US passport renewal delays.

[LoriMcLaughlin]

We always hire an agency for passport renewal and visas. They make sure the passport gets back when promised and in time for trips. Worth every $ I pay even though I could do it myself for less.

No referral?

CIBT - have used them for years with visas and passport renewals. Most recently in Nov 2020 for hubby’s renewal. Pricey, but they always deliver. https://cibtvisas.com/

[larry_schaffer]

I applied for a renewal and paid for expedited service - not a separate company. Just got my passport- took about 6 weeks. Not bad compared to the horror stories I am hearing . . .

[Rodrigo_B]

I applied for a renewal and paid for expedited service - not a separate company. Just got my passport- took about 6 weeks. Not bad compared to the horror stories I am hearing . . .

Glad to hear you avoided the big delays horror stories. Off to anywhere soon? Rhone?

[larry_schaffer]

I applied for a renewal and paid for expedited service - not a separate company. Just got my passport- took about 6 weeks. Not bad compared to the horror stories I am hearing . . .

Glad to hear you avoided the big delays horror stories. Off to anywhere soon? Rhone?

Nowhere soon . . .harvest . . .

[Joe_W_i_n_o_g_r_a_d]

Sent my renewal in on April 24, non-expedited. They acknowledged receipt on May 22. Still waiting.

Arrived today - 13 weeks.

[Steve_Costigan]

Mailed 5/3, received 7/24. Normal priority.

[bruce_curfman]

Our passport renewal question has to do with expiration dates. We started considering renewal a couple of months ago for a trip to France in September. Our passports expire 2/23/22. Due to some mis-information, or at least mis-communication, we thought we were safe to book flights departing September 1 (arriving CDG 9/02), and decided to wait on our renewal attempt based on the horror stories we were hearing about delays.

It turns out our arrival in France would be about 7 days short of the 6 month renewal date suggested (required?) for entering another country. Is this a hard, fast enforced rule? If so, we will obviously need to cancel!

[Victor_Hong]

Best to check with both the airline and the French embassy.

[Scott_Jameson]

Our passport renewal question has to do with expiration dates. We started considering renewal a couple of months ago for a trip to France in September. Our passports expire 2/23/22. Due to some mis-information, or at least mis-communication, we thought we were safe to book flights departing September 1 (arriving CDG 9/02), and decided to wait on our renewal attempt based on the horror stories we were hearing about delays.

It turns out our arrival in France would be about 7 days short of the 6 month renewal date suggested (required?) for entering another country. Is this a hard, fast enforced rule? If so, we will obviously need to cancel!

Unless things have changed recently, France and the other Schengen countries require that the passport is valid for 3 months after the planned departure date.

[Joe_Dulworth]

Our passport renewal question has to do with expiration dates. We started considering renewal a couple of months ago for a trip to France in September. Our passports expire 2/23/22. Due to some mis-information, or at least mis-communication, we thought we were safe to book flights departing September 1 (arriving CDG 9/02), and decided to wait on our renewal attempt based on the horror stories we were hearing about delays.

It turns out our arrival in France would be about 7 days short of the 6 month renewal date suggested (required?) for entering another country. Is this a hard, fast enforced rule? If so, we will obviously need to cancel!

Call your airline and ask. We got burned by this going to Spain in 2019. 3 months minimum there. We didn’t realize it and checked in 80 something days before the passport was due to expire and the airline would not check my wife in. Period. FULL STOP. We drove to downtown Dallas the next morning and got an emergency renewal and barely made a backup flight the next day losing only 1 full day of our trip but it was close. Dang close.

Point is they are firm on the rule whether it’s 3 months, 6 months, whatever. You won’t even get on the plane.

[Glen_Gold]

The adventure continues: I sent off my passport months ago “expedited,” it was held up for unknown reasons, and it expired in June. I re-submitted my paperwork and have heard nothing (though they did cash my check in May.) This didn’t seem massively important to me until a new client tried to pay me and wanted a new W-9, which I can’t get until I have a new passport. Now things are kind of urgent.

[M.Kaplan]

I’m using an expediting service to process my renewal. Formerly same day, the expediter currently says that with expedited service the process takes 6-8 weeks. I couldn’t renew long in advance of our mid-Sept departure to Paris as we were in Mexico until late June. I submitted my application to the expediter on July 1, my passport was acknowledged to be in process on the State Department’s website on July 6, and my payment was processed on July 7. Fingers crossed it gets here by the end of the first week of Sept.

Update: I received my new passport yesterday, three weeks from the time received by the State Dept. Worth the extra cost, given the short time between trips.

[M.Kaplan]

Duplicate post.

[Jay_Miller]

Renewed mine this past winter. Did it by mail 6 months before expiration. Follow the directions on the website carefully and include payment. I used a check. Saw the check was cashed one month later. Got my new passport in the mail after only 3 months without rush.

Thanks for this note Eric. I had been getting worried that they haven’t cashed my check over a week since I mailed the renewal form.

Now I won’t start worrying for another 3 weeks

[M.Kaplan]

FYI, I was unable to update my Global Entry documents with my new passport info online. Took my Global Entry card and new passport to the closest Global Entry application center, without an appointment as advised, and they updated my passport information in less than 5 minutes.

[Steve_Gautier]

I have heard that it is important to have two clean pages in your passport. Is this something countries require/enforce?

[Eric_Ifune]

I have heard that it is important to have two clean pages in your passport. Is this something countries require/enforce?

Something they prefer, but they won’t deny entry. If you need more space, you can apply for inserts from the US State Dept. One can also get extra pages when applying for your passport for no extra cost.

[Chris_S_p_i_k_e_s]

Does anyone have any idea what the internal process is with the State Department in terms of issuing or renewing a passport? What exactly are they doing to confirm citizenship and approve a passport application?

More specifically, what are they doing that takes so long, especially with uncomplicated renewals? It seems to me that most of this could be automated with human oversight. I understand there is a backlog, but what are they doing once they actually start working your application and how long does that normally take in an uncomplicated situation? That information may be secret, but I was wondering if anyone knew.

[Victor_Hong]

Does anyone have any idea what the internal process is with the State Department in terms of issuing or renewing a passport? What exactly are they doing to confirm citizenship and approve a passport application?

More specifically, what are they doing that takes so long, especially with uncomplicated renewals? It seems to me that most of this could be automated with human oversight. I understand there is a backlog, but what are they doing once they actually start working your application and how long does that normally take in an uncomplicated situation? That information may be secret, but I was wondering if anyone knew.

For many late-night carry-out dinners in 2009 through 2011 at one federal regulator, we delivery people were sworn to secrecy on any observed Material Non-Public Information. Divulging if one high-level mandarin ordered General Tso’s Chicken when shutting down a specific financial institution would spawn an FBI telephone call. But with not another food order.

[Eric_LeVine]

My son had a USPS appointment on 7/12/2021 and went for the expedited option. They quoted 12 weeks. Check was cashed on 7/20/2021, and the Passport is set to be delivered tomorrow, 8/17/2021. So 5 weeks in the end.

My daughter had her appt 2 weeks after him, so hopefully hers paces similarly.