they should be able to. I also just got this email back from CBP responding to an inquiry I sent about it a few weeks ago:

Q: Everything matches, but I still can’t update. What should I do?
A: In some cases, travelers with very new passports will need to wait 2-3 weeks before they are able to update the passport information in the TTP system. Please try again after this time, or see the response below.

Q: What should I do if I can’t update my passport from the website?
A: If you are unable to update your passport from your TTP profile after 2-3 weeks, please reply to this message with a color image of the biographic page of your passport. Once we receive your attachment, we will escalate your case to be updated. Processing times are currently 3-4 weeks.

To my knowledge, the US has never operated that way. Other countries definitely do. If you want to make sure you always have a valid US passport you could try to obtain a second US passp:eek:rt so you still have one while the other is being renewed.

EDITED TO ADD:
Looking closer at the second passport page it seems that won't work in all cases -- one has to submit BOTH passports to obtain it!It seems that one can, however, renew the second passport separately.

I was going by what was quoted above from State but maybe what that means is that the request has indeed been approved and while it is being issued the current passport is now invalidated.

Even without a second passport:

Standard practice for passport applications abroad with the US State Department allow for in-person applicants at US embassies/consulates to present a currently valid US passport for purposes of passport application but retain that unexpired passport for use until picking up the newly-issued US passport at the embassy/consulate. This is a way that US citizens can maintain use of their only valid US passport while awaiting for the renewal passport to become available for use.

Even most US citizens abroad don’t know this is an option to always have a US passport for use while awaiting a renewal. And this option via US embassies/consulates is available even to those not living abroad.

US Passports have always been this way, assuming to prevent fraud. Until recently with the online renewal pilot, you had to send in/surrender your passport so invalid or not, you don't have it on you. It's also why they tell you that you must have at least 6 mo left on your passport before you travel out of the country. With the exception of applying at US Embassies overseas as GUWonder points out. But then it's likely you are living there if it wasn't lost, stolen or mutilated. Basically, it's the exception, not the rule.

And to be clear, you can only get a 2nd passport under certain circumstances. It is not easy and you have to meet very specific criteria. https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...port-book.html. Current US DoS Policy states "no person shall bear or be in possession of more than one valid or potentially valid passport of the same type at any one time." So you can have a standard & a diplomatic passport but not 2 regular passports. I contemplated this when I had to renew my last passport and worried I might have to travel for work but it wasn't worth the hassle. I just paid for expedited service.

We all hope that as the US Dept of State modernizes it changes but until then, it is what it is.

the situation I was thinking of is maybe admittedly a rare/unlikely occurrence: one submits a renewal with say a year left on it expecting 4-6 weeks processing but having a trip in 12 weeks. Should be plenty of time, right? But if the current passport is canceled immediately upon receiving the renewal request there now might not be enough time to address the issue and resubmit or even apply for a "new" book before the upcoming trip.

I just mailed my passport off for renewal yesterday. Here's hoping I get it back in a timely fashion. For what it's worth, the guy at the post office (who said he used to be a passport agent, although he isn't anymore) said that processing times currently are shorter than they've been in years.

Hopefully he's right. I guess I'll find out...

If you have a year left, I'd wait until you return from your trip. Otherwise, you're just losing a year on your passport. But if you really feel like you need to, just apply in person instead of by mail and they can tell you if there's any issue with your application. https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...in-person.html

But worst case you'd go to a passport agency within 14 days of your trip if you haven't gotten it back in this scenario for an emergency passport and bring any supporting documents.

I don't think this is true anymore. My experiences in Amsterdam:

• renewing my kids' passports in 2018, no problem. All was as you describe. They kept their passports until the new ones were ready, and then had the old passports cancelled on pick-up.
• renewing my own passport last year, I was required to surrender my current passport if I wanted the renewal to be processed. Not only that, but picking up the new passport from the consulate was also forbidden - I had to supply a self-addressed stamped envelope (or DHL mailer - which I actually chose as that's the only option with tracking) to have it mailed to me.

I'm going back in soon for the next round of renewals for my kids, and per https://nl.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen...ilds-passport/ (see step 11) it looks like my experience in 2021 is "the new normal." Old passports cancelled immediately on application, new passports only delivered by mail.

And for this class of service - leaving us in a technically illegal state while we pray our passports aren't lost in the mail - I had to book appointments months in advance. While the staff on the US citizen side of the AMS consulate are generally friendly in person, it's no wonder. They barely work at all. They schedule a grand total of 12 passport renewal appointments and 2 notary appointments per day in their ex-Nazi palace on the museumplein. Nice work if you can get it.

What I noted was true even as of last week across multiple US embassies/consulates in the Schengen area too. [Things like this wouldn’t have changed over the weekend.]

I'm not saying it changed over the weekend, I'm saying this has, in my direct personal experience, not been true for at least a year in the Netherlands. If you've got a link to a better source than https://nl.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen...ces/passports/ please share. Because every passport appointment procedure page there contains the same unambiguous language in the section describing how your new passport will be mailed to you (in person pickups are no longer allowed.)


Worth noting this hard-working bunch is now hiding the DS-82 procedure for in-person applications - now the link for "Renewing a valid or recently expired 10-year passport" goes exclusively a page describing a mail-in procedure. Where now you're expected to entrust your only recognized-by-local-authority proof of citizenship to the mails in both directions, rendering non-dual citizens de-facto stateless for the duration (and god help you if your passport book is lost in the mail.) Lunacy.

I have personally seen this being done for multiple US passport applicants throughout October (2022) at other US embassies/consulates within the Schengen area.

Perhaps the ACS staff in the Netherlands have been directed to no longer to do this, but I know it’s still being done as of last week too at various US consulates/embassies a short hop from here in AMS.

For several years many US missions abroad have been encouraging their ACS clients to have their documents delivered to them via DHL/Fedex/UPS............whoever the preferred local vendor is, often even having a courier service desk located in or near the mission to assist, in order to lessen traffic in the mission. This however is NOT the actual rule, and even in the DoS training books euphanisms such as "applicants should be encouraged to..."

That being said, like GU, I know of people who in the last two weeks have been able to pick up their passports from the consulate when they arrive. The statement, "All valid passports will be canceled during your appointment as you cannot have two valid passports" is idiotic on several counts............

1) It may not be legal in the country that you are in to NOT have a valid US passport on your person at any time.
2) If they require you to hand in your old passport for cancellation, before handing you the new one, then you are NOT in fact in possession of "two vaild passports" which leads to issue 3)
3) With DoS permission, and a proper reason, you can in fact carry two, or I even know of THREE currently valid US passports, although the others are of less validity.

If you really need your old(er) passport for travel, for the week or 2 or 3 until you get the new one........ask for a Vice Consul, there always is a VC who is in charge of ACS, do not deal with the drones, especially the local hires, who often have not read the CFR's themselves.

Mailed in my renewal application on the evening of October 31, by Priority Mail from DC. Expedited service requested. Received my new passport today, November 18. Less than 3 weeks from start to finish -- not bad at all.

Next Gen Passports are fully rolled out!
 

From the Frequently Asked Questions:

Will I receive a Next Generation Passport book if I apply now?

Yes. We are now issuing all passport books as Next Generation Passports. Since ePassports continue to meet and exceed international passport security standards, both ePassports and the NGP can be used for international travel.

Last Updated: November 18, 2022
travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/next-generation-passport.html