US Passport Renewal Experience

[PasadenaDave]

Seldom does one hear about exceptional service from a governmental agency, this is one.

 

I realized that my passport expires in January 2025 and given a trip set for October, I figured that it would be best to do it now instead of waiting until November which would impact flight bookings for April.  Yes, there is a beta test of remote passport renewal and I checked a few days but tired of having to figure it out.

 

July 2 I mailed the application from California to the passport facility in Philadelphia with the postal service estimating arrival on Monday July 8.  I paid $60 extra for expedited handling which is 2-3 week turnaround.  In my mind I thought August 1 I would received my new passport.  It arrived July 20!

 

18 days roundtrip, but what is impressive is that if I don't count the date received or shipped by the passport office as nothing would have occurred on either day due to office distribution, The handling time at the passport office for full processing was 7 business days.

 

I hope that you have similar great service.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

52 minutes ago, PasadenaDave said:

Seldom does one hear about exceptional service from a governmental agency, this is one.

 

I realized that my passport expires in January 2025 and given a trip set for October, I figured that it would be best to do it now instead of waiting until November which would impact flight bookings for April.  Yes, there is a beta test of remote passport renewal and I checked a few days but tired of having to figure it out.

 

July 2 I mailed the application from California to the passport facility in Philadelphia with the postal service estimating arrival on Monday July 8.  I paid $60 extra for expedited handling which is 2-3 week turnaround.  In my mind I thought August 1 I would received my new passport.  It arrived July 20!

 

18 days roundtrip, but what is impressive is that if I don't count the date received or shipped by the passport office as nothing would have occurred on either day due to office distribution, The handling time at the passport office for full processing was 7 business days.

 

I hope that you have similar great service.

 

 

I renewed last November right after we returned from our expedition cruise and had a similar experience. 

[May B]

I renewed in January and had a similar experience.

 

Nice thread, Pasadena Dave.

[philw1776]

Riddle me this Batpersons,

How soon can I send in for renewal a passport before expiration date?

[OneSixtyToOne]

6 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

Riddle me this Batpersons,

How soon can I send in for renewal a passport before expiration date?

I don’t believe it matters. They want you on the newest passport because of enhanced security features.
 

Mine was over a year to go but I wanted a new one in plenty of time to book a new cruise that would be in the 6 month expiration window.

Edited July 21 by OneSixtyToOne

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, philw1776 said:

Riddle me this Batpersons,

How soon can I send in for renewal a passport before expiration date?

 

At any time you wish.  I've had multiple passports renewed years before expiration -- all due to lack of unused visa pages.  Most recent one was only used for six years, the one before for five.  And since you can no longer get pages added after the fact, I highly recommend everyone get the book with the max pages, just to be on the safe side.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

I realized that my passport expires in January 2025 and given a trip set for October, I figured that it would be best to do it now instead of waiting until November which would impact flight bookings for April.

 

It should not impact any flight bookings.  Just buy your ticket using your existing passport information and then change it after you get your new documents.  No big deal -- just needs to be accurately filled out in the week before your flight.

 

You were concerned over nothing.

 

 

Edited July 21 by FlyerTalker

[SantaFe1]

We also need to renew soon, so very glad to hear about all these excellent experiences. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

21 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

We also need to renew soon, so very glad to hear about all these excellent experiences. 

On the State Department website you enter your information and it fills out the renewal form. Print it, sign and attach your photo, write a check, and take it to the Post Office with your old passport. You can’t just put it in an envelope. They want a post office mailer. Make sure you go to the real State Department website. Lots of companies offering renewals for a fee. Don’t need to deal with them.

Edited July 21 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mich3554]

9 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Riddle me this Batpersons,

How soon can I send in for renewal a passport before expiration date?

I had 3 years on my passport and had to renew as I had few pages left and we were booked on a world cruise.  It expired 1/25, I renewed it 2/22.  No problem.
 

[FlyerTalker]

13 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

On the State Department website you enter your information and it fills out the renewal form. Print it, sign and attach your photo, write a check, and take it to the Post Office with your old passport. You can’t just put it in an envelope.

 

Sure you can.  I used priority mail to speed up the mailing process, but you don't have to involve anyone else.  And if you are not in a rush, regular mail will work. 

 

14 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

They want a post office mailer.

 

No...they want you to mail it to their POST OFFICE BOX.  Which you can't do with UPS or FedEx. They don't care about how you send it the PO box.

 

14 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Make sure you go to the real State Department website. Lots of companies offering renewals for a fee. Don’t need to deal with them.

 

True.  The "services" just remail your documents.  Now, for foreign visas, that can be a different story, depending on the country involved.  Many formerly "difficult" visas are now easily done online, such as India.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

53 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Sure you can.  I used priority mail to speed up the mailing process, but you don't have to involve anyone else.  And if you are not in a rush, regular mail will work. 

I meant you can’t use a regular business envelope. They want the form to be sent unfolded so the priority mailer at the post office works best. 

