Current US passport wait? (Merged Threads)
 

Anyone know of a reliable way to determine the current wait times for US passport services? I mailed in my current passport book on Saturday to get a passport card. The post office said it would arrive today.

The State Dept website says that it's currently taking 7-10 business days to get applications loaded into their online application status tool. Any further ideas in how long this might take? I don't have any international plans until May (though would like to go up to Canada in about a month when we're in northern Vermont if it's back by then), but just curious.

Thanks!

edit: ugh, never mind. Apparently I can't Google. https://travel.state.gov/content/pas...ing-times.html

Wow, 6 weeks? I renewed my passport near the end of November and it took 15 calendar days; I didn't pay for expedited service. So what is it about today that the State Department now warns that it will take 6 weeks to receive the new passport? :confused:

I seem to remember them saying 6-8 weeks the last time I renewed my passport, and getting it in about 2-3 weeks. Perhaps they just consistently underpromise and overdeliver. Refreshing from government! :)

That is indeed the general approach. Most applicants are currently still getting them -- without paying the expedite fee -- within 4 weeks. And in-person applications from abroad are getting issued even faster.

There is a lot of the "managing expectations" involved in stating 6-8 weeks. Also, the expedite fee revenue may dry up if more people were confident about when they could get the passport back in 10-15 business days even without the expedite fee. And the government isn't so eager to give up revenue like this.

On another forum, which is orientated to persons immigrating to the US, the members there keep a very detailed and comprehensive record of current real world US passport processing times. Looking at recent entries in their thread, it looks like passports are turning around in 10 days or so without expediting.


http://www.visajourney.com/forums/to...racker/page-99

Also, I believe that 2006 was when they started requiring passports to go to Canada and Mexico, so all those people that got passports then are up for renewal now - thus the projected longer wait time.

Thanks for the link to visajourney above.

FWIW, the event timing I've experienced is in line with visajourney's.

3/14 State Dept received the application
3/18 Check was cashed
3/20 Application became visible in the online application tracking site
3/26 Status changed to "Your passport application is in the final processing stages." with an estimated date of me receiving the passport on 4/3

Will update this as I remember to.

Received the passport card today. The website still says my application is in the final processing stages. Still waiting on the passport book to be returned.

For what it's worth, I received mine about 2 weeks after receiving my new passport.

March usually has more passports in process than the majority of other months of the year. And government staff vacations in March may still be higher than they are in many other non-summer months.

I wouldn't have expected two weeks given gfunkdave's dates. I would have expected something exceeding 2 weeks. 3-4 weeks is more akin to what I may have expected in prior years for a comparable period of time, especially as we now have a wealthier population with more disposable income than in say 2007-2009.

My guess now is that the passport is back within the first 7 days of April, perhaps with a late March issue date.

Note that my existing passport book is still valid for another 6 years. I just had to send it in to get the card.

You weren't applying for a renewal passport too? Apparently not. My bad in that case.

...and I received my passport book back today.

Now that was quick service indeed!

So just short of 3 weeks. Nice.

Thanks, this is super useful-- though the location field on their posts seems to imply that people were applying in person, not by mailing to the national center in philly. (That may be a requirement for pending NCs and/or first timers, not sure.) In any case, hopefully Philly's turn around time is in line.

About three weeks. Received them back last week.

Expedited only took one week.

Two new data points from two of my family members:
- 1 standard passport book renewal (no card), mailed 5/10/16, payment processed on 5/15, old and new passport books received in the mail (separate envelopes) on 5/24-- 14 days total.
- 1 standard passport book renewal (no card, but the book is a 52-pager), mailed 5/10/16, payment processed on 5/15, new book received on 6/8-- 29 days total. Still waiting on old book.

Neither was expedited, so no clue why one was 2 weeks faster than the other. In both cases the passport status tracker online updated promptly, but email notifications did not work. I got the "Your passport application is in the final processing stages." status online 1 day before it was sent out 2 day priority mail. NPIC phone support was able to give me the USPS tracking number once it hit final processing. In both cases it arrived a few days earlier than the estimate reflected online, and overall time was 2 and 4 weeks respectively, while the current estimated standard processing time is 6 weeks.

Sent mine off for renewal on 5/20/16 for book and card.
Info received in Philadelphia on 5/23/16, payment processed 5/25/16
Received passport book 6/9/16
Received card 6/10/16
Still waiting on the old passport to come back. All of this was done via standard processing and the Memorial Day holiday was mixed in.

Sent mine for renewal on 08/08/2016 for book; selected expedited option. Received passport today 08/18/2016.

I just did mine, expedited, through Philly.
- I overnighted it the 7th (because I live on the opposite side of the country)
- Check was cashed on the 8th
- In the online system the 9th
- System said it was done on the 15th
- It arrived today, the 16th

Card and old passport will come back later, I will update then.

In any case, I am pleased!

Update: card arrived a couple days after book, cancelled passport came a couple days after. All three were back inside the two-week period. I had really only expected the book in that timeframe.

I mailed both my wife and my passport renewals by US First Class mail to Philly on the evening of 11/22. Her's arrived in the mail today (12/9). The old passport was returned in a separate envelope. Processed and received in a little over 2 weeks. Her status online states it's still in final processing and we should get it by 12/11. On budget and early, not typical government work. Mine still says it's being processed.

amazing :D i love you

Wow! Welcome to Flyer Talk!

