Apply six months in advance.
For more than a year, travelers have faced snags at every turn. Flight disruptions, lost baggage, rising prices, and a lack of rental vehicles—anxiety has permeated all parts of travel planning and vacationing. But Americans are undeterred. This summer is expected to break all records with revenge travel in full swing. The Transportation Security Administration has already seen passenger numbers return, and in some cases beat, those in 2019.
But there’s one more thing that may act as a speedbump: passport processing times.
It’s the peak of summer right now and passport processing is still taking 10-13 weeks, excluding the two weeks of mailing your documents and two weeks of passport in transit. In all, expect to wait up to 17 weeks to get your passport. Even if you pay $60 for expedited processing, it will still take nine weeks plus mailing time. Before the pandemic, the wait time was six to eight weeks for routine processing and two to three weeks for expedited applications.
This has been the case since early this year, but here’s the bad news part: the months-long waiting time is unlikely to reduce in 2023. The State Department is short-staffed since the pandemic and it’s inundated by applications—400,000-500,000 every week. The department issued 22 million passports in 2022 and it’s on track to exceed that number this year.
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The internet is filled with horror stories of nervous fliers biting their nails before their trip, or those who have lost thousands of dollars even after applying well ahead of time. The best you can do this year is book refundable tickets and buy travel insurance, so you’re not ensnared by this bureaucratic logjam or running in this race against time.
Helpful Tips
Apply ASAP: Apply for your passport six months in advance from your date of travel. If you don’t have the document in hand for your trip this year, you might already be too late. You can renew your passport by mail and skip the in-person visit to an acceptance facility. One caveat: childrens’ passports can’t be renewed by mail. They are only issued for five years and you may want to take that into account when planning your trip.
You can upgrade your application from routine to expedited after submission for $60 and get one to two day delivery for $19.53. Call the National Passport Information Center to make the change.
If you paid the fees and didn’t get your passport within the stipulated time, you can ask for a refund for the fees.
If you don’t receive your passport within five days of your international trip, dial the same number to make an appointment.
Emergency Situations: If you are traveling within 14 calendar days, you can use the urgent travel service to get your passport faster. If there is a life-and-death emergency that requires you to travel within three business days, you may be able to get ahead in the queue. Call 1-877-487-2778 to make appointments in both these situations, but remember that even on the phone the wait can be very long.
Recheck Requirements: When applying or renewing, confirm that you have all necessary documents and the photographs meet the specifications detailed by the department. Missing documents or the wrong passport photos may result in your application being put on hold until the department contacts you to fix the error.
Find a Local Fair: The State Department is hosting special passport acceptance fairs at post offices, libraries, and government offices for first-timers and children. You can bring all your documents and submit them in-person at these local events in your city. Some require appointments while other venues don’t. These are for standard and expedited passport applications—urgent passport applicants need to make an appointment with the agency, and renewals are processed by mail.
There are a host of them happening in July and August; more will be added every week.
Related: Is Your Passport About to Expire? These Countries Don’t Have the 6-Month Validity Rule