State Department Facing Unprecedented Demand for US Passports
Planning to travel abroad this year? If so, then you should apply for a US passports as soon as possible.
In 2022, the State Department issued a record 22 million passports, and 2023 will be even busier. The information comes from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who appeared Thursday at a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing.
The U.S. State Department is receiving half a million passport applications a week, Blinken said. That’s an increase of 30 to 40% compared to last year.
Standard processing times for a passport are now at about 10-13 weeks. If you pay for an expedited process, you will still need to wait seven to nine weeks. And that doesn’t include mailing time, which can add up to four weeks both ways.
“Processing times fluctuate throughout the year depending on demand and we anticipate that they will rise, especially as we approach the busier travel season,” the State Department said in a press release.
Americans who already have a passport soon will be able to renew it online. The department halted a pilot program “to make sure that we can fine-tune it and improve it before we roll it out in a bigger way,” Blinken said, but “65% of renewal customers for passports will be able to do so online, once this program is fully up and running.”
If you are waiting for your passport, the department says that you should check the status of your passport application here and sign up for updates via email.
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My brother is trying to get his passport renewed for a trip next month but can’t get through to the reservations department. Despite calling probably a hundred times at various hours and days of the week he hasn’t been able to reach a human being to make an appointment.