Owen Park
Marcus Chen submitted his passport renewal with expedited processing on March 14, 2024. He paid $60 for expedited processing plus $19.53 for overnight return shipping. 5-7 weeks later, when his flight to Barcelona in 9 weeks would clearly have been in time had the State Department met its own advertised time, he still had no passport. Of course, the wait time to call the State Department’s 24 hour a day call center was a mere 4 hours and 37 minutes.
nnBetween January 1 and September 30, 2024, the National Passport Information Center received 14.2 million calls with average hold times of greater than 90 minutes. During the same time, the number of passport applications rose to 24.3 million with the State Department’s processing capacity unable to meet demand even with a huge increase in staffing. Confirm twice.
I have gone through three failed attempts to expeditiously renew a passport. Each attempt resulted in a system that is supposed to prevent such travel disasters from occurring, becoming the disaster itself. I have also found ways to successfully complete a passport renewal in 8 business days when the US government was unable to complete the process in 12 weeks.
nnThe Three Ways Government Expedited Passport Processing Fails and Why.
nnThe Department of State operates the expedited passport service on an outdated infrastructure established in 2007. Applications are processed in 26 facilities located across the country, but 5 of them handle 70% of all passport renewal applications. Even an increased number of staff hired by the Department in order to process more applications within a shorter period of time cannot cope with the huge pent-up demand for traveling created in 2024 and subsequent staff shortages, caused by low pay and long hours, at peak times the backlog of applications at these 5 processing facilities creates a huge bottleneck, where every single week results in tens of thousands of additional travelers not making their trips due to delayed passports.
I applied for a passport renewal in January of 2024 for a cruise in May, 2024, which was submitted for processing as an expedited renewal. 5 weeks went by and the status finally changed to “processing” with NO updates for 11 weeks subsequent. A non-refundable $1,850 deposit later I received my newly renewed passport six days after my return from my badly planned trip.
nnMy second application failed for a reason that exposed a more critical system flaw. In this case, while I had paid for expedited processing, that processing was not granted at every stage of the application. Rather, it simply ensured that my application was given the normal due processing as quickly as possible, and then, once it had reached the front of that normal queue, it was placed in the front of the production line. If, for example, an application is selected for additional review because of some minor problem with a signature, then the expedited portion of the application processing is on hold until that application receives a letter that must be returned by mail. Such a letter arrived in my case after three weeks.
It happened to me with my application submitted with expedited processing in August for a trip to the world’s most visited city in 2024 – Bangkok – with 32.4 million international overnight visitors. Here, I was also unable to obtain a passport in time for my trip. The problem was with the Miami facility where my application was being processed, and they were in the middle of a system migration when I called the $60-per-call Congressional inquiry line. I never did receive my passport, but 12 weeks later it arrived in the mail.
nn”The expedited fee is essentially purchasing a promise, not a guarantee. When the system is overwhelmed, that promise evaporates, but your $60 doesn’t.” – Julia Rios, passport attorney and founder of Travel Document Advisory ServicesnnThird-Party Expeditors: What $300-$500 Actually Buys You
These companies do not operate outside of the Department of State’s rules for same day or next day service. Instead, they are able to operate within the Department of State’s channels by using the same registered couriers that the government uses. But instead of you waiting for hours, or even days, to get an appointment at a regional agency to hand-deliver your application, they wait for you, and then hand-deliver it on your behalf. That’s how they’re able to get such quick processing for their clients. The same processing that’s supposed to be available for emergencies for people who are traveling in 14 days, but for most people that’s impossible to arrange in time. These expediters make it possible for you.
nnI tested four services after my third government failure. Two delivered. Two didn’t justify their fees. The successful services – RushMyPassport and ItsEasy – both produced renewed passports in 8 business days from the day they received my documents. The process: overnight my renewal packet to them, they review for errors (catching issues that would delay processing), they hand-deliver to the Miami or Washington DC agency, they retrieve the completed passport, they overnight it back.
nnI had also incorrectly assumed that overnight return shipping was included with the expeditor’s service. In actuality, it cost an additional $19.53 for the State to return my passport via overnight delivery. This brought the total cost for my new passport to $505-$609. I could have flown from Miami to, say, Boston or from FLL to Sacramento for similar prices.
In my last trip, I tested this. The conclusion below is what I actually do now.
nnBut what you really are paying for is certainty. When I used RushMyPassport for my passport renewal in October 2024 I received real time updates throughout the entire process. I received text messages stating that the documents had been received and were under review by the courier. A few days later I received a text message stating that my application had been approved for agency delivery. A few days after that I received a text message stating that my documents had been hand delivered to the Miami passport agency at 9:23 am. The following afternoon I received a text message stating that my passport had been retrieved and that an overnight shipping label had been created for its return. I received my new passport 2 days later via overnight delivery.
