Yes, there are expedite services. But there's only one guaranteed route to skip the line.
The rumors are true—renewing your passport is a lengthy, unpredictable process that has the potential to sideline your international mobility for an unspecified amount of time. And since the passport office communicates exclusively through letters delivered by the postal service, waiting for updates can be a daily exercise in patience.
According to the U.S. Department of State, as of October 2023, processing times for routine passport applications are now 8-11 weeks, while expedited applications can be expected to take up to 5-7 weeks. Post-pandemic staffing shortages and limited online processing are the culprits for these significant delays, as the passport office is not adequately resourced to field the massive influx of applications. Record numbers of Americans are now applying for a passport, and the number of passports issued in 2023 has nearly doubled over the past ten years.
There are several valid reasons to need a new passport—the book has been lost or stolen, it is expiring within the next six months, there are no more blank pages, or the passport contains an error or requires a name change.
So, what can you do if time is of the essence?
Some people attempt to circumvent these delays by hiring a passport expeditor service. This is a private company that promises to deliver a new passport within days. However, the costs for this service are prohibitive, coming in upwards of $1,000 depending on how fast the desired turnaround is. Using an expeditor also comes with risks—they are not always able to deliver on their promises (though many will offer a partial or full refund if they don’t deliver), plus it is necessary to hand over all of your sensitive personal information to a private company. These companies are not connected to the government in any way, as much as their American flag and bald eagle logos attempt to convey.
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Unfortunately, the only genuinely legitimate and guaranteed way to renew your passport is straight from the U.S. State Department.
So, How Do You Expedite Passport Renewal?
To jump the line and get renewed ahead of everyone, the non-negotiable requirement is that you must have international travel scheduled in the next 14 calendar days and can prove it with a document, usually a copy of the flight itinerary issued by the airline.
In addition to impending travel, your geography determines whether this renewal method will work for you. This expedited renewal process requires an in-person visit to a passport agency, of which there are only 26 in the entire country. It also includes spending an unspecified number of hours waiting in the usual government-sanctioned fluorescent purgatory, meekly shuffling from one bored clerk to another, hoping they don’t find any snags in your application.
You must have an appointment before even thinking about heading to the passport office, and the only way to make an appointment is by calling 1-877-487-2778. You can call to schedule the appointment before the timer has started on those crucial last two weeks, but the appointment date itself has to be within two weeks of the upcoming travel.
The documents you must bring to the appointment are the same as the mail-in application but with one more key item—a printed copy of your proof of travel. If you do not have this proof in hard copy form, you won’t even get past the first window. It is a good idea to double-check that you have all the required documentation before your appointment, as some circumstances require additional paperwork.
Regarding the costs, an expedited service charge of $60 is added on top of the usual passport renewal fee and is a reasonable price for potentially salvaging your entire trip. Check which payment methods the passport office accepts as you may have to bring a check with you, and then you will need to spend time before the appointment locating a paper check. You can calculate your total costs with the handy Fee Calculator to know exactly how much you’ll be paying.
Due to the inconvenience of this process, there are a few things worth considering to ensure you get it right. In the past, there had been an option to purchase additional pages to add to the passport if necessary. The page insert is no longer available; therefore a lack of blank pages now requires going through the entire renewal process again. The good news is that on the passport application, you can select to receive either a 25-page book or a 50-page book, and the price is the same for both. Some visas require one blank page, so it could be worth upgrading to the beefier model if you travel with any frequency. In addition to the passport, you can also purchase a passport card. This card is not valid for international air travel but can be used at land and sea crossings in specific countries. If you do not often find yourself in boats crossing the seas, the advantage of having the card is that it can be used for domestic air travel or can act as a backup ID card in case you lose your other one.
Unfortunately, this strategy of last-minute renewal is not a fool-proof tactic. There is no guarantee that an appointment will be available, and you could spend many hours holding on the phone for a representative to tell you that. By that time, you will already be two weeks out from your trip, and renewing through the mail would no longer be possible. It would not be wise to rely on this option as your primary renewal method, but it could be the last-ditch effort that keeps your travel plans on track.
My passport expired during the pandemic. I filled out the application in December 2023 to receive a new one. My new passport was delivered within 12 days. The long waits are over.