Passport Renewal

[nycruise1]

10 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Standard processing is 12-13 weeks, supposedly.

I got mine in 9 weeks, applied in April received in June, which is right smack in the presummer rush period.  Standard mail and standard processing.  Did not need it until September so I was not concerned but presently surprised at the promptness.

[Bers]

11 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

Where did you renew from ?  I'm guessing that could make a difference.

 

 

I shipped it from a St. Louis suburb.

 

I have wondered why some take longer and some are seemingly "immediate". I have a government security clearance and wonder if that comes into play....  Even for applicants with derogatory information in their background, I would think it's either a yes/no decision and not a let's-sit-on-it-for-three-months-and-think-about-it decision. 

[tree.critter]

54 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I recently paid the expedite fee, plus fast return shipping, plus paid to have it express mailed in (to the PA office) for my passport renewal.  New passport was mailed out two weeks and one day after being received, total turn-around was less than three weeks.  This was early August.

 

Maybe I got lucky.  Maybe expedited passports renewals are finally actually getting the attention they deserve.

 

Hmm, if you didn't pay for the expedited processing, that might be why it is taking longer - it sounds like you sent it express, and paid for express return, but not expedited processing. 

 

Standard processing is 12-13 weeks, supposedly.

I knew I was pushing the limit, at the time I mailed they said expedite was 7-9 weeks so I definitely paid for expedited service and delivery. I called on Monday since was in the 2 week travel window, she verified the expedited status and told me to keep an eye on update site. No emails but this morning I got tracking number with delivery expected in 2 days. Woo hoo! I am happy, it will be exactly 7 weeks from the day they received. I do suspect mine may have taken longer because there was two passports to renew, we both expired in November. 

[VentureMan_2000]

I'm thinking the PA processing center is on the ball... 

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

2 hours ago, Bers said:

I have wondered why some take longer and some are seemingly "immediate". I have a government security clearance and wonder if that comes into play.

Hmm, same in my case.  If a background check is normally needed as part of the process, that can take a while, whereas it's easy to check on me in the right system.

[The Scurvy Pirate]

My now over 18 child renewed their previous "minor" passport so they had to appear in person for an appointment at the post office.  It was received on 6/26/23 by the Department of State.  I received notification that it was shipped today 8/23/23.  Non-expedited.  So, right around 2 months for a first time adult passport.

[fungirl28]

New passport process after I lost my expired passport.

Applied expedited processing 7/19 at USPS.

Received at Locator 79 - 7/24

Processing - 7/24

Once I realized that locator 79 had some issues with delays, I began to worry about whether I would get my passport in time. I emailed requesting expedited shipping last week.

Emailed to have passport delivery expedited - 8/17

Card charged: - 8/21

Status switched to shipped - 8/21

Scheduled to be delivered by 8/24

[Threedrones]

We renewed ours mid April and received 9 weeks later. We tracked them online and received them while they were still “ in process”.

[bouhunter]

Another real world report - just got my renewal, it took about 10 weeks, not expedited.

[topnole]

One report is not going to help gauge timing.   It can vary a great deal.   So anyone trying to predict, don’t base it on other’s experience and even State time frame can be way off reality.  So many variables impact it and the times can vary by weeks or even months.   Just give it lots of extra time or wait if you have travel soon and you can wait.  

[aliaschief]

FYI. Need to renew your passport? We did. Submitted June 29 and paid extra for priority mail and processing. Received our new passports today Aug. 24. Message is don’t procrastinate as it’s a rather slow process.

[whogo]

Thanks, aliaschief. The State Department website currently lists 7-9 weeks processing time, not including shipping time. You received yours in 8 weeks. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/processing-times.html

[alwaysfrantic]

A friend just got hers back, this week,  in 5. 

[Rothko1]

My passport arrived yesterday! 

[shippmates]

I sent mine on May 31 and received the middle of July.  It took about 8 weeks with just normal processing.  At that time the processing time was 10 - 13 weeks plus shipping.

[RMLincoln]

Dear grandson just got his, expedited, 4 1/2 weeks!  Very surprised!  And relieved. 