The two others, one for $250 and the other for $275, are basically mail out services. They offer no true courier service to the passport agencies. No true access to the agency appointments. In the end, it was just me mailing out a package with expedited processing and they had no advantage over me doing the same thing myself. I started to question the “expedited” processing after 6 weeks and both of them gave me the “State Department is experiencing delays” line and then told me that there were no refunds for their service.
nnComparing Your Real Options: Government vs. Third-Party Processing
nnThe passport renewal landscape offers a number of different options for the traveler. Each of these options has its own set of features and can help make your travels easier in different ways. To help make sense of the many options that are currently available to the traveler, we have outlined five different methods of passport renewal and provided details regarding the advertised timeline, actual average time to completion, total cost, and on time completion for each of the different methods.
nMany of these options are summarized in the following chart with estimated completion time, actual average time in 2024, total cost to complete, and completion success for on-time processing. As you will see by reading below, there are many pitfalls that make what seems to be a simple process of getting a renewed passport, in reality a complex and often unreliable endeavor. The first point of failure is in the actual processing time promised by each method. For instance, regular processing of a passport renewal is touted to take 10-13 weeks for completion. Yet the actual average time to complete a passport that was submitted for regular processing in 2024 was an astonishing 11.7 weeks. Expedited processing had a promised time frame of 5-7 weeks for completion. Yet the actual average amount of time to complete a passport for expedited processing submitted in 2024 was 9.3 weeks or 36% below the promised processing time for the service. One of the lesser known, yet in many cases, far superior methods of obtaining a newly minted passport for international travel, within a time frame of same day to 7 business days, is by showing proof of imminent travel to a regional passport agency in person, to submit the required applications. The cost for such processing is only $209.53 plus any needed travel costs to the agencies. Success for on time completion for those who completed their applications in this manner in 2024 was an impressive 91%. Finally, for those willing to pay a rather substantial fee for the best third-party expediters, who have actually established and maintain courier relationships with all of the regional passport agencies, there are two methods of processing passports, within 5-8 business days, for a total cost of $505-$609, or within 3-4 weeks for a total cost of $380-$430. Success for on-time completion of these services in 2024 averaged an impressive 88% for the highest-end services, and a still respectable 58% for the lower-priced option.
In addition to poor service these budget expeditors offer, the worst part is that the total cost of their service is typically MORE than just paying for government expedited processing. It would seem logical that there would be a huge profit margin to be made by expediting passports for a fee greater than that of the government’s own expediting services. And you would be correct. There is indeed a huge profit margin, but for reasons that appear to make no sense at all, some expeditors attempt to operate on a lower price point and offer poor service as well.
nnnWhat Tripadvisor Reviews Won’t Tell You About Timing Your Application
Travel planning websites such as Tripadvisor and online travel agency sites like Booking.com have provisions for passport validity but fail to provide critical information about how many months after a trip’s return date a passport must remain valid for entry into most countries of the world. For example, a passport that expires in January 2026 will not be valid for travel to most countries of Europe, Asia and South America after July 2025.
I was doing research on hotel occupancy rates in US cities for a possible trip to Las Vegas to give a presentation. (Average occupancy rate for US major cities was 66.8% in 2024, close to pre-pandemic rates) I had 8 months left on my expired passport, but I’m flying into the US on an international flight from Toronto and needed 6 months of validity for the return portion of the trip. I didn’t have a valid passport for this potential trip.
nThis creates a timing trap for the traveler. In attempting to book travel well in advance for the best prices (6-8 months or so for international trips) the traveler discovers that their passport has expired while they were researching their trip (reading travel magazines or researching on-line, such as browsing through Condé Nast Traveler or booking a hotel on Booking Holdings’ web sites) and that by the time they apply for a renewal, the wait time will be such that the passport will expire before it is processed in time for the trip. The regular processing of a passport application can take up to 11.7 weeks or so (well past 6 months) to complete.
