Originally Posted by rworne

With the recent backlog of passport renewals in the US exceeding 4+ months, we have a bit of a travel dilemma.

Trip to Japan is planned for wife and kid at end of the year. Wife is a Japanese national, and the kid is a dual-citizen. The kid just had their Japanese passport renewed (minor to adult - only took 7 days) and since we are also going from a minor to adult US passport, we cannot renew it via mail and have to do a whole new application.

The appointment and processing times are such that there is a high risk of the new passport not being ready in time for the trip. But the old US passport expires 3 weeks *after* the return flight to the US. Sure we could cancel the appointment, but that would mean that any trip during the summer would be out of the question. It's been nearly two years and both are now jonesing to get back to the old country.

Typically, the daughter leaves the US with the US passport, uses the Japanese passport to gain entry into and exit Japan, then uses the US passport to regain entry to the US.

So two questions:
1. Since it is not a renewal, but a full-up new application, do we need to surrender the old passport? If not,
2. Would the old passport remain valid? and
3. I would assume that the US, for returning citizens, could not care less how many days are left on the validity of the US passport, provided the passport has not expired. Versus a country like Japan & Europe that want 3 months or more prior to the expiration date.

Anyone have any insight on this?