommendation is absolutely five stars, no question.

Once again, I needed passport help, having lost my passport recently. I had used Peninsula Visa in the 90’s and had moved south, but filled out the paperwork and brought it to them when I was up in the Bay Area. As always, they were calm, and assured me I would have my passport in time for my trip. They had saved me several times in the past, and they took care of business this time, just as I expected. I have GREAT faith in these folks and would return again. Thank you!

I had a visa processed for China and requested the 2 day service. I called first to ensure I would arrive with all I needed. The gent at the desk meticulously went over my application and had me make quite a few corrections. He had to go to lunch and Brittany took over. She gave me the ok and then called the next day leaving me a voice mail that she overlooked unchecked fields with an apology and request to make the changes. I made the corrections and emailed the office. They then processed the visa and charged me $ 450 for the two day service. I asked if they could come down a bit since the overall return time was three days from me submitting it. Evan, the boss came out and argued that there was nothing done wrong on their part. Evan also told me he was the final authority and was no way showing any incentive for me to return. I was looking for some principles on their part and their arrogant conduct prompted me to leave this review. Unfortunately there are not many choices.
Update here: Evan reached out to me directly and refunded me $ 100 after reading the Unilocal review. I will keep giving them my business. Changing one star to three.

We have a lot of business travelers and used Peninsula Visa for years because of their hands on quality service. This is no longer. My questions get answered with emailed links to get the info myself. So I will be looking for another company that offers good service for our travelers.

Brittany and the staff at Peninsula Visa are very professional, friendly and helpful. They have the most up-​to-​date information and helped me to get me the correct visa quickly. I remember a few years ago, before I knew about Peninsula Visa — I had to drive from the South Bay to San Francisco, find and pay for parking, wait in line at the consulate, submit my paperwork and then, the following week, to drive back and repeat the process to pick-​up my visa. Peninsula Visa’s service is a huge time-​saver and is highly recommended.

We have been using this company for a while now and have always experienced excellent service!
They really helped us out tremendously today when an employee was unable to get onto his flight internationally without a visa — something we were unaware when booking the travel. We placed the order online — received an email about 15 minutes later that it was being processed, and when I called to verify the information they informed me that the process would be done within an hour. It honestly only took another 10 minutes until the email was received that it was completed. Safe to say our employee received his Visa in time for his flight!
The customer service at Peninsula Visa was outstanding and we could not have asked for better service for our company.

I cannot thank Peninsula Visa enough. Everyone I spoke with and every process was so easy because of them! We had a family emergency and needed to fly internationally asap. I found out that I lost my passport and needed a name change. No one could get this fast enough for me until I was referred to Peninsula Visa. The process was so smooth and easy. I will definitely be back if I ever need a service like this again!
Thank you so much!

These guys saved my ass from a long and costly day at the SF Passport Agency. I planned an overseas trip 6 months ago, but forgot to check my passport until 2 weeks before my trip. It was expired and too late to get express passport processing at the post office (which can take 2 – 3 weeks).
Just gathered all paperwork stated on their website, they took a new picture, then 4 business days later, I got my new passport for a $ 180 service fee + $ 10 photo fee. A reasonable fee to avoid waking up at 5am, driving up 55 miles, paying for parking, waiting all day at the SF Agency, driving another 55 miles down during rush hour, and missing a day of business and pay from work. I avoided the $ 35 overnight charge by picking up my passport here instead of shipping.

Perfect service; No bs, just business.
So different from these travel agencies usually located in a chinese supermarket…
Peninsula Visa Service does the job on time; as expected! no drama, no bs! I love it.
It’s worth every penny I spent.
Great job guys!

Stay far, far away. Peninsula Visa refused delivery of my fiancée’s passport when we attempted to use them to get a Chinese visa. No phone call, no warning, no explanation. We got suspicious when my visa arrived and hers didn’t, and only by checking the tracking number did we see her passport was in some mail sorting facility in central California, return destination and time unknown. I had to push back our trip (almost missing a wedding) and take three days off work to help her get a brand new PASSPORT and then the Chinese Visa, showing up in the early morning to shiver in line with other people in desperate emergencies. Yup: using Peninsula Visa turned a routine experience into a horrifying travel emergency.

I want to give them a 5 star rating, for the fact they got me a visa in under the time I expected and removed all the kinks, and were very quick and friendly in thrie dealings, I do not mind paying for the service as long as they get it done

