got our passport renwals in the mail today; really good turn around time

[ontheweb]

I sent them on 1/31 and they came in the mail today 3/1.

 

They are valid from 2/26, so the mail took 3 days. I sent them on a Thursday, so they probably took 4 days to reach the Passport Office. So one week of the turnaround time was caused by the mail.

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

 

[MicCanberra]

Am I missing something here? 31 January until 1 March, 30 days doesn't seem that great.

[AF-1]

30 days with paying for rush service is not too bad.  I sent mine in for renewal on Monday 25 Feb.  I sent it from Cincinnati to Philadelphia.  It was delivered yesterday 1 Mar.  I will get back to you when I receive my renewal at my house.  

Edited March 2, 2019 by AF-1

[lenquixote66]

I sent mine from NY to Texas on Jan.8!it was returned stating my picture that I sent was the right size.The picture was   taken at an official photo office.

On Feb.12 I went to the office of our town Mayor and he said there was nothing wrong with the picture . He himself took a new photo of me with a note stating he did so which I sent back to Texas on 2/12. It was received 2/14,I sent it by Priority mail.I am still waiting.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Am I missing something here? 31 January until 1 March, 30 days doesn't seem that great.

It's actually 29 days as it was sent on a Thursday and received on a Friday 4 weeks later. And I figure one week of that was for the mail each way. It was sent back priority mail, but that seemed to take 3 days.

 

We did not pay for expedited service. Given that I thought it was pretty reasonable. I wonder if a lot of people did what we did, wait for the government shutdown to end before sending the request. I know there were assurances that passports were not affected by the shutdown, but still it made you wonder.

 

There is a note that your proof will come back separately. I'm sure this is important if you are first applying and sending an original birth certificate, but as a renewal we sent our past soon to expire passports. Do they sent them back? I cannot remember if they did 10 years ago when renewing, though I think they did not.

[MicCanberra]

Okay, I just thought one month was not that great, here we usually have it back in a week or so.

[GlitzyTwinie]

18 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

 

 

There is a note that your proof will come back separately. I'm sure this is important if you are first applying and sending an original birth certificate, but as a renewal we sent our past soon to expire passports. Do they sent them back? I cannot remember if they did 10 years ago when renewing, though I think they did not.

 Yes, they send back your expired passport with holes showing it's been replaced. 

 

Just renewed mine and it took the four week turn around time and about a week after I got my new passport, my expired one came in the mail. 

[ontheweb]

6 minutes ago, GlitzyTwinie said:

 Yes, they send back your expired passport with holes showing it's been replaced. 

 

Just renewed mine and it took the four week turn around time and about a week after I got my new passport, my expired one came in the mail. 

 

Thanks for the quick reply to my question.

 

And our renewal took 4 weeks and a day, so about 4 weeks sounds like the present turnaround time.

[MicCanberra]

If 4 weeks is better than the usual turnaround then good work of the public servants.

[ontheweb]

It looks like approximately 4 weeks is the turnaround time without paying extra for expedited service. This should be good information for anyone having to decide whether they need to pay extra to expedite. (Note this statement is of course only valid for US passports.)

[txflood33]

On a similar note...Global Entry applications seem to be greatly delayed. CBP has a big red banner on their site saying there are big delays due to the partial gov't shutdown. I am only trying to renew and it's been 4 weeks with no interview set up...interviews are random on renewals and I got picked so I have to wait until I get approved to set up an interview time/day.

 

If you need to get/renew this for an upcoming trip I would get this process going.

[capriccio]

Anyone renewing a passport should consult https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/processing-times.html before submission to get an idea of how long the process will take (it can vary depending on the demand).  Right now a routine renewal is listed as 4 - 6 weeks and an expedited renewal as 2 - 3 weeks.  Those both include mailing times.

[AF-1]

1 hour ago, txflood33 said:

On a similar note...Global Entry applications seem to be greatly delayed. CBP has a big red banner on their site saying there are big delays due to the partial gov't shutdown. I am only trying to renew and it's been 4 weeks with no interview set up...interviews are random on renewals and I got picked so I have to wait until I get approved to set up an interview time/day.

 

If you need to get/renew this for an upcoming trip I would get this process going.

I have global entry and just renewed it last fall.  I did everything online;  I don't know why you would have to go for an interview if you are just renewing your current one

[txflood33]

1 minute ago, AF-1 said:

I have global entry and just renewed it last fall.  I did everything online;  I don't know why you would have to go for an interview if you are just renewing your current one

 

was hoping to do all of mine online as well. The website says as you are going through the renewal that re-interviews are random. It could be something minimal...my home address and place of employment changed in that 5 year time frame. I also visited some countries that may be scrutinized more closely now...Turkey. That being said, I'm 4 weeks into the online renewal still sitting waiting to see when my application will be approved to set up an interview.

[AF-1]

1 minute ago, txflood33 said:

 

was hoping to do all of mine online as well. The website says as you are going through the renewal that re-interviews are random. It could be something minimal...my home address and place of employment changed in that 5 year time frame. I also visited some countries that may be scrutinized more closely now...Turkey. That being said, I'm 4 weeks into the online renewal still sitting waiting to see when my application will be approved to set up an interview.

Wow I travel inter'l every month.  I've been to a lot of third world countries, and Israel which is security plus.  Anyway, sorry you have to go for another interview.  I got mine renewed in a few weeks. All online with no issue; so I am good for another five years. Oct 2023

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, capriccio said:

Anyone renewing a passport should consult https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/processing-times.html before submission to get an idea of how long the process will take (it can vary depending on the demand).  Right now a routine renewal is listed as 4 - 6 weeks and an expedited renewal as 2 - 3 weeks.  Those both include mailing times.

I probably should have said decent time instead of really good time in my header for the original post in this thread. However if the time is supposed to be 4-6 weeks including mailing, 4 weeks + 1 day was pretty good for us.

[capriccio]

Just now, ontheweb said:

I probably should have said decent time instead of really good time in my header for the original post in this thread. However if the time is supposed to be 4-6 weeks including mailing, 4 weeks + 1 day was pretty good for us.

I agree!  The folks that are unpleasantly surprised about how long it takes, probably haven't checked out the website first.

[ontheweb]

18 minutes ago, capriccio said:

I agree!  The folks that are unpleasantly surprised about how long it takes, probably haven't checked out the website first.

The funny thing is I was just beginning to think maybe I should check the website or call to see where are applications were in the process. And then I checked our mailbox, and there were 2 priority mails from the US Postal Service. I was happy to see that both our applications were accepted. 

[Hootss]

Sent mine in late December and just got back a few days ago.  Two months isn't so bad for government work.