I mailed my passport 11/18/21, priority mail, and paid the extra $60 to expedite my application. I came home and it was in todays mail 12/13/21. Not even one month! I was quite pleased. I live in WA state, I have read it depends on which processing center you use based on where you live.
Thanks all for the tips.
Kathleen
Good for you! Same thing happened for my boys. Less than 2 weeks- but of course I paid for the expedited service also. Glad to have one thing go smoothly in a world filled with Covid!
So good to hear this news! I am very hopefully that the Passport Office is finally back on track.
Here's another data point. My spouse just renewed her passport the old fashioned way through the regular first class mail, not priority. She did NOT pay extra to expedite. She mailed off the application on November 19 and received the new passport on December 21. Considering the lag for snail mail and no expediting, seems like pretty good service to me. I'd say people should not despair nor feel like they need to expedite, unless it is truly a time emergency.
Good point bobbing. I had plenty of time. For me, I feel naked if I don't have my passport at hand, even when I have nothing planned. Silly, I know but a comfort.
Cheers,
Kathleen
Just another data point: submitted passport renewal on 11/24 and received new passport on 1/15. Normal service, not expedited.
I need to renew ours, expiring 2023. Someone said be careful about the pictures, said one in their party had application rejected due to photo not to their liking. They all took photos at home. Any suggestions?
They all took photos at home. Any suggestions?
Do not do it at home
Go to a store, e.g., CVS, Walgreens etc and have it done correctly
We did our own photos and mailed in the renewal applications on Dec. 1. I could see that our checks were cashed on Dec. 9. The new passports arrived yesterday, Jan. 21, without having paid for expedited service. The application instructions provide very clear guidance on what constitutes an acceptable photo and what will cause yours to be rejected. They can't be selfies. I wouldn't have trusted myself to take my husband's photo, and have him take mine, and get it right, but we had our 29 year old daughter line us up against a white wall, take the photos and properly size and crop them so the dimensions were as required. Millenials aren't intimidated by this stuff.
On a similar note, we took my 16-year-old to get his first-time passport in late November; it was accepted by the State Dept. on December 10th, and we received it in the mail last week (1/20). So right around two months, start to finish!
I mailed my husband's application for renewal on January 7 using Priority Mail. I paid for expedited service, but not rush postage. We received his new passport on January 29. Philadelphia to South Carolina. Three weeks and a day. His prior one was expiring March 2022.
Mine expires February 2023 so I need to go ahead and renew before our fall travel. I will send via Priority Mail but not expedited and see what happens.
