Passport renewal w/expedited service...how long?
 

Does anyone have a guesstimate on how long it is currently taking for a passport renewal with expedited service?

It takes about 2-3 weeks. See http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...first_831.html for more info.

Yes, that's what it says....but we all know there have been major delays.

I renewed one in February with expedited service and it took about 2 weeks.

I just want to add that I had also renewed through regular service last fall (for myself and son, my daughter we expedited in Feb) and it took less than 6 weeks.

We expedited my sons new passports very end of May (in fact the Sat of Memorial Day weekend) and it took only 1-1/2 weeks!

Thanks. That makes me feel better.

We had requested expedited service on June 1, but still haven't received our daughter's passports. DH finally called this morning and was told we should hopefully get it by the end of the week. The problem I think was that we put our real date of travel, which was Aug 1. On the phone, DH fudged and said it was earlier, since I'm in no mood to go into panic right before we leave.

7-10 days on expedited service--I sent 1 renewal in march and 1 at the end of June--both took the same amount of time.

You have to read the fine print and fed-ex your renewal and *include* a pre-paid return fed-ex envelope for them to send the new passport as well as pay the additional expediting fee. It will take longer if you do not include the pre-paid return fed-ex envelope.

I renewed my passport in the begining of June with the expedited service and then but they had no record of it so I sent another one once again expedited a few weeks later, still no record of it so I'm going into NYC to get it and I'm leaving for vacation in 12 days!

monica007, I think for some reason the minor's passports are taking longer. I'm on week 15 for mine.

karamanthis- When you say "they had no record of it" do you mean that they lost your passport you sent for renewal? How could you resend?

sorry i meant the application for renewing it

good news, i got my passport after waiting only 6 hours at the passport place in nyc!

Fudging the date of travel worked! We got the kid's passports today! (after 6 weeks, using expedited processing). Interestingly enough, I saw a tab on the State Department's web site about requesting refunds of expedited fees. Ya think?

Let me put it this way, I just called my parents for an update on their situation. My mother WORKS FOR A CONGRESSMAN and as we speak, she & my father have been in & out of the regional passport office of D.C. all day. There are even uniformed military personnel waiting in lines of 200+ people who have been there since 6AM.

My parents expedited their passports in early May. Their flight to see me in Ireland is on Tuesday. Even with the back-office numbers that my mom has access to, and all the promises that it would be "processed and fed-exed", she finally had to surrender to the idiocy and insist on an appt today.

They'll leave with passports in hand by tonight (since the passport office is open until 11PM), but they've been there since 9AM. It's really unbelievable.

I could go on but I won't. My advice: Once you hit the 3-week mark before your travel deadline, contact your congressman and be an advocate for your situation.

Or maybe you'll get lucky as some others have, who knows!

jumper 22,

The situation is outrageous! We seem like a 3rd world country! I have been waiting 16+ weeks and involved my congressman a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately , I had not requested expedited service, but supposedly we didn't need it ( we were told 6-8 weeks!). On Wed. his office called to say my daughter's passport was mailed and I should get it by Saturday (tomorrow). We'll see.

I have read stories of people with infants made to stand in line for hours!

Regarding the expedited passports now, I have read that they are back to 2-3 weeks.

There was a segment on TV the other night, might have been CNN or a network, don't remember which, addressing the problems with passport applications taking up to 4 months to process because of staffing problems. Apparently those in charge are swamped with complaints because of a huge increase in applications. The amount of passport applications is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years so it's only going to get worse.

I have heard a wide range of time estimates and actual experiences using the “standard” passport renewal with expedited service (4-12 weeks). I would not take a chance on it being very quick these days. There are services that will get it truly expedited if you are willing to pay additional fees.

We had a situation several months ago just after the new rules went into effect. We found out my wife's passport was expired 2 days before a Caribbean trip (in the past a license would do). Okay, it was stupid not to check them ahead of time, but the trip was planned in a hurry and it just slipped our minds.

We were able to get the passport in those two days picking it up at the airport an hour before we left. I hate to say how much that cost. A friend of mine was able to get her passport renewed in 10 days through a service for a more reasonable fee. These services have slots in the daily passport offices and have their staff represent you. Of course if you have Congressional connections like Jumper22 that’s even better!