US Passport Renewal FYI
 

Fodor's folks have written that one's passport shouldn't expire within 3 months of one's travel. My passport expires in June 2023 so I decided to ask the p.o. person how far in advance to get it renewed for possible March or April 2023 trip. She adamantly suggested 6 months in advance. She said much is delayed.

So FYI and please confirm or clarify. Will copy this to the hints thread.

Several months ago my renewal took just 5 weeks but nothing is certain. So just do it well in advance, no reason not to.

I didn’t have a problem renewing mine but I have no plans to travel with it anytime soon. It expired at the end of January 2022 I meant to mail it in early December but waited until around the beginning of January. I got my new one about 3-4 weeks later at the first week of February so only took a month. Maybe where you need to mail it matters? Mine went to Philadelphia and I live in NJ.

I need to renew, mine expires in September this year. I have no trips planned, but always keep it current.

We renewed ours earlier this year. New passports arrived in 5 weeks.

Stu Dudley

I can't comment on the passport renewal - when I renewed 5 years ago I went in person and got it within days - but I can comment on the "Trusted Traveler" (formerly Global Entry) renewal. The website said things are backed up so badly that they were extending membership for a year. Mine expired in March and I renewed online in April just before my trip in May and I expected to wait months before receiving the new card. It was in my mail when I got home in June.

Funny thing was, upon arrival at the airport I was walking toward the Global Entry line with my expired card and an agent directed me to the diplomatic line instead. It really wasn't crowded but they were obviously moving traffic along so I didn't need the GE in any event.

I think so many people have decided they are are past due to travel that the passport office may be swamped. Some countries may not let you in if your passport is going to expire within six months. Our passports don't expire for eight months but we decided to send in our renewals now, since we don't have any current travel plans.

Thanks for GE/Trusted Traveler info, panecott. Is a follow-up interview required for renewal??
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Tdudette- When I renewed our Trusted Traveler/GE we did not have to go in. I got my card in less than two weeks and my dh’s took about four.

I have a hard time believing it takes 6 months for a renewal. I would ask the passport office in Philly. I'm sure you have plenty of time to renew for a spring trip. I think you can monitor the progress and expedite if it's taking too long.

You can pay a few dollars extra to get it expedited.

Stu Dudley

No, TDudette, no interview required. The website did not make that very clear and I was expecting to have a long wait for an interview, but, as I mentioned, the new card was waiting for me in my mail when I got home.

Thanks, panecott.

I did online renewal as part of the pilot program this morning. I registered yesterday and the renew button appeared on my account this morning. It was extremely easy and you could pay by credit card. I just did regular renewal but that can be changed if necessary. The post application submission functions include change of contact information, mailing address, speed of processing and delivery. A few minutes after I submitted my application I received an email saying a State Dept employee was reviewing it. Your current passport is immediately invalidated upon submission. They've reached the 25,000 for the pilot program but will reopen online applications next month https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...ew-online.html

I tried the online renewal pilot program but my application froze mid-way. My husband tried it as well and was able to complete the application until the very end. When he hit the "submit" button, it wouldn't submit. Hopefully, the bugs of the program will be worked out. It seems very archaic not to be able to renew online.

Last yearl, we renewed my husband and my mom's passports. They took 15 weeks (Sent in July, new passports received November)
Earlier this year, I renewed my passport. It took 4 weeks (Sent early march, received early April)
This summer we are renewing my son's passport. We sent in late June, we are still waiting for the new passport to arrive.

We also had to renew Global Entry card for my son. It was super quick, renewal application accepted online immediately, and we received the new card within one week.

Speaking of the devil, my son's passport arrived today. It took 7 weeks (regular service).

Thanks for all the experiences. kwren also started a Trusted Traveler thread. Sharing info helps us all! 😇