0 stars for the customer service.
0 stars for the exorbitant pricing.
5 stars for getting my visa done on time and saving me a trip to the consulate in SF on a weekday.
They must have some sort of monopoly in this area for people to tolerate rude service for exorbitant fees and it’s unfortunate that my employer has chosen to partner with them. If you speak with any of the representatives on the phone, this is incompetent and unprofessional customer service at it’s WORST. The representatives show no respect, speak in a patronizing tone, and do not listen at all to your questions or believe you have any clue as to what you’re talking about. This has happened all three times I have called them with inquiries.
When I called to get a work order # for my visa application to Brazil, the gentleman on the phone said, let’s go over your documents to make sure you have everything you need before I give you the work order #. I thought, fine.
«Do you have the 1 page application?» he asks. «The 1-​page Peninsula Visa app?» I reply, in reference to the agency’s form. «NO!!» he says, «YOU MUST HAVE THE 1 PAGE APPLICATION FROM THE CONSULATE FILLED OUT BEFORE I CAN PROCESS ANYTHING!» «Ok, sure, I have it. I misunderstood which form you were referring to. Do you want the protocol # from that form?»
I give him the protocol #, and he tries to make an appointment. «I already booked an appointment for July 26^th at 9am with the consulate,» I inform him. At this point he is entirely confused. «That means YOU are going to the consulate YOURSELF!» «No, that’s what I’m paying the agency to do.» «I HAVE TO BOOK IT, I CAN’T TAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT». When I ask him why, he replies, «I AM TELLING YOU HOW IT HAS TO BE DONE!» Ok fine, I can cancel my appointment and have you rebook it then.
At this point he tells me «YOU CAN’T CANCEL YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH THE CONSULATE! YOU HAVE TO PAY THE FEE EVEN IF YOU CANCEL» Um, that sounds strange. I inform him there was a button to cancel on the webpage and I would try to cancel so he could rebook. He continues to talk to me in a patronizing tone. Finally, he puts me on hold. When he gets back, he informs me in a less patronizing tone that yes, I am able to cancel my appointment.
However, before I am able to cancel my appointment, he has already tried to book a new appointment with my protocol #. Now he informs me, «YOU HAVE TO REDO THE APPLICATION AND PROVIDE A NEW PROTOCOL #». I tell him that I haven’t cancelled my appointment yet, and that he should retry with the protocol # after I cancel my appointment. «I’M TELLING YOU THAT WON’T WORK!» he says, and continues to rant about how I have to listen to him or else nothing will work.
At this point I am extremely frustrated by his incompetence, so I say, «LISTEN, I’m going to cancel my appointment. I’ll call you back afterwards and then I want you to try again with my protocol #. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll resubmit a new application.»
After canceling my appointment, I call him back. «I AM TELLING YOU THIS WILL NOT WORK!» he says again. However, to his credit he does try. Then, he puts me on hold for over a minute. Finally, he comes back and says in a not so patronizing tone, «you’re set!»
«That worked?» I ask in disbelief. Apparently so. Lastly was my credit card #. «YOU ARE SPEAKING WAY TOO FAST!» he says as I read him the card # over the phone, as though he was making a final attempt at retaliation.
I don’t know what type of customers these reps have to deal with on a daily basis, whether they make unreasonable demands, speak rudely, or are just plain ignorant, but I expect more professionalism from a Visa agency charging over $ 150+ per service.

Absolutely horrible. Anyone who has put 5 stars on here as a review is a complete liar. They could only get 4 stars AT BEST and out of the 20 odd times I’ve had to go through them, probably twice did it actually go smoothly. I have to point out their website is a great place to look at to figure out what is required but if you can, go elsewhere for actual processing. Things are always changing and if they neglect to tell you something, they don’t hold any responsibility and now they want you to sign all sorts of waivers to cover their mistakes.

Rubbish service, not worth your dime or time, you get all the attitude on the phone as if you’re working for them not the other way around
Too bad Unilocal doesn’t allow zero or negative stars

They are always there for me when I need any travel documents done for my VPs or employees in my group whether it be regular service or rush. Most recently, I had great service for my 2 day China visa rush. I called them on the phone and went through the application, business letter, invitation letters, etc and drove down to the office like a mad woman right before they closed. Whewh… just in time for 2 day turn around.

I would not recommend these people. First, they have very limited hours of operation and a small staff which makes it difficult to get a hold of them. Second, the owner of the company has poor manners and thinks he is doing you a favor by processing the requests you are paying for. Finally, they not very thorough when it comes to checking for requirements. I had two separate instances where they «needed» some change to a document. With a thorough fact-​check by professional they could have discovered any problems and made all requests at the same time.
There are much better companies out there for the money.

While initially very responsive when I contacted them about processing visas, when I decided to cancel my order, the manager became extremely rude and unprofessional.
I found another company that could process the visas I needed faster which is why I decided to cancel my order with Peninsula. When I asked for this cancellation, I was transferred to the manager who immediately began shouting at me on the phone and being very sarcastic and rude. You’d think if a company wanted to keep customers, they’d know NOT to start shouting at them.
Verdict? If you’re absolutely sure you’re not going to make any changes to your visa needs, go with Peninsula. If you’re willing to put up with a cranky manager if your plans do change, go with Peninsula.

Stressed out about getting your passport? Then this is definitely the service for you. By using Peninsula Visa’s service plus paying the extra fee to have it rushed, I was able to get my passport and passport card in LESS than a week.
Anyone who can under promise and over deliver can stay. I received top notch service and completely pleased.

This is where I go when I need an entry visa to travel to foreign countries. Peninsula Visa is the company approved vendor, and they provide an adequate service for those who need their services.
Many foreign consulates only accept cash or money order, and Peninsula Visa can provide that (for a fee). They also do passport pictures and applications, and even have expedited service for those who need to travel quick. Their fees are a bit steep, but it buys you time and convenience if you’re short on both of those.
Sometimes I’ll take the drive to the consulates in San Francisco, but knowing I have an alternative gives me good peace of mind.