... including Easter weekend. I've had a US passport for about 50 years.
I used the new "Online Renewal", for a passport that happened to expire yesterday. (As you know, it can still be renewed after it expires.) I paid with a credit card, and submitted the application on a weekend, April 13,2025. I requested routine processing. On 4/15/25, I got another email confirming that the payment of $120 succeeded, and my application was sent to processing. An email on 4/17/25 said the book was being printed, and another on 4/18/25 said it had been mailed Priority Mail. (the free shipping option.) It arrived today, 4/21/25
The new passport's number has a single letter at the beginning. It has the machine-readable symbol on the cover, and the same two lines of OCR data at the edge of the title page as usual. The entire title page is as thick and rigid as a credit card, and some key information, like my birth date and the expiration date, have raised printing. (Not "embossing".) There are three images of my face, each with a different degree of color and of size. My old passport is still on my desk at home.