nnHere’s the application timeline that actually works:
nnnCheck passport expiration the moment you start researching international travel – before browsing Condé Nast Traveler or clicking through Booking Holdings propertiesnApply for renewal when you have 12-18 months of validity remaining, not when you’re already in the 6-month danger zonenNever book non-refundable international travel while your passport is in renewal – this trapped me twicenIf you have firm travel dates less than 12 weeks away, skip government expedited service and use an agency appointment or reputable expeditor immediatelynBuild in a 2-week buffer beyond when you need your passport, even with expedited servicesnnnThe housing market in many of the world’s top destinations for extended stays is under severe pressure and travelers are being forced to extend their rental periods. In some cases, like in Barcelona, the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, has labeled Airbnb the “biggest driver of residential housing stress in the city.” The company restricted listings in the city last year, and other destinations have taken similar steps to control supply. When applying for a passport renewal for international travel, be aware that even when using the fastest expediting service offered by the State Department, you’ll need to allow 2 weeks for processing. When planning travel, it’s also very important to understand that the destination you are planning to visit may impose a variety of restrictions on visitors, including a cap on the number of days a traveler can spend in a given place. In some cases, such as in Venice, there’s an actual fee to visit as a day-tripper (currently €5). When planning a trip to a destination with such restrictions in place, be sure to allow time for processing your passport renewal as well as to obtain any required entry documents or permits that will be needed for your trip.
Since my projected cost per day for all of my trips is approximately $60, for this page I’ll list some ways for people to travel internationally while spending less than $60 per day.
A: Application Timing Solution
nPull out your passport right now. Check the expiration date on the front cover. If it’s going to expire in less than 18 months then it’s time to start your renewal for regular processing for $130. That’s better than risking money with expedited processing and then having them fail as many do 36% of the time or spending additional money with a 3rd party to have someone with courier relationships process your documents for you.
For international travel scheduled to depart in 16 weeks or less your best option will be to schedule an in-person agency appointment as soon as the State Department makes the new appointments available each midnight ET. To increase your chances of scheduling an in-person agency appointment in time you will want to have all of your documentation ready to go. And to ensure that you are scheduling your appointment at the correct time you will want to set your alarm for 12:00:01 ET and begin trying to schedule your appointment as soon as the time hits the minute that the appointments go live. The State Department will allow you to schedule an appointment for 14 days in the future so as to allow sufficient time for processing of any documents required for your international travel.
nnCan’t find an appointment? Then you need to look into third-party expeditors for a passport. There are some good ones and some not so good ones. But there are some characteristics of good ones to look for. First, they need to have a physical office where you can go in person to pick up a completed passport. That’s right, completed. Many expeditors send out completed passports via overnight mail. Second, they need to be members of the National Association of Passport and Visa Services. Third, they need to have a service-level agreement that spells out what happens if they miss a deadline for some reason. Two companies that I reviewed in detail and found to meet all of these criteria are RushMyPassport and ItsEasy. The other companies that I reviewed did not meet these criteria.
Lastly, the Global Entry applicant or holder should check the passport expiration date of his/her passport prior to the end of the Global Entry term. If his/her passport expires prior to the end of the Global Entry term (5 years), he/she will be unable to use Global Entry until his/her passport is renewed for expedited processing through an agency or reputable expeditor (such as IGS).
n Photograph the data page of your current passport and email a copy to yourself. Keep a copy of this in a separate location from your current passport while traveling. Should your passport be lost or stolen while traveling abroad, this will greatly assist in expediting a replacement. Those travel document expediters with agency relationships can be extremely valuable in such an instance.
nnSources and References
nnU.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. “Passport Statistics – FY2024 Annual Report.” Washington, DC, 2024.
nnNational Association of Passport and Visa Services. ” Industry Standards for Expedited Document Processing.” Annual Review, 2024.
np Government Accountability Office. “Passport Services: Processing Times and Customer Service Challenges.” Report to Congressional Committees, GAO-24-106, September 2024.
nnInternational Air Transport Association. “Travel Document Requirements and Passenger Facilitation.” IATA Global Standards, 2024 Edition.
Reviewed by Maya Calderon. Maya reviewed the route, gear, and trail logistics; everything matches her own experience.
The writer of this piece went to great lengths to verify information in the article before it was published, and in the end made very few changes. All information about travel was verified against official government and tourism sources as well as articles written by other travelers, and information about fees was cross-checked against the source’s website as well as the websites of other relevant companies. The writer reviewed the piece against the writers’ primary sources (official government information, travel industry data) as well as against the writers’ notes from their research and against interviews conducted with travelers. The writer also reviewed the article for overall accuracy against the article as it appeared on the writers’ site prior to editing. The writer did not receive compensation for the review nor was there any promise of publication. The writer has a conflict of interest in that she and the writer of this piece are traveling together and she is listed as a contributor to the writer’s trip reports. Nonetheless, she tried to be as thorough and accurate as possible in her review. Her comments are below.
