Anonymous wrote:OP here. Wanted to let people know that I was told that expedited passports are currently taking an average of 27 days (this is just processing, not shipping). That might be useful for those of you with fall/winter travel who are debating whether to expedite.

I also would anticipate that some of the backlog will clear by end of August. I do think the PP is correct that they are approving in order of travel date, where available, because when we talked to them about upgrading to expediting, they emphasized labeling everything with the date of travel (plus your locator number if you've already applied). I definitely think the agencies that have severe backlogs are ordering expedite requests, and potentially also regular requests, by travel date. Which is good news if you have upcoming travel!

Anonymous wrote:I know there have been other threads but I'm really looking for current experiences and tips, since this is a moving target.

We are traveling mid-August. Applied for two renewals (including one child) in March. Received the adult renewal in mid-June, still waiting on the child renewal.

It's so frustrating because it's just a black box (status has said "In process" for four straight months now) and there is nothing else we can do until we are 14 days out, but it's just nerve-racking to wait. Also frustrating because even once we're in the 14 days, since it's a child's passport, we will need to ensure both parents and the child can be present for any appointment we can get and the logistics of that are stressful as well (what if we have to travel to an appointment? we'll all have to go which means more days off work and even more money)

A friend suggested maybe booking a refundable international flight for less than 14 days from now so that we could claim travel in under 14 days and maybe get an appointment at an agency sooner. Has anyone done this? Does it work? I am paranoid about it. Also, again, since it's a child's passport we'd have to book multiple tickets. I don't know, maybe we should suck it up and do it.

Anonymous wrote:We are waiting for our kids. We did not expedite, and they were received on June 13th. No updates other than "in process". We don't travel until the winter, but if I knew they were processing them in order of travel (and not in order of when they were sent) I would have put an earlier travel date in.

I am expecting them in September, so we'll see when they show up!

Anonymous wrote:We are going on a cruise December 18 and I'm planning to submit my kids passport for renewal this weekend (appt scheduled Saturday). We should be ok for the passport, right? In reality it's a closed loop cruise that only goes to bahamas and mexico so I think we're ok without the passport but I feel better with it.

We just got back from Europe yesterday so this was the soonest I could do. His passport expires in February 2024 but I'd rather get it done before the cruise so we have no stress if we plan something for Spring Break 2024.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We booked a cheap hotel in Mexico to get the process going with a date 2 weeks out. No need to show plane tickets because you can say you’re going to drive. We have no intention of going to Mexico, we’re really going to Italy.

You people are so slimy.

Anonymous wrote:We booked a cheap hotel in Mexico to get the process going with a date 2 weeks out. No need to show plane tickets because you can say you’re going to drive. We have no intention of going to Mexico, we’re really going to Italy.