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HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RENEW A PASSPORT?

Yesterday I brought you up to date on our current COVID-19 pandemic.  As much as this virus is waning, what about the combined impact this Fall and Winter when you add the seasonal flu and that Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) that infects mostly children and infants?  Is a TRIPLEDEMIC coming?

About world news, from the New York Times this morning:

  • Boris Johnson pulled out of the race to become Britain’s prime minister, making his former finance minister, Rishi Sunak, the next PM.

I am providing two views on HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO RENEW A PASSPORT.  I will provide my recent experience, but first, here is what Condé Nast said:

  • First of all, check your expiration date.  I did not until someone else caught my error, leading to anguish and desperation...which will be part 2 of the subject today.  Turns out that to get into a foreign country, your passport expiration date must be SIX MONTHS AFTER ENTRANCE INTO THAT COUNTRY.
  • Count yourself lucky today.  During the heat of the pandemic it was nearly impossible to get or renew a passport, for the office itself was crippled.  Four months was about how long it took, if you were lucky.
  • Today, this could take as little as one week if you're willing to pay big bucks, but less than two months under normal circumstances.  The recommendation, though, is to begin the process from four to six months before planned international travel because, when you count shipping time, and get unlucky, it could easily take three months.
  • Keep in mind that if you're planning to renew by mail, make sure that your passport was issued in the last 15 years, when the traveler age was 16 or older, and the book is undamaged.  This passport needs to be included in your mail packet.
  • So this is now the recommended process.
    • Use the Post Office or other legal system to get your application to the National Processing Center in your region.  The cost is $130 for renewal, plus shipping.
    • The State Department estimates the current processing time is 8 to 11 weeks, plus shipping time.  They will mail back your new passport.  This why you should begin the process at least four months before you need to use it.
    • For an additional $60, or a total of $190, you can get expedited processing.  The only advantage is that your application is not put in the bottom of the pile, but at the top.  When you pay for expedited consideration, the estimated processing time drops to 5 to 7 weeks, plus shipping.  In short, even if you pay this extra $60, it could take nine weeks door-to-door.  Here is the link to this process.
    • To further shorten the time, you can use a private, third-party company.  Gen Visa for $400 promises emergency renewable service of as little as one week.  Fast Port will do the same for $799.  You will still need to pay the $130 government charge.  You have other Fast Port options:  an additional $109 for 8 weeks, $189 for 5 weeks and $599 for 2 weeks.
  • One older way was to go to your Federal building and work through someone in your hometown.  This is still possible in some locations, but difficult in Hawaii.
  • In a life or death emergency, there is a way to do this in three business days.  There are 27 regional passport agencies, and it is possible to get an appointment, a very difficult process today, but only theoretically available.
  • The Biden administration is working on a way to renew passports online.  For now, though, you're stuck doing things the old fashioned way.
  • You say, but there is already an online booking process.  Yes, but this was discontinued  during the pandemic for companies took all the times and sold them to the highest bidder.  Then again, maybe it's okay again, for I just went to that site, and it appears to be functional.

Here is what happened to me:

  • Towards the end of August we had committed to flying from Honolulu to Bangkok to Dubai to catch the Regent Seven Seas Explorer to Singapore, and flying back to Honolulu.  Everything was paid and we had no way out.  But no problem, right?
  • Wrong.  My partner happened to look at my passport and saw that it expired early in January 2023.  We learned that Singapore, and all the other countries on our itinerary, would not allow us into the country unless my passport expired six months after entrance.
  • We were just about 10 weeks to departure.
  • Now that you know what to do, important not to panic.  I did.
  • But why, as the Passport Office would surely be able to get me a new passport in three months.
  • Wrong, Regent Seven Seas required an India visa, which I know is a painful process, for I have previous experience with that.  We needed the number of the new passport to initiate the effort.
  • I first tried to get an appointment with the Passport Office in the Federal Building.  Had difficulty talking to anyone.  The bottom line was that the process I had gone through twice was not today functioning.  I had to do this online and mail the Passport Office the full application packet.
  • I learned that a routine renewal took 7 to 10 weeks and expedited service 4 to 6 weeks.  To do expedited service with a regional office, you needed to travel within 14 calendar days, something thus not possible for me.
  • The Feds have an online site to get a copy of the application with directions.  I'm a klutz when it comes to downloading anything.  There was a phone number (305 848 8008) for help.  Someone actually answered and was really helpful.   With difficulty got everything filled out and where to mail the package. 
  • Frantically, went to FedEx to get a new passport photo.  You might be tempted to do this yourself.  Don't...especially if you are going to India.  Only costs $15, and the requirements are stringent.  Here is their web site, where they show you the exact size.  went there, took the photo, but there was a problem with the size, so took another photo, and the whole effort was extremely stressful, exacerbated by my state of mind.  Bought a thumb drive into which the photos were placed (which I would need for the India visa application to come) and a waterproof mailing envelope.  
  • Under considerable anxiety, rushed over to the Post Office at the airport, to minimize mailing time.  Got the package out at the fastest rate possible, another cost, with two more forms.
  • Then the interminable wait.  Ruined my life for a month.  Began anxiously checking the mail after three weeks.  Nothing.
  • Thankfully, my new passport arrived in less than a month.  Joy!   I have faith again in our government.
  • But then, the process for getting an India visa was, as they say, Kafkaesque.
    • Followed all the directions provided by a third party, not Regent.  They were helpful, and know the bureaucracy of India.
    • What we submitted was not good enough.  Our passport photo did not show enough shoulders.  Plus the background was wrong, or maybe it was the shirt I wore.  Can you believe all of that?
    • At my highest anxiety yet, went back to FedEx to take new photos. 
    • Re-sent everything.  
    • Passed through the company filter, and a few days later got official India visas.  Double Joy!
  • Two countries required visas.
    • Qatar has it set up so that you can get the visa on board.
    • India requires the visa before you board the ship, even if we did not intend to visit the country.
    • Now that we do have visas, I do want to see what Mumbai looks like today.  I was there a long time ago when it was called Bombay.  Made me appreciate what I had in Hawaii.  Sometimes travel can change you.  I did, here.

- 

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