[AllTheSun]

True story! If you spend a little time on r/passports you’ll see current experiences and a few horror stories. A decent amount of it seems to depend on which processing center your PP gets sent to (there are a lot of them and you can google how to tell which number is yours). And don’t depend on the time frame to be accurate because if your PP doesn’t show up it’s harder getting hold of the National PP agency than it was your state’s unemployment agency over Covid.

[spkack]

10 hours ago, aliaschief said:

FYI. Need to renew your passport? We did. Submitted June 29 and paid extra for priority mail and processing. Received our new passports today Aug. 24. Message is don’t procrastinate as it’s a rather slow process.

Sent mine in with priority processing 7/28 - would love to have it back within the next week or so.  You've given me hope aliaschief!  Mine was sent to the Philly expedite center.

[sydney dog]

Here is my timeline:

 

Sent 4/16/23

Processing 4/20/23

Had to send a new photo 7/24/23

Received 8/24/23

 

No Expedition

Shipped to Philly, returned from Virginia in Priority Mail with tracking.  Not sure how to get the tracking # ahead of time, but it was to have it incase anything did happen.

[FlaMariner]

3 hours ago, shippmates said:

I sent mine on May 31 and received the middle of July.  It took about 8 weeks with just normal processing.  At that time the processing time was 10 - 13 weeks plus shipping.

 

This is good to know....Thanks for passing along an example of the regular processing time.....We will be tossing ours into the renewal bucket soon and I do not want to pay even more extra tribute to Caesar for speedy service....that seems to be 4.5 weeks.  LOL.   We can wait and use our "priority" money to pay for high priced groceries.  LOL. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

Since I worry about stuff like this, having seen what can happen, we used a local passport service that I paid $150 (in addition to the govt. processing fees). I got it back in about two weeks, although I paid only for the 9 week expedited time. I rest well now.

 

The govt. site says that using a service like that doesn't make anything go faster, but I'm just saying.....

[spkack]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:35 AM, spkack said:

Sent mine in with priority processing 7/28 - would love to have it back within the next week or so.  You've given me hope aliaschief!  Mine was sent to the Philly expedite center.

Just a follow-up - received my passport via Priority USPS mailer on 9/2.  Similar timeline to others

[new_cruiser]

On 8/25/2023 at 6:46 AM, AllTheSun said:

And don’t depend on the time frame to be accurate because if your PP doesn’t show up it’s harder getting hold of the National PP agency than it was your state’s unemployment agency over Covid.

I've read a couple of horror stories on line about people having trouble getting through on the phone, but that wasn't my experience. My son's family decided to book a cruise about a month and a half before sailing and I wanted to join them. However, I was just about to submit my passport for renewal and didn't want to wait until after the cruise because we had a fall cruise scheduled. So, I used the urgent passport process which requires calling the National Passport Agency for an appointment. I was a bit nervous about the process; I didn't want to be biting my nails about being able to get an appointment just before a non-refundable June cruise. So I also booked a short jaunt to Vancouver in May that could be altered to use as the justification for the urgent passport process.

 

I ended up having to call 3 times - the first time, I misunderstood their interpretation of "14 days ahead of travel." The day of travel counts as one of the 14 days so my initial call was one day too early. I called the next day and got an appointment for a few days before travel, but then realized I had an unavoidable schedule conflict for that day so I moved the Vancouver trip a few days and called again to cancel that appointment and book another one.

 

Each time I called, I got through dialing once with a reasonable amount of time on hold (I didn't time it exactly - it may have been 20 minutes or so, but it wasn't hours). I wondered if there are different call centers that the calls get automatically routed to or if there is some other factor like time of day because 3 out of 3 times it was pretty easy.

 

The urgent process took pretty much all day for me - a two-hour drive there, the appointment in the morning and then waiting around to pick up the passport, then a longer drive home due to rush hour traffic. Other than that, it went without a hitch. I could pick up the passport the same day because I live more than 100 miles away. Pick-up might require coming back the next day for those closer to the office.

Edited September 7, 2023 by new_cruiser

[Capt_BJ]

mailed priority 24 Aug (Texas facility)

normal processing

received 18 Sep - under 4 weeks .....

Edited September 18, 2023 by Capt_BJ

[Mike981]

Wife and I sent ours to Texas and it took eight weeks.