For anyone sweating passport renewals ...

I recently got mine back in 21 days. State is doing a good job this year.

My renewal took about a month. Some things I noted:

They cashed the check pretty quickly but didn't start sending me email updates until they were almost done, and then they couldn't stop themselves. Multiples of the same info several times in several days.

When the new passport arrived, it was in the proverbial plain brown wrapper which is good, don't want anyone to know what's in there. When my old passport was returned, it was clearly marked as coming from a passport office. Not ideal.

Speaking of locations, I sent my application and old passport to Texas, the new passport came from somewhere on the east coast and the old passport came from somewhere different. So don't expect consistency.

I purposely renewed quite early since I don't know my travel plans for the year, be aware you won't receive any "credit" for unused time on your current passport. The new one is effective upon the date they create it, so if I was a stickler which I'm not I "lost" 6 months of validity.

And regarding the new passport, the format is quite different. Previously the page with your name and photo and vitals had a light lamination. The new one has that page encased in hard plastic which is quite thick and unyielding, so if you're used to having your passport conform to your butt after a while or carry it in delicate places, it's not going to work anymore. It's also heavier because of that plastic. I'm one of those carry all the time everywhere folks, so I'm going to need to experiment with concealing placement. I'm guessing there is also circuitry built into the newer passports so that will need minding.

The adult passport is good for ten years. Renewing it, as advised, 6-9 months before it expires is just part of the process. Not sure why anyone would expect a credit of a few months. And I shudder to think how long it would take to renew if a credit was given and the government had to calculate that in.

Another passport renewal positive experience. We mailed the documents May 2 with expedited fees added. The new passport was received May 17 and the old passport was received the next day in a separate mailing. I hope updating Global Entry online is as easy

Once you get logged into the right place, updating Global Entry is trivial.

Happy travels!

ETA: I took ncangelose to be referring to updating Global Entry with the new passport number, not renewing membership in the program. Renewing membership is indeed more time consuming.

Youre right. I deleted my rant about renewing GE.

Updating your passport in your Trusted Traveler account is easy.

Yes I meant updating Global Entry with the new passport number. I think I have a couple of years still left on it, but this is a reminder to double check the actual date of expiration.

Sent my renewal in May 14th. Paid $9 for 2 day mail, the extra $60 for expedited processing and $19 for first class return. New passport received yesterday, May 25th. Amazing turnaround of 11 days. What a change from the horror stories of the last couple of years.

DurJim - Eleven days?!! That's gotta be a record of some sort.

Just adding another data point. My renewal timeline was similar to DurJims.

I mailed my renewal application on Monday, June 3rd. I received the new passport on Saturday, June 15th. I did pay the additional $60 for expedited service and the 1-2 day delivery at $19.23. Even with the expedited service, I did not expect to have the new passport in my hands in under 2 weeks.

We renewed my 5yr old’s passport recently. Sent the paperwork in on May 10th and received it on May 30th. That is without paying expedited fees. I wasn’t expecting it until July based on current projections, plenty of time before our October vacation, so I was shocked when we received it so fast.

Just adding to the discussion - sent our renewals in via USPS 2 day on 6/4 and paid for expedited service. Just received our new passports today (18 days later) via USPS Priority with no identifying markers indicating what was inside (Yay). Way faster than I'd anticipated.

Another quick turn around US passport renewal story, mailed my application with standard processing using priority mail envelope at my local post office in Portland Oregon on June 12th, received my new passport yesterday on June 26th via USPS priority mail exactly 2 weeks later.

Has anyone tried renewing online? I’ve got to renew mine soon and was reading about this a few days ago. It seems straightforward, but I’d feel better if I knew it worked smoothly for others.

Our renewals took 4 weeks. Very good service.

As to "renewal online", we filled out the forms online, printed them. I will say that you MUST get professional photos - we went to Walgreens, and it took 3 passes to get my photo within the "acceptable" limits of the software. Taking them at home (save $15) would not work at this point.