I wasn't sure where to post this, but since most people fly to get overseas, I decided to put it here. As everyone knows, the Department of State had real issues with passports over the last year - 2007 has been a particularly bad year. I heard so many horror stories of people that would send a passport in for renewal, and not get it back for 6-8 months. The Dept of State has put tremendous resources in getting rid of the backlog of applicants, and having been told they had really worked it down, I sent my passport in for renewal on 3 October. I did the expedite request via mail - and I received my new passport in the mail on Friday, 12 October. A WEEK AND A HALF!!!!! How cool is that??? I do know people that sent it the regular route and it is taking awhile for that (they had no specific travel plans, so they're not worried), but it does sound like they're getting it where it needs to be. Anyway - a current "passport renewal" story..... I was told they really focused on the emergencies, and they have obviously been successful there...

same thing happened to me - sent them in, paid big $ to have them expedited and they came in 10 days. We don't leave till December, so now I'm kicking myself for paying to have them expedited...

My brother's family recently submitted new passport applications--non expedited--for their kids and got the passports back in two weeks...versus the nine weeks it took to get new pages added to mine back in March/April. Hopefully a sign that things are headed in the right direction.

It occurs to me that you may want to put a reminder in your calendar to renew your passports a year in advance, as all the new passports issued this year are all going to come due at the same time, creating another mess!

Renew it at a US Consulate during your travels. No waiting and nobody outside of you and the consular official handling your passport. Usually done on the same day or 3 days at most.

My co-worker and I had pages added to our passports at the consulate in Bern, Switzerland. It took 1 hour for both to get done. How's that for turn around time?

I've had pages added at Consulates - that's done very quickly. For renewals now, they have to send it back to the US to get it done - so 3 days is the quickest it can happen. But - I'm hearing more and more good stories, compared to all the horror stories from earlier this year.... They're expecting another big rush early next year - so if anyone is wavering - I would get it done now...

In August I sent my husband's passport in for renewal by certified mail but did not expedite it and still got it back in two weeks. We were in shock. We wondered if by sending it certified mail it accidentally got put into an expedited file.

Just sent my passport in for renewal October 5th regular mail and received it back in 13 days. Didn't receive the extra pages as requested but did receive my old passport back in a different envelope.

Glad to see that things are getting so much better. Had mine renewed about a month ago and took 3 weeks with expidited service. How much difference in just a few weeks!!