I’m sure there are lots of Passport topics, here is another one

There does seem to be some degree of 'random' in how passport renewals are being processed.

My renewal process ( standard/regular) took no longer than some who paid extra for expedited service and special mail service.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/passport-renewal-new-thread

Maybe mine took a little longer because I added the passport card also.

My passport renewal mailed in September, not expedited, took 15 days. I was surprised, I was expecting to wait months.

Here is the challenge. How lucky are you feeling? It is fabulous that some people are getting such great times in processing and receiving their passports. Perhaps the huge backlog has now been dealt with.

However, we still hear about those people whose passports were taking 14-16 weeks even with expedited service. A recent poster had to go through his congressperson to go on his honeymoon because of processing delays over 12 weeks.

My advice is to send your passport in for renewal as if you were going to be one of the worst case scenario stories and give yourself plenty of time. Then be happily surprised when it arrives quicker than that.

I have been called an overplanner by a family member who doesn't travel. For passport renewal the consequence of waiting too late are obvious.
Since my passport expires in January 2022 and I have a trip departing in April to Italy and Solvinia the 6 months prior to expiration for European travel I sent a renewal application 2 weeks ago.
My cheek has cleared and I suspect that I will get the new passport soon.

Unfortunately…. For DH it has been June 24. Mailed , no infor month of July. Check cashed Aug11 and in process. Taking rest if august, September and now Oct is almost over! This is crap. Guess my husband should of lied and said we were leaving sooner than later.

We have locator number. Found out 68 (first two numbers ) is for the New Hampshire office and they are extremely slow.

About ready to call them and tell them we are leaving in Dec.

Sooooo sick of this crap

It does seem to be the luck of the draw these days and expediting doesn't always help that much. I will say that over the years I have heard many regular travelers and travel experts recommend that you renew your passport 6 mos to a year before it is set to expire just as a matter of course even if you have no immediate trips planned. I think that's a great idea and taking a page from the Boy Scout's handbook to 'be prepared'.

I mailed my passport off on September 18. I paid for expedited service. I received my passport on October 27th. So, that was almost 6 weeks. My passport expires in September 2022. but I’m leaving for the Rick Steves Belgium and Holland tour in March (so the passport would have expired within the 6 month window). I probably would have been ok without expedited service, but boy do I feel better now that I have my new one in my hand! Now I can finish filling out my info on the Rick Steves site and fill in the info on my plane ticket.

I hope everyone gets their passports in time.

I just saw on the News the Passport processing is starting to get back to normal. I mailed mine when they were still behind. Happy & Safe Travels in 2022 everyone!!!!!

Just checked status…. Finally approved and printing passport. Been since June 24.

Fingers crossed not much longer!

Oh dear, I do hope we are one of the lucky ones! We absolutely need to have new passport for our trip to Tanzania in July of 2022, as DH passport expires in November of 2022 (need 6 months after July), anywho, we sent it off, expedited the day after we returned from Egypt because next time we need it is at end of January. This is the longest time frame we have without needing his passport. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 🤞🏻

Sent my renewal application on September 27th. At that time, I think they were saying expedited service was taking 10-12 weeks and I was a bit nervous about the possibility of a government shut-down disrupting things even more. I checked my status a couple weeks ago and it was still saying up to 12 weeks. But as of the beginning of this week the status site reports 5-7 weeks for expedited service and my new passport arrived on Tuesday (Nov. 2nd)! Yay! The passport card hasn’t arrived yet, but that’s fine - the passport is the most important thing to me. I hope that time frame continues for everyone!

It’s interesting to hear the different wait times for passports. I’m actually renewing mine an entire year early because I have two tours next year and they are only four months apart. The second one would’ve required a new passport and I was concerned about the turnaround. I sent mine in the first week of September and I still do not have it. I know it’s been processed but I don’t know where in the process it is right now. Hopefully I’ll get it before my tour in April?

I just checked status today and it says I should get my passport on or around November 20. Right around 11 weeks in total.

Application for passport and passport card arrived in Philadelphia office on June 23; routine processing, no expediting. Received passport on October 8 and card on October 9. That is about 14 weeks.

My wife mailed our renewal application on 11/1. My new passport arrived today. No sign of hers yet, but we are not leaving the US for a while. We did not request the expedited processing. Go figure.

I sent my passport in for a renewal on Nov. 2nd and just received it back today on Nov. 22 so I was very surprised but happy that it was so quick.

Took me 19 weeks to get mine back---but I applied in March.

Mine began the process on Sept 28. I mailed it to Philadelphia. I received it yesterday, Nov 27. Interestingly, it was mailed back to me from Tucson, AZ. ?