Mrs. BB61 just renewed her passport last Monday. She received her new passport and passport card on Saturday of that week. FIVE DAYS!!! My passport, will be arriving on Friday of this week. We didn’t pay for anything to speed up the process and we aren’t traveling for several weeks.

SLACKERS!!!! LOL. Amazing for Mrs. BB61 and still fast for me with the shutdown. It’s nice to see some things at .gov work smoothly.

Did you both apply online? I need to renew mine and was curious about the procedure. Any tips? Thanks.

I just got an email about renewal.
Need to get them going for all 3 kids too, new applications for them.

Sounds like they did a good job.

From my experience, online works great. You can create your picture easily with a cell phone and submit it directly.

I recently got a passport card and the service was about two to three weeks total. Apply early if you intend to travel in the near future. You can use the expedited service (it is expensive) if needed to meet a travel deadline.

To answer some questions: We applied online. There are requirements so check to make sure you qualify. You also need to make sure you are at the .gov website and not some 3rd party. The digital picture is the hardest thing (and that isn’t hard). We both applied last Monday but I was at work and she was at home.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Did you both apply online? I need to renew mine and was curious about the procedure. Any tips? Thanks.

We renewed several years ago the old-fashioned way, though we did pay extra for expedited service (which was more than five days).

Here's what State says about online renewals:

https://travel.state.gov/conte...rt/renew-online.html

My wife and I renewed our passports about two years ago using the online procedure. It was smooth. The only tip is to take a breath, check, double check and make sure everything is in order. We went to the local CVS for passport photos. Though we have all the necessary photo gear, CVS has proven track record and the cost was reasonable. Since we renewed months before our trip, we didn't expedite and had the new passports in hand within two weeks.

It's a Zen thing, need it and expedite, 2 months. Don't need it for 6 months and use normal process, two weeks. They can sense the anxiety .

I just did my renewal one year in advance a couple days ago. You never know how long it will take, which is why I did it so early. We will see.

Thanks for the info, guys!

I am on day 4 and hope my passport picture isn’t an issue.

I would normally take one with my good DSLR camera and use Adobe Lightroom to give the required white background, as I don’t have a pull down screen, but the website was very clear about unedited photos. So I went to Walgreens and had them take the pictures. They gave me two printed out hard copies, which were perfect and sent me a digital since I wanted to apply online. Well, they obviously edited the hard copies and there is no metadata to know that and the digital copy was unedited with shadows around me and in the background. I have a fantastic photo scanner and was going to scan the hard copy photo to make it digital to upload, but now that I upgraded to Windows 11 my scanner no longer works. I really have no need for scanning in photos anymore and am not going to pay $100 for software that I found that would make my scanner work in Windows 11.

I submitted the unedited digital copy. I am hoping it doesn’t get rejected. You would think they could tell where any editing took place and not care about the background, but reject if you edited Ed anything on your face. We will see.

I renewed mine online last year. Took the picture myself and uploaded it (the first one wasn't accepted, but the second one went through). As I recall it was only a week or so and I had my new paper booklet and card in the mail.

My passport renewal was approved today, so that is 6 days. Wow. I did it a year in advance just in case.

Hell, I have been waiting for some Brenneke 12 gauge bear shotgun ammo for 9 months so far and still not received it. It currently says estship date of 2/22/2026 but keeps moving.

Just received my renewal and it only took 2 weeks.

I did the online renewal process yesterday and it went far easier than I expected. I had considered taking my own photo, but as I drove by a CVS on Friday, I figured I'd play it safe and got it done there.

I hope I get the same fast service that you guys did.

^^^ I received my new passport today. 16 days. Not as fast as you, but not bad. I also opted for expedited shipping.

I give credit to our current President and the DOGE movement for getting government working a little more efficiently. I like to see it. I hope the general public sees it working.

Did it all on my phone for myself and DW, including our pics. The picture app was a little fussy but after about 5 tries with the same picture it worked. Very fast turnaround of about 10 days. Received emails along the way. I’m giving them a B+ overall only because the cost for a renewal is excessive imo.

This article is a reminder that many countries require a minimum number of blank pages in your passport.

American Travelers Urged To Check Passports As Obscure Rule Denies Entry To Most Destinations

By Lauren Feather
Published Mar 28, 2026

...Most seasoned travelers know that a passport needs at least three months of validity beyond their planned arrival or return date, though that rule varies depending on the country; some require longer validity periods. A passport without the required validity period will result in being denied flight boarding (or entry refusal a country at passport control if arriving via land or sea). While that particular requirement is common (and more well-known), another similar passport rule could also lead to travelers being refused boarding or entry...

Indeed, if a passport has too few empty pages, that could spell the end of a trip before it's even started, as most countries around the world require at least one full, unused passport page to allow enough space for stamps and visas.

Laura Evans-Fisk, the head of digital and engagement at foreign exchange company Eurochange, pointed out that "It’s common knowledge that you need to check the date on your passport before traveling, but a lot of people don’t realize you also need to check how many blank pages are left."

Moreover, a number of destinations, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, require travelers' passports to have between two and four blank, visa-free and stamp-free pages...

Complete article:

https://www.thetravel.com/amer...y-to-most-countries/

^^^ Interesting. When I worked for Mobil in the early 80's, I got so many stamps, they added a fold-out page to my passport.

We had a passport appointment to get our 3 kids' passports, new applicants.
Appt was April 3rd, small nearby town post office.
2 arrived Saturday 4/18 and the 3rd today 4/20.

Wife & I did ours online last friday 4/18, if that trend follows, we should have ours around May 15.

Still need to do our UK transit visas. 40/each to change planes at Heathrow