Let's get back to focusing on the historical reason for this important thread:

”CURRENT US PASSPORT WAIT”

Future off topic posts are subject to removal or transfer.

My partner and I just had a baby and we're traveling the first week of June. We live in a city with a passport office and now have the baby's birth certificate and social security card. Would it be better for us to go through the traditional passport process immediately, knowing that we're about seven weeks from the date of international travel at the time of this post, or should we wait and go with the passport office within 14 days of travel?

You can do the traditional process immediately with Expedited service and you should normally receive the passport well ahead of your travel date. I personally would be too nervous to wait until I'm within 14 days of travel when you can probably already have the passport in hand by then. Plus waiting at the NYC passport office wouldn't be my favorite way to spend the day with a newborn...

I just did a regular non expedited child passport on Thursday 4/10 and will have a DP to share probably within a few weeks which isn't going to be of help to you at this point but may be for others. The $100 check was cashed today 4/15.

Recent DP as we recently mailed in an application with expedited processing and shipping — took 13 (total) days from the Department of State accepting the application. 7 weeks should be more than enough time sans any application/shipping issues.

You could always book an international trip within 2 weeks of now and get the passport via the office sooner…maybe a ticket to Toronto?

Mine (a renewal, so take with a little grain of salt) literally took two days.
Submitted application > processed > new one sent within 2-3 days.

So by that metric, they're either (1) not busy, or (2) have a lot of capacity.

Was this done online or in person?

online.
(I live in a state w/o in-person capability - the best we can do is 'package' up ours at a 'passport center' but it gets mailed in)

Note that once your physical stuff is in their hands, they scan it into the system and it goes into the same online round-robin queue... unless you do 100% in-person like in Houston.

Update:
4/25 very early a.m. received email that status changed to Approved (10 days after check was cashed)
4/25 10+ hours after that in the afternoon, I received another email that the passport book Shipped via USPS Priority mail and tracking number was provided
4/28 today passport was received

So 18 days from the day we applied in person at the local post office until we received the passport in our possession. This is I think even faster than expedited service used to take but I'm guessing it's not something you can rely on if you have travel plans and don't want to be nervous that you'll get the passport in time. We're not planning to go anywhere with this kid until July or August or maybe not even at all but I always want to make sure we have a valid passport on hand just in case.

Here is my U.S. Passport renewal process:

• U.S. Passport renewal mailed: 21 March 2025
• Arrived in Irving, TX.: 24 March 2025
• Rejected: 7 April 2025 [photo]
• Resubmitted: 15 April 2025
• Arrived in Irving, TX.: 19 April 2025
• Approved: 30 April 2025
• Return Address: Charleston, SC. 29405
• Accepted in Tucson, AZ. 85710: 2 May 2025
• Travelled from Tucson to Chicago in 56 minutes.
• Went out and was delivered in 203 minutes.
• Arrived in Chicago, IL. 60641: 3 May 2025

Really pleasantly surprised.

Applied online late evening May 11
Payment processed May 15
Approved May 16
Shipped May 17
In my hands..no expedited shipped May 21

Really efficient.

I hope this is my case!

8/17 - Applied online for renewal (using digital pic); no changes needed
8/19 - Received email today saying payment successful & application will be transferred for processing
8/20 - Received email "In Process"
8/25 - "Shipped". Says it originated from Tucson.

I wasn't allowed to choose expedited with digital, so I am in the "regular" queue, and I paid for expedited shipping. I wonder if it's a quicker process, in their hands, when done digitally. Seems so?

Travel date: end of Sept, so I am riding the line if it actually takes more than 4 weeks :eek:

Even though the US government is shutdown, and the State Department's website says passport operations will still continue, I figured that things would take longer.

Baby Swede, now 18, applied for her first adult passport book and card this past Tuesday (10/14). We received an e-mail from state.gov today stating they received it and will process the application, etc.

That said, https://passportstatus.state.gov/ appears to be down.

Yes, passport operations (as well as Global Entry applications) are all self-funding by the fees, so they are continuing to operate, business as usual.

Wow. Just got multiple e-mails today saying the application was approved, passport book and card printed, and shipped via USPS. Expected delivery date of 10/27, so less than two weeks!

11/12 - Applied online for renewal in afternoon eastern time. Requested 52-page passport book and card. Rejected pic from AAA office, accepted a selfie against an off white wall.
11/13 - Received In Process Notification
11/17 - (early evening) Received Approval Email
11/17 - (late evening) Received Shipping Notification and tracking number
11/22 - Passport book arrived in mail. Sent US Priority Mail with tracking.
11/24 - Passport card arrived in mail. Sent USPS First Class mail in a normal letter sized envelope.