Since this question is frequently ask. I will post our experience with renewal.
Our current passports expired in May, so we filled out the on-line forms, printed, and mail to PA. The renewal hit the government hands on Friday, 25th. Will post when we have the new ones in hand. This may be it. We have had a passport since the 60s. We are 80 this year so will we renew in 2032? Maybe by the time we are 90 we will be through traveling to Europe.
I just sent in my kids' renewal on March 18. Because of their ages, we needed to do the renewal at a passport processing facility. No status available thru passportstatus.state.gov and no checks cleared, but it's early yet. I'll post when I get anything back.
I sent my renewal in on March 11th, it is processing and the payment was processed on the 17th. I did get expedited and for that it is still 5-7 weeks. I have signed up for email notification when it is ready.
My passport expires in November of 2023. I thought the document has to be valid for one year to nine months when entering the EU. If that is still the case, how soon should I send the passport for renewal? I plan to travel to Germany in December 2022.
All my bookings say 6 months prior to arrival.
If I was staying on a 3 month Visa, 9 months would be cutting it really closely if my passport expired just over 9 months. But I've no plans to stay that long.
When in doubt there is always the government website.
jmebelle -- my understanding is that it varies depending on the country. Six month is good bench mark. We renew in a window when we don't need them. We off to Italy on Aug 1 so that gives roughly four months for renewal. You will be good for Germany but you may what to renew next summer if you have no other travel planned.
We got new ones for two of our kids in Nov (theirs expire in Feb of '22). The process was so easy (no line, no wait, easy to get an appointment). And we received it by early January
In crazy passport news, our friend's kid (14yo?) was going to Europe with grandma and grandpa this week. Parents (our friend) did not pull out kid's passport until two days pre-departure. It was expired. They called the Passport Gods (dont know who. they live in Chicago) and got an appointment for the next day, and were granted a passport. Kid is now in Europe :0
Easier to do if you live near a passport office. We received our first passport in 1972 in about four hours from the Chicago office. We were second in line when the office opened at 8, handed in all of the completed forms, and returned at noon for the passport. This was on a Friday and we were on a plane to England the next day.
Just an update on my passport renewal. I sent it in on 11 March, expedited via mail and received it on the 6 April.
Sent mine in on 3/7 and had new one in my mail on 3/31. I did not expedite except for paying for two day delivery.
Just got my kids' passports back today. So, they were sent in 3/18, delivered back 4/11, a little over 3 weeks total. I did not pay for expedited service or mailing.
btw, I did sign up for email notifications on status changes for both passports and never received anything.
This website gives you ways to search which of the passport offices your application was sent to, then maybe they can provide you with some status or tracking for the application? https://www.passports-office.co.uk/passport_tracking.asp
This page (https://www.passports-office.co.uk/blog/track_passport_tracking/) also states: The importance of your reference number can never be stressed enough. This reference number is completely unique to you and your application and whether you are applying by post, online or your requiring an urgent passport application this is the key bit of information you will need to track your passport.
I am really happy to hear that the Passport office has cleared their backlog. That is great news. Now if the IRS can just follow......
Just renewed ours by mail and it took approximately four weeks.
