Why You Need To Renew Your Passport Now

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

The State Department is trying to avoid a rerun of the backlog it experienced a decade ago while trying to process millions of passports. (AP)

Procrastinating about renewing that passport?
Well, the State Department says you should do it now—and they mean ASAP.

That’s because the agency is expecting an epic amount of renewal requests due to millions of passports set to expire, according to The New York Times.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was a law passed requiring U.S. citizens to have a passport in order to travel to all countries, including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Soon those passports will no longer be valid.

The State Department is trying to avoid a rerun of the backlog it experienced while trying to process all the passports a decade ago.


In addition, travelers with state driver's licenses that do not meet REAL ID requirements are contributing to an increase in applications — even though airports will continue to accept those state IDs until 2018.

The agency says it’s looking at about 47 million passports set to expire this year alone.

Beth Finan, a press officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, told USA Today that the department is expecting “record breaking demand” for passports through 2018.

“Right now, it will take roughly six weeks for a passport renewal, which is two weeks longer than the process took last year. You can also request an expedited passport, which will take three weeks to process and cost an extra $60 on top of the standard $110 renewal fee.”

According to The Washington Post, they’ve added more employees since last year to handle the influx.

But if you’re planning a trip overseas in the next six months, don’t wait.

 

[CAustin]

Good advice to everyone.....don't wait! Allow yourself six months and you should be fine!

 

[BRICKBURN]

A warning to be heeded!

 

[James.Grage]

My Passport is good for another 4 years.

I am thinking, that I will renew my Passport 3 year from now.

 

[Therack]

I just got my renewal back in less than 6 weeks

 

[sierraone]

If you cross borders on a regular basis, such as once or twice a month, regardless of the reason why, you should ordered the extra pages also. Up until 2015, if you ran out of pages on a passport that still had several years left, you could either send it the passport office in the U.S. to have new pages inserted, or if overseas, take it to an American Embassy and have pages inserted. No longer can you do this. If for example you have run out of pages and still have 5 years on the passport, you have to apply for a new passport. So order the double pages up front if cross a lot of country borders, particularly with your job. It's more expensive up front, but cheaper in the long run.

 

[35bore]

I thought you were going to say because of some federal buerocracy, oh wait it is.... guess I'll get to it, even though I still have a year. Gotta love'em.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

If you cross borders on a regular basis, such as once or twice a month, regardless of the reason why, you should ordered the extra pages also. Up until 2015, if you ran out of pages on a passport that still had several years left, you could either send it the passport office in the U.S. to have new pages inserted, or if overseas, take it to an American Embassy and have pages inserted. No longer can you do this. If for example you have run out of pages and still have 5 years on the passport, you have to apply for a new passport. So order the double pages up front if cross a lot of country borders, particularly with your job. It's more expensive up front, but cheaper in the long run.

Agreed - I always do this to be on the safe side....

 

[ChasingHemingway]

The State Department is trying to avoid a rerun of the backlog it experienced a decade ago while trying to process millions of passports. (AP)

Procrastinating about renewing that passport?
Well, the State Department says you should do it now—and they mean ASAP.

View attachment 57377

That’s because the agency is expecting an epic amount of renewal requests due to millions of passports set to expire, according to The New York Times.

Nearly 10 years ago, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was a law passed requiring U.S. citizens to have a passport in order to travel to all countries, including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Soon those passports will no longer be valid.

The State Department is trying to avoid a rerun of the backlog it experienced while trying to process all the passports a decade ago.


In addition, travelers with state driver's licenses that do not meet REAL ID requirements are contributing to an increase in applications — even though airports will continue to accept those state IDs until 2018.

The agency says it’s looking at about 47 million passports set to expire this year alone.

Beth Finan, a press officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, told USA Today that the department is expecting “record breaking demand” for passports through 2018.

“Right now, it will take roughly six weeks for a passport renewal, which is two weeks longer than the process took last year. You can also request an expedited passport, which will take three weeks to process and cost an extra $60 on top of the standard $110 renewal fee.”

According to The Washington Post, they’ve added more employees since last year to handle the influx.

But if you’re planning a trip overseas in the next six months, don’t wait.

Thanks for this info - just sent mine off to be renewe yesterday

dt

 

[vette447]

Just got mine back from renewal. Took a little under six weeks I believe.

 

[Husker-in-WA]

Same here. Renewed in less than 6 weeks. Just receive new ones last week.

 

[Lee M]

My wife just renewed hers. Only took 2 weeks without the extra fee. Sounds like we were lucky.

 

[cpr0312]

Thanks for the info