Anyone renewed passport online?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html .... twopffenig

Becky, as far as I know, its not an online application process. The form itself is online and you can fill it out online, but still have to print it out, sign, and mail it in with your documents, check, old PP and photos. I renewed a couple of years ago, but I dont believe, given the importance of verification, that they could ever depend on a totally online process. Photos you can get just about anywhere like CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, AAA, Costco, or other places that provide photo services. Don't wear a white or light top for the photo.

I have done it before. In normal times it is pretty fast, although it always seems scary to send the passport in the mail, hoping it doesn’t get lost in the process.

I need to renew mine as it expires in August. Right now their website says not to bother trying to renew. I’m just trying to figure out whether to send in now so it is there when they open back up or wait until they announce they are taking applications again and hope they can process in time.

It’s not like I’m going anywhere right now, but just in case, we were hoping to at least get to Canada this year.

Please, by all means , correct me if I am wrong. Disregard speculation , please read the Federal Government site , provided. Go figure....twopffenig.

I thought I'd be travelling in May so I renewed mine in January--printed out the forms and epic amount of instructions, completed as directed, got a really good photo done at my local UPS store (you want a place where they will ensure you are centered properly and have your hair tucked behind ears, expression, etc) for about $12, and sent everything in via Priority mail--they do mention sending via a trackable service, so 1st class didn't seem wise to me. I got my new passport in about 2 weeks, and the old one was sent back separately, which seems to be the norm.

I squeeked my renewal in just before March. I got a form from the post office, had my photos done at Costco and mailed it in making sure I used the priority mail envelope with tracking. I mailed it mid-February and got it March 10th.

The Department of State is NOT accepting passport applications for processing right now. They suggest you do not send in anything at the moment. If you do send your renewal, expect "several months" before receiving it back.

The instructions for all of this are detailed on the web site linked in a response above.

Thank you for your replies. Now have to decide when to mail in my current passport. Also need to get an enhanced drivers license.

The need for enhanced driver licenses, at least for traveling, has been moved out another year. So no hurry on that right now either.

As others have suggested, I would NOT send my passport to a possibly understaffed office in D.C. -- mine has already been there for 8+ weeks. Costco photo.
EDIT: Memorial Day weekend, now 12 weeks. Passport Office website now says delays may be "months"
EDIT 2: As of May 31, the status website doesn't even say "months" -- just that no renewals will be processed until the COVID-19 emergency shutdown is over and passport offices are fully staffed.

All your passport renewal questions answered here, on the official US government website:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html

When you do, eventually, renew your passport, be sure to use the online form filler. You answer the questions, and it automatically fills out the forms and even picks the correct one (renewal as opposed to new passport) based on your answers. Then, you just print it out, sign it, and mail it with your photos, old passport, and fee. Very easy - as long as we're not in the middle of a pandemic like now.

Form filler is here: https://pptform.state.gov/

Note that this is just an easier way to fill out the forms. While this part is "online," you still have to mail in your stuff (old passport, fee, photos, forms) to actually renew the passport; you cannot do these other parts of the process online yet.

As for photos, many drugstores do them, as does FedEx. Prices vary a bit, so look around first.

Are AAA offices open? I get free photos from them so haven't used other options. I'm not in a huge hurry but my passport expired in March, right after a trip to BVI. I'd love to get it renewed now. I want to travel internationally in September (if I can book a flight) and I don't want to wait until things are completely back to normal. Who knows when that will be?

Current message on the US State Dept Passport page is crystal clear:

Passport Renewals During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Unless you have a life-or-death emergency, please wait

I doubt just wanting to go somewhere this fall qualifies. I need to renew my passport as well. I am waiting until the web page message says it is OK.

As far as AAA offices being open, that would depend on the local level of lock down currently in effect. I would just give the one you normally go to a call.

Not being judgmental but posting as a warning to others- why wait until the last 3- 6 months of your passport to renew? No law says you can’t do it a good year early- really avoids the last minute issues. And yes, Covid is an extreme exception but there have been government shutdowns, employee furlough issues, etc over the years that have caused passport backlogs and delays.

And please do not say it is the cost....and wanting every day out of your renewal period. False logic and economy. If you received your first passport at age 20 and renewed exactly 10 yrs later (Jack Benny squeezing every day out of it) you would obtain 6 passports if your last one was at age 70. If you renewed every passport one year early over your entire life you would obtain 7. 1 extra. 1 extra (maybe 2 extra if you started out at 18 and were healthy enough to travel into your late 70’s-mid 80s). That is about $200 spread out over an entire lifetime. We are talking about an economic hit of $4 per year.....

I travelled a lot over the past 15 - 20 years mostly for work. I had to time my passport renewals, given all the unknowns of backlogs shutdowns and other government spats that delayed processing, to not interfere with my travel. Sometimes that meant I ran close to the end for renewals. My current passport is good until November. Since I was going to be traveling for my own enjoyment during the months around that time, I wanted to renew now meaning I would lose nearly a year off the expiration. But since it now looks like travel will be difficult if not impossible the rest of this year, I guess when I renew doesn't really matter.

I don't like the fact that many countries require a given number of months of validity of your passport beyond your expected departure from their country in order for them to let you in. This does reduce the available time frame of usability for your passport. The only reason they do this is to copy what policies the US has implemented for travelers from those countries. So it is what it is and if I want to visit those countries I must have a passport that complies. So I renew early.

My thoughts on this is that as long as your passport is valid on entry, it should remain valid for your time in that country regardless of the printed expiration date. After all, if it was valid when you enter, what real difference does it make as long as you depart from the country within its stay allowance? You would not be able to continue onward anywhere except back to the US once your passport expires. The US will allow you to return from outside the country with an expired passport anyway, so no issue there. Of course that would never work. Too many different immigration policies to change to be more open and liberal. And that is not the direction we are headed these days.