[PasadenaDave]

53 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I meant you can’t use a regular business envelope. They want the form to be sent unfolded so the priority mailer at the post office works best. 

I guess I messed up as I used a 5 X 7 envelope via USPS

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I meant you can’t use a regular business envelope. They want the form to be sent unfolded so the priority mailer at the post office works best. 

 

I challenge you to show me where that's anywhere on the state department website for passport renewals.  You just need to use mail to their PO box.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

25 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

I challenge you to show me where that's anywhere on the state department website for passport renewals.  You just need to use mail to their PO box.

 

 

From the USPS instructions:

Choose your envelope.

• Use an envelope large enough to fit the application without folding it.

 

https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm#renewbymail

[WanderingBrit]

Great to hear of your positive experience - my last renewal took 18 days expedited.

 

When I recently renewed my UK passport it was back in Illinois in 11 days! 

[FlyerTalker]

39 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

From the USPS instructions:

Choose your envelope.

• Use an envelope large enough to fit the application without folding it.

 

https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm#renewbymail

 

Interesting that the state department doesn't seem to care.  And the USPS doesn't process applications.

 

 

[gingerspike]

In May, I folded the form and put it in a regular envelope with my husbands passport. He mailed that envelope in a USPS Priority mailer.

 

My note to myself says we started renewal on May 28. It only took a couple of days from mailing to arrival at the passport processing center. His passport issue date is June 4th and we received it on June 7th. It only took 10 days to turn it around and we did not choose expedited processing. I was amazed.

 

 

[jsiegel]

I renewed online on July 15.  They started processing it on July 18th.  I just checked https://informeddelivery.usps.com/ and my new passport is on its way.  It's coming from Puerto Rico.  I didn't ask for expedited.  I'm impressed with the turn-around time.  I'll soon be able to fill out my guest information for my upcoming cruise so that the info is there for Viking to book my air travel.   I'll update when I have the new passport in hand.

 

Jackie

[Flgreg]

I sent mine in Priority Mail (about $10.00) at a Post Office open on a Saturday. I also paid about $20.00 for 1-2 day return shipping. New Passport received in 2.5 weeks, old one received just about a week later. The renewal application was sent to the processing center in Texas.

 

[jsiegel]

My husband just received his new passport today, July 25.  We both applied online on July 15.  Mine is still in the mail, due to arrive this Saturday on the 27th.  I'm impressed with how quickly we received them.

 

Jackie

[jsiegel]

I had assumed that the online Passport renewal option was only "open" Monday through Friday.  My brother-in-law was able to apply on a Sunday.

 

Jackie

[mjldvlks]

Just received renewed passports today Aug 22. 
 

Submitted applications for myself and my wife in the same envelope via priority mail on July 27 (a Saturday). We did not request/pay for expedited handling.
 

I used a standard envelope large enough to hold everything without folding. The attendant at the post office recognized the address (we are required to submit to Philadelphia) and said I should use priority mail. He said I could save about $2 if I used a USPS mailer. Rather than unpack my store bought envelope and repack/readdress another mailer, I opted to stick with my envelope.

 

My check cleared July 30. 
 

I checked the status a couple of times and it said “in process.”  I signed up for email updates and never received one. 
 

Issue date was Aug 20, exactly 3 weeks after my check cleared. 
 

Bottom line, 27 days from placing application in mail to new passports in hand. 

[2blueyam]

Along a similar topic, I applied to renew my Global Entry on Tuesday. It was approved on Wednesday, and the card arrived Friday. You can't get much faster than that. Also, the new global entry facial recognition is great. We never even stopped walking.

[odblnt]

1 hour ago, mjldvlks said:

Just received renewed passports today Aug 22. 
 

Submitted applications for myself and my wife in the same envelope via priority mail on July 27 (a Saturday). We did not request/pay for expedited handling.
 

I used a standard envelope large enough to hold everything without folding. The attendant at the post office recognized the address (we are required to submit to Philadelphia) and said I should use priority mail. He said I could save about $2 if I used a USPS mailer. Rather than unpack my store bought envelope and repack/readdress another mailer, I opted to stick with my envelope.

 

My check cleared July 30. 
 

I checked the status a couple of times and it said “in process.”  I signed up for email updates and never received one. 
 

Issue date was Aug 20, exactly 3 weeks after my check cleared. 
 

Bottom line, 27 days from placing application in mail to new passports in hand. 

Very nice.

 

Our experience with mailing envelopes was about the opposite of yours. Like you, we sent my wife's picture, application, check and old passport in a large regular envelope. We ended up getting back a mangled application from the passport agency saying that that was all they received (no picture, check or old passport). Shortly thereafter we got the check in a regular envelope from the airport postal center here in Honolulu. When I went down to inquire/complain, they said that the post office part was separate from the processing part (and they wouldn't let me talk to that area), however they said that I really should have used that priority envelope since there was a machine back in the processing area that had been known to regularly mangle regular large envelopes. 😞

We never did find the pictures or old passport, but the passport agency did give us a different address to mail everything (application, pictures, check) back to them and once we did the process was quick.