2 renewal apps mailed US First Class mail to Philly on the evening of 11/22

Wife's delivered on 12/9. (Processed and received in a little over 2 weeks.)

Mine delivered today, 12/17 (Processed and received in a little over 3 weeks.)

I'm not sure why mine took more than an extra week. The old passports were returned in a separate envelope.

Renewal sent in by ordinary mail: 3 weeks
 

I sent my renewal application in with my old US passport (not due to expire for another 11 months) on December 9, 2016. The new passport was in my mailbox on December 29, 2016.

As another information point, I mailed everything in using the ordinary mail -- over 2 ounces, so it cost 89 cents in postage. No tracking, no expedited handling. I knew things were working out fine when my check cleared just before Christmas.

I sent my passport in to be renewed January 11th, priority, and was told it would be scheduled to get to Philadelphia on the 13th.

I have the tracking number, and as of January 13th at 4am, it just says in transit to destination (with expected delivery data of January 13th.) Is it possible it did get delivered, but since its to a PO box, it just didn't get scanned? It was last scanned here in Colorado on the 11th, so nothing east of here. My check hasn't been cashed yet.

You can check the status of your passport application by phone or online:

I tried that, but it said not in the system. I just checked USPS site though, and it says it just got to Philadelphia this morning and is delayed, with no new delivery. So it looks like it got stuck somewhere for a couple days. Kind of scary with all the personal information that's on the application. Should get to the processing center soon hopefully.

20 days not expedited

17 days here from receiving to shipping back out, all normal.

Current New Passport Processing Times
 

Hey All,

Does anyone know the current wait times for passport receipt. The post offices in our city have cancelled all walk ins, and are months out for appointments so I went to a passport fair on April 15th and expedited my passport application. Any ideas/experience on when I will receive it. I know 2-3 weeks is the claim but I'm assuming this time of year is crazy for this. Trip is on May 17th, so concern is growing!!

Predicting these things is impossible. The question is not the average time for a passport, but whether there is an issue with your passport documents or any of the information in the documents. The 2-3 weeks is not unreasonable, but any small issue can result in the entire package being returned to you.

The good news is that when you get down to 2 weeks to go, you may deal directly with a Passport Agency and there is one in Hot Springs. While this means a day out of your life (actually head out the night before so that you are there before opening time). Chances are that you will wait around and have your passport a few hours later. At worst, the passport will be overnighted to you.

Pay close attention to the required documents and have everything proofread by someone else because everything will have to be redone if there is a mistake.

Have paper printouts of your e-ticket receipts as proof of travel and, if things get really tight, just show up at the Passport office without an appointment.

https://travel.state.gov/content/pas.../arkansas.html

Disappointed
 

Applied for my passport for the first time on Feb 16, 2017. Everything says total processing time 6 to 8 weeks. I received a letter requesting a copy of my marriage certificate in early March. It was immediately dispatched. Here I am, at 9 weeks, with no passport. I've called three times asking where it is in processing. No one knows. I paid $75 to have it expedited, because I need it to register for my cruise that leaves on May 26. So I asked how long it will take, and was again told that they don't know. Today, I checked the site and it said it was expedited, and to expect it in 2-3 weeks. I've already waited 9! And I paid to get it here faster, so it will probably get here by week 12? Not happy.

Sent a renewal on Monday Mon 17 April 2017 to Dallas Processing Center (normal not expedited)
Received my package: Tue 18 April 2017
Check cashed and showed up on the tracking: Wed 19 April 2017

Status changed to the final processing stage: Wed 3 May 2017
Received my new passport book: Thur 4 May 2017 (via USPS Express) mailed from Tucson Passport Processing Center.
Passport shows the issuance date: 1 May 2017

Passport fulfillment (and even CRBA fulfillments) is taking substantially longer this year than last year, and I expect it to possibly get worse as the year progresses.

Passport card received: 8 May 2017

I need passport in time !!! [Moved from Technical Support forum]
 

I applied to renew my passport in the beginning of may and was told to call in the middle of may to track it .I called and they said it was in the middles of processing but I was scared because I travel June 5. Which is 19 das away.They said I order for it to come faster than usual I should pay for expediate processing.Do you think it will come before June 5th if order to expediate it now ? I'm worried .

DS-82 Passport Renewal Processing Times from Texas
 

Mailed (normal time) passport application and required photos/documents on April 24, 2017. Check cashed April 26 and received passport via US Priority Mail from Tucson on May 11, 2017. June 2 was travel date. Total days 17. Passport issue date May 5, 2017.

I am a DIYer spent 4 hours edit/website, $4.54 certified mail/tracking and $0.29 Walmart print. Have patience and use @ https://travel.state.gov/content/vis...-template.html

Even though busy time of year the processing time was faster than I thought. Things which I think helped were a typed application, typed mailing label and an extra photo (only 1 required). Remember to include old passport and check.

Happy Travels!

I'm seeing US passport processing times taking longer than usual this month, but for applications submitted around May 2-5th, I would be pretty confident it would be back by or around May 31st-June 2nd at the latest for most. But if something goes wrong, you'll be in for a scurry to try to get things fixed before June 5th.

This month, if you hadn't applied already, I'd seriously consider paying the expedite fee if having travel plans within 4-5 weeks of application submission date. At this point, I'd just wait and not pay the expedite fee -- but then again I know I also can get a passport within 72 hours if needed by dealing with a reasonably convenient US Passport Agency office or US Embassy/Consulate -- that may or may not be so good for others.