Passport renewal times have gotten much better

[Palmtree]

Passport renewal times have gotten much better. The past two years the process of renewing has been extremely slow. Sometimes taking several months, even when expedited. The State Dept. put out a news brief saying that they have streamlined the process and it should be much shorter. I was due to have mine renewed and with upcoming trips scheduled, my wife was stressing about it due to all the bad news about how long it takes. Truthfully…..not that long now. I snail mailed my application on December 29th, paying for expedited service and express mail return. It arrived on January the 11th, making it back in only two weeks.

 

[DrRoy]

Good to hear. I still have a couple years on mine.

 

[pjigar]

We just applied son's renewal (minor) with "regular 6-8 week" service. Let's see how long it takes. We need it by summer so no rush.

 

[Andre1969]

My passport expired in 2021, but I did the mail-in renewal back in September 2023, and got the new one in a few weeks. I was afraid that being expired would throw a monkeywrench into the works, but no issue at all. I remember filling out an online form, printing it out, going to CVS for passport photos, and then mailing it all off, with a check and the old passport, through either FedEx or UPS.

My housemate did his at the same time, and his was also expired. Oddly, his took a few weeks longer to process than mine did. It also expired in 2020, so I don't know if that played a factor, of it was just a random thing?

 

[frank05]

Renewed passport early Dec, got the new one in 18 days.

 

[lajolla]

Our daughter needed to renew her passport for a Mexico trip in March. She was worried it was going to take a long time so she had it expedited. She said it only took 10 days.

 

[Kork13]

We submitted passport applications for our kids ~2 Jan using the normal 6-8wk service. I've heard multiple reports of processing times getting back down to normal, so while the intent is for them to use the passports in mid-March for a trip to visit grandparents in The Hague, I'm not too concerned.

 

[Koolau]

All good to know. Ours expired and we've been wondering if we should renew "just in case."

 

[Chuckanut]

Mailed my passport application to the passport office on the opposite coast. Three weeks later to the day, my new passport arrived in the mail. Regular service.

 

[Koolau]

Does anyone have experience if your passport has already expired? What extra time is involved if any one knows? Thanks.

 

[euro]

Does anyone have experience if your passport has already expired? What extra time is involved if any one knows? Thanks.

See post #4 above

 

[Kork13]

Does anyone have experience if your passport has already expired? What extra time is involved if any one knows? Thanks.

Expired vs. renewal vs. first issuance doesn't matter -- it's all the same processing. All that changes is that you can send in the old passport as one of the required forms of identification/citizenship verification.

 

[Kork13]

We submitted passport applications for our kids ~2 Jan using the normal 6-8wk service. I've heard multiple reports of processing times getting back down to normal, so while the intent is for them to use the passports in mid-March for a trip to visit grandparents in The Hague, I'm not too concerned.

HOLY SMOKES!!! I use the USPS "Informed Delivery" service (daily email with what's coming for delivery), and today's email shows that our kids' passports are already done & getting delivered on Monday! That'll be just 20 days from submission with the County Clerk to delivery in our mailbox! That's way faster than we ever imagined it would take.