Originally Posted by GUWonder

I have an almost embarrassing number of people staying at my/my family’s places outside of the US doing in-person passports renewals while outside of the US. It’s the successor to an old habit I picked up as a kid when wanting to get some home feeling while out of the country and looking for excuses to go to the embassies. But now it’s other people’s kids and adults I send in to get passport applications turned faster (and cheaper) than at home. There are the inconveniences of needing passport appointments at the selected embassy/consulate and of the security/security restrictions to enter the consulates/embassies; but if in the national capital or primary commercial capital of a foreign country for 3 weeks at a stretch anyway or returning within 3-4 weeks to the same such place, it’s been a reliable way for my acquaintances to rather quickly get new passports back. And since the embassies/consulates tend to be in nicer parts of the cities, at times it could be considered an outing to check out an area that may otherwise not have been seen while visiting.

The typical turn I see in the EU this year too is usually less than 8 business days.