Originally Posted by annieway

I used the government's expedited service ($60 fee) a couple of months ago to renew my passport. I think I had the new passport in my hands about 10 days later.

I want to add one caution, however, based on my recent experience. Your old passport is not returned to you with the new one if you go this route. For some reason, they send back the old passport a couple of weeks later. This would not ordinarily be a problem but my old passport included my Brazil visa which I needed for a trip that was coming up soon. I was very worried but the old passport eventually showed up a few days before I left for that trip. It takes several weeks to get a new Brazil visa. I would have had to cancel the trip if the old passport hadn't shown up when it did.

An employee from the expediter my company uses told me that when they expedite a renewal they get the old passport back at the same time as the new one. Since I didn't go that route, I have no idea if what she was telling me is correct.