The long waiting, and the limited test, of online U.S. passport renewal is over and the system is now available to anyone holding a valid or recently-expired U.S. passport.
The system had its official start last Wednesday after a several-month test in which a limited number of slots opened at 1 p.m. each day, allowing the system to be fine-tuned. Over 200,000 people have already used the system, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verna told a travel forum that “We think in the not too distant future, nearly 50% of passport renewals will be done online.”
Despite that thought, the department still intends to open ‘dozens’ of new passport offices around the country to meet growing demand; U.S. travel to other countries has grown as much as 15% a year in post-pandemic times.
While passport processing times stretched out to months during the height of the pandemic, in recent months they have returned to ‘normal’ standards of six to eight weeks, and two to three weeks for ‘expedited’ processing which carries an additional fee. State Department officials say online applications won’t move faster; they’ll just be easier.
The system is set up only for renewals; the passport being renewed must either be valid or expired for less than five years, and the application must be made from within the U.S. The online application process can be accessed from the State Department’s renewal website.
