Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The online renewal was incredibly quick and didn’t require mailing anything in (not even the expiring passports). Highly recommend.

Can you describe how the picture situation is handled when you do it online? I'm not that tech-savvy and that's the part that is holding me back. I imagine you just have to take a picture that fits within the requirements, upload a file, and it will tell you if the picture is approved or not? Am I imagining correctly?

Sort of, it doesn't tell you right away if it's approved, but it shows lots of examples and makes it really easy. I think you would get notified after submitting if the picture didn't fit the requirements. We did it for DH, took his picture in front of a closet door because it was the most plain white background we had, he put on a plain t-shirt (avoiding logos) and didn't smile for the picture. I took it from about chest up. Do not edit with a filter, that is not allowed. Renewing online is definitely the way to go if you are eligible.

Actually it does tell you right away if the photo doesn’t meet requirements. I had to recrop a few times before it would let me submit online. I loved the online process and had a new passport in hand in less than two weeks.

Anonymous wrote:How do you get the digital photo for the online application?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you get the digital photo for the online application?

I went to a place that takes passport photos and asked them to email it to me.

Anonymous wrote:How do you get the digital photo for the online application?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The online renewal was incredibly quick and didn’t require mailing anything in (not even the expiring passports). Highly recommend.

Can you describe how the picture situation is handled when you do it online? I'm not that tech-savvy and that's the part that is holding me back. I imagine you just have to take a picture that fits within the requirements, upload a file, and it will tell you if the picture is approved or not? Am I imagining correctly?

Sort of, it doesn't tell you right away if it's approved, but it shows lots of examples and makes it really easy. I think you would get notified after submitting if the picture didn't fit the requirements. We did it for DH, took his picture in front of a closet door because it was the most plain white background we had, he put on a plain t-shirt (avoiding logos) and didn't smile for the picture. I took it from about chest up. Do not edit with a filter, that is not allowed. Renewing online is definitely the way to go if you are eligible.

Anonymous wrote:I did mine “online” a couple of weeks ago. “Online” meaning you fill in the PDF online and print it out and mail it in, which hardly seems like an “online application” to me.

My son did his at the same time. He is 18, so tried to do the same process. It was sent back to do in person because his last passport was when he was a child. So he went to an office.

Seems like they could be a little more clear about the process!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did mine “online” a couple of weeks ago. “Online” meaning you fill in the PDF online and print it out and mail it in, which hardly seems like an “online application” to me.

My son did his at the same time. He is 18, so tried to do the same process. It was sent back to do in person because his last passport was when he was a child. So he went to an office.

Seems like they could be a little more clear about the process!

This post finally explains why one of my kids could renew in person and why I can’t. Yes, definitely not clear on the website when I looked.

Thanks!

OP

I'll try and summarize for the majority of situations.

1. If you are a child or an adult who has never had an adult passport before, you have to go in person (USPS, library, etc) and submit all the documents to a person to confirm everything, and submit the package to the State Dept for you. For children or an adult who has never had an adult passport before, there is no such thing as a passport renewal, even if you had a child passport before.

2. If you have had an adult passport before, and it's unexpired or less than 5 years expired, you are eligible for renewal, which is generally faster, but only available by mailing your package directly to the State Dept, or by submitting it online. USPS won't accept this type of application- which you can confirm on their website if you try to schedule a "renewal" appointment. It will tell you you can't do that, you should mail in your application.

That's it. There are some edge cases like a lost/stolen passport (in which case you are in group 1), or emergency passports, which requires a visit to special State Dept passport offices.

Np here. Thank you. So if it’s been expired more than 5 years it has to be in person, yes?Yes

And for children my understanding is both parents have to be present at the appointment? And we don’t need to renew our passports before we get our kids passports? Yes both parents have to be there for kids under 16, or at least one parent, and the other parent signs a notarized letter consenting to getting the passports for the kids. There is no connection between applying for adult passports and kids- you can get the ones for the kids if you have your own or not.

We’ve had “get passports” on our to dos for ages (like a year or more) and for me it’s a little overwhelming somehow and for my husband it just slips his mind. His passport is probably within 5 years expired, mine is probably past 5 years expired (we last traveled internationally in 2011), and our 12 year old and 8 year old don’t have passports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did mine “online” a couple of weeks ago. “Online” meaning you fill in the PDF online and print it out and mail it in, which hardly seems like an “online application” to me.

My son did his at the same time. He is 18, so tried to do the same process. It was sent back to do in person because his last passport was when he was a child. So he went to an office.

Seems like they could be a little more clear about the process!

This post finally explains why one of my kids could renew in person and why I can’t. Yes, definitely not clear on the website when I looked.

Thanks!

OP

I'll try and summarize for the majority of situations.

1. If you are a child or an adult who has never had an adult passport before, you have to go in person (USPS, library, etc) and submit all the documents to a person to confirm everything, and submit the package to the State Dept for you. For children or an adult who has never had an adult passport before, there is no such thing as a passport renewal, even if you had a child passport before.

2. If you have had an adult passport before, and it's unexpired or less than 5 years expired, you are eligible for renewal, which is generally faster, but only available by mailing your package directly to the State Dept, or by submitting it online. USPS won't accept this type of application- which you can confirm on their website if you try to schedule a "renewal" appointment. It will tell you you can't do that, you should mail in your application.

That's it. There are some edge cases like a lost/stolen passport (in which case you are in group 1), or emergency passports, which requires a visit to special State Dept passport offices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did mine “online” a couple of weeks ago. “Online” meaning you fill in the PDF online and print it out and mail it in, which hardly seems like an “online application” to me.

My son did his at the same time. He is 18, so tried to do the same process. It was sent back to do in person because his last passport was when he was a child. So he went to an office.

Seems like they could be a little more clear about the process!

This post finally explains why one of my kids could renew in person and why I can’t. Yes, definitely not clear on the website when I looked.

Thanks!

OP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The online renewal was incredibly quick and didn’t require mailing anything in (not even the expiring passports). Highly recommend.

Can you describe how the picture situation is handled when you do it online? I'm not that tech-savvy and that's the part that is holding me back. I imagine you just have to take a picture that fits within the requirements, upload a file, and it will tell you if the picture is approved or not? Am I imagining correctly?

Anonymous wrote:I did mine “online” a couple of weeks ago. “Online” meaning you fill in the PDF online and print it out and mail it in, which hardly seems like an “online application” to me.

My son did his at the same time. He is 18, so tried to do the same process. It was sent back to do in person because his last passport was when he was a child. So he went to an office.

Seems like they could be a little more clear about the process!

Anonymous wrote:If by "in person" you mean at a library or post office, you can do that too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The online renewal was incredibly quick and didn’t require mailing anything in (not even the expiring passports). Highly recommend.

Can you describe how the picture situation is handled when you do it online? I'm not that tech-savvy and that's the part that is holding me back. I imagine you just have to take a picture that fits within the requirements, upload a file, and it will tell you if the picture is approved or not? Am I imagining correctly?

yes that's what I did

Yes, they have a good explainer and video here.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/online-renewal-photo.html

Thank you, really. I have silly anxiety over things that seem complicated to me and you providing this link just helped me with something that's been causing me irrational stress for months.