Poll: How long to get new passport (non expedited)
 

Hi everyone,
Not trying to beat a dead horse here - just looking for quick responses on when you submitted applications for new passports (not renewals) and when you actually received the passport.

I submitted applications for my newborns on 4/28/07 and am almost at 10 weeks with nothing yet.

Just curious how other people are doing and what to expect.

Here is a link to the latest that I read, hope it helps.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288048,00.html

Dear gelato lover (love your screen name), I mailed in my renewal on 3/19, they cashed my check on 4/2 and I received my passport about two weeks ago. Hopefully, you will get yours soon. I know it's nervewracking!

We submitted apps for my 2 boys on 3/19 and finally drove to Chicago on 6/7. It had been nearly 12 weeks and we had also worked with our Congresswoman's office. At the time we applied, they were saying 10 weeks max. I had heard 14-17 weeks now.
Hope this helps.
Travelatte

Thanks for the link and feedback. We are leaving mid-August, so we still have a few weeks before full-on panic sets in.

My dad sent his in at the end of March and has yet to receive his. He was originally told 10 weeks, but since then I believe the wait time has changed per the site given above.

My sister applied March 29th; 14 weeks ago today. The State Department web site "check status online" just says the passport has not been processed...no idea what that means. My sis and family are due to leave on July 30th.

Hi gelato, my daughter renewed her passport at our local PO in April of this year. The PO clerk advised her it would take at least 13 weeks to receive the renewal. So your 10 weeks without receiving the newborns passports falls in line with what my daughter was told.

Gelato-

Received my passport today and it was exactly 14 weeks. Have you been tracking it online?

I hope my husband's and mine don't get lost in some State Dept. drawer.
Today on CNN they're reporting that it takes 10 weeks to get a passport, yet they interviewed someone who applied on March 17th and still hasn't gotten his.
Ours expire in March '08 but we will need them in March before the expiration date so we applied for our renewals on June 30th.
We put date travelling as December '07 and the clerk said we'd have them by then!

Gelato-

I re-read your OP and saw that it was a new application. Ours was a renewal and received in 14 weeks. Hope you receive it in time - if not, contact your Congress person.

Regarding the link posted by AnnMarie C, I just heard from a friend who is a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department -- she was in Washington DC studying Japanese language in preparation for being posted to Tokyo in October, but now she is being sent to New Orleans or Portsmouth NH to help with the passport backlog. The State Department employees were abruptly notified of the new assignments on Tuesday night, and they will start training next week and be in place, working on the backlog, by July 16th. The Tokyo assignment will evidently be delayed until early in 2008. I feel bad for this disruption in my friend's life, (she says that Homeland Security created this mess but that State must bail them out), but hopefully the passport embargo will end soon.

I had my family of 5 apply for passports at our local library on May 14th for our trip to Italy on Aug. 10th. I was told at that time not to expedite since it was only 10 weeks. Am getting very nervous, like you, wondering if our passports will arrive on time. If you check the website, the only status is "Processing". Does anyone have any advise on what we can do in the next week or so about our passports?

travel girl 16: I had a friend in a similar situation and about 3 weeks before her trip in April, with no passport in sight, she called one of her US Senator's offices in Washington and then the passport office every day, several times a day and the passport arrived a couple of days before her trip.
I would start making calls today.
Good luck.

I spent 12 hours in San Francisco trying to get my passport renewed as I had to leave in 14 days. There were lots of people with stories. The man in front of me, had submitted his passports for renewal for his son and him in January. They checked, his was in New Hampsire, and his sons was in North Carolina.
This was in June.
They have a BIG problem, and we were advised to go to the passport office, without and appointment and wait, once you had two weeks before traveling.

Just heard a news clip on radio this afternoon. Passport offices have a three million backlog. Yes, that's what they said and why I wrote it out so no one would think my zero key repeated by accident. This is appalling! I was told that renewals took only 6 weeks or so. Still waiting for mine 3 months later. I put foreign travel plans on hold and am exploring nearer to home.

Good Luck!

I was told non-expedited four and half months.

Just a follow-up to say that my sister received her passport last week (15 weeks) and my niece got hers yesterday (16 weeks). My sister's was processed in So. Carolina and my niece's in New Hampshire. Your mileage may well vary, as both of these required intervention from their congresspersons.

Our friend sent in his renewal application March 20. The passport arrived today.

Byrd

My daughter's passport took 15 weeks. I finally couldn't stand the wait and fudged our departure date by 10 days so I could expedite and got the congresswoman's office involved as well. I got in within four days after I did that.