Renewing Passports

[Ky Bill]

We were on an Explorer of the Seas cruise which ended on March 6, 2022.  My passport expired on March 12th and Kathy's was still in her previous name.  I thought it was time to renew my passport and to get Kathy's in the right name.  The government website lists 8-11 weeks for new passports to be issued and received.  For 60 dollars you can get expedited service which lists 5-7 weeks which we chose not to use..  I got the needed forms and supporting documents together and mailed them to Philadelphia on March 22, 2022.  In about 10 days our passports showed up on the government website as received and being processed.  Today, April 8th, 2022 both of our new ports arrived by mail at our home.    A note included with the passports explained that my passport card would be sent in a separate package and our supporting documents would be returned in yet another package.  I don't know if this is a slow time, we just hit at a good time, we were just lucky or if this is the regular return time.  What ever the reason we are very impressed by the good service.

Bill

[CatLadyFemme]

Good to know! I am on a Royal cruise in August and my first Carnival Cruise in December, so it looks like I can hopefully thread the needle without being expedited.

[lovelife]

Thanks for the info. Hope we are as lucky!

[rudeney]

That is very good news!  Our passports expired a couple of years ago, and I heard that during the COVID shutdowns, it was taking ridiculous amounts of time to get them renewed.  With no need for them, I put it off.  Now with a cruise booked for October, we need them, so I sent them off March 29th.  We have plenty of time, but it would be nice to get them back soon and check that off the list!  

[Bound4Bermuda]

Thank you! This is very reassuring! I was worried when I saw the turnaround time starts when they open your paperwork—not when they received it. Started mine 3/18 and my daughter’s on 3/23, so it sounds like I’m in the same batch as yours. They showed up as in progress on 4/1 and 4/4 and still have that status. But I’ll be checking my mailbox!

[ditmar2007]

11 hours ago, Ky Bill said:

The government website lists 8-11 weeks for new passports to be issued and received.

Holy Moses!!! Here it takes 8-11 DAYS. But your have to pick them up yourself. They are not sent

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by ditmar2007

[brillohead]

I wish the USA would allow you to renew early without losing the remaining time on your passport.  Trying to figure out the strategy of when you can be without your passport in between cruises is a PITA!

[molly361]

14 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I wish the USA would allow you to renew early without losing the remaining time on your passport.  Trying to figure out the strategy of when you can be without your passport in between cruises is a PITA!

I hear ya.  Mine expires in September and I have a cruise just about every month.  I should just go ahead and send it in and use my birth cert and DL but I keep putting it off for some reason.  I even have the form filled out 

Edited April 9, 2022 by molly361

[jeh10641]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

I wish the USA would allow you to renew early without losing the remaining time on your passport.  Trying to figure out the strategy of when you can be without your passport in between cruises is a PITA!

Amen, Brillowhead.

[jeh10641]

49 minutes ago, molly361 said:

I hear ya.  Mine expires in September and I have a cruise just about every month.  I should just go ahead and send it in and use my birth cert and DL but I keep putting it off for some reason.  I even have the form filled out 

As Nike used to say, "Just do it!" or you might be sorry later.

[Kelli0927]

I did not pay for expedited service and received ours within 4 weeks. This was last month. 

[jean87510]

Husbands is up next year and we have cruises and trips scheduled from October on.  Since in the US you can do it 9 months prior to expiration date, his work will do it in August/September.  It is definitely a PIA to try to schedule it though.  I have horror stories as I guess we all do of people who don't check their passport expiration dates.

[rudeney]

I sent our passports off for standard processing renewal via Priority Mail on Monday, March 28th.  They were received by The State Department in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 31st.  My check was electronically processed on Tuesday April 5th.  They were mailed back to me today, scheduled for arrival by Saturday, April 16th, according to USPS tracking.  

 

My renewal took less than three weeks, including mail time (YMMV)!  BTW, I registered to get updates via email, but received nothing.  I only know they are on the way because I happened to check the website this evening (https://passportstatus.state.gov/)

Edited April 14, 2022 by rudeney

[BirdTravels]

On 4/8/2022 at 10:21 PM, rudeney said:

That is very good news!  Our passports expired a couple of years ago, and I heard that during the COVID shutdowns, it was taking ridiculous amounts of time to get them renewed.  With no need for them, I put it off.  Now with a cruise booked for October, we need them, so I sent them off March 29th.  We have plenty of time, but it would be nice to get them back soon and check that off the list!  

During the COVID shutdown, the passport office shutdown. It's not the kind of work you can do over the internet from home. That resulted in millions of passports being backed up. 

[rudeney]

I don't doubt that during the pandemic lockdowns, things came to a halt.  But as of a few weeks ago, they still had their "Because...COVID" disclaimer that processing time would take between 8 and 12 weeks.  I don't see that on the website now, and they seem to insinuate that 4 weeks is the turnaround time (based on telling Canadian residents to go in person if traveling within 4 weeks).  I'm glad they now able to turn around passports much quickly as travel seems to really be making a comeback. 

[Biker19]

18 minutes ago, rudeney said:

I'm glad they are now able to turn around passports much more quickly as travel seems to really be making a comeback. 

The official return to "Full function" at the State Department is April 25.

[Lane Hog]

True, however I don't think that the processing centers in Irving TX or New Hampshire ever fully closed down.  TX was one of the first states to reopen for business since last summer. 

[KB Cruisin]

When we got two new passports in March, the agent in Texas told us that, even with expedited, it would take 11 weeks and he did not know if we would make our cruise.  He even offered not to finish the application for us.  We went ahead, paid expedited, and got both passports (one from Utah and one from Texas) start to receipt in 2.5 and 3 weeks.  Just sharing in case someone else is told something similar.  

[celoplyr]

I received mine 8 weeks from the time I mailed it in, to the time I got it (early Feb to early April).  It can be a crap shoot.  I had sent a form in, but they didn't think they had it and requested it again.  That probably accounted for 2 weeks of the delay.

[Trailcon]

 

 

 

 

DW and I sent our renewals the first week in Feb.  She received hers the 1st week in March and I received mine approximately a week later.  BTW we did not pay for expedited service.

[Bound4Bermuda]

On 4/9/2022 at 8:11 AM, Bound4Bermuda said:

Thank you! This is very reassuring! I was worried when I saw the turnaround time starts when they open your paperwork—not when they received it. Started mine 3/18 and my daughter’s on 3/23, so it sounds like I’m in the same batch as yours. They showed up as in progress on 4/1 and 4/4 and still have that status. But I’ll be checking my mailbox!

Quoting myself to say that my daughter’s arrived on 4/16 and mine just shipped due to arrive 4/28, so pretty impressive turnaround times for standard processing!

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, Bound4Bermuda said:

Quoting myself to say that my daughter’s arrived on 4/16 and mine just shipped due to arrive 4/28, so pretty impressive turnaround times for standard processing!

That's very encouraging -- thank you for reporting back!