After returning from a brief trip to Calgary in October and with no other international travel planned for the immediate future, I decided to submit my U.S. Passport for renewal. With a little less than a year of validity remaining, the time was right.
After trying – unsuccessfully – to renew my passport online, which the State Department now allows (article here), I had a traditional passport photo taken, filled out and submitted the required passport renewal application (Form DS-82), wrote an old-school paper check, and sent everything in.
Today, just two days short of four weeks, I received my new passport, which is good until November 2034. My “house arrest” is over!
When we last renewed my wife’s passport in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, it took almost exactly two months. Today, the State Department says the average processing time for a passport renewal is four to six weeks, so State beat even its quickest estimate. Great news, but certainly not a record.
I obtained my first U.S. passport in May 1986. Coming up on three years as a reporter at KING-1090, a news-talk radio station in Seattle, it was my fondest hope that I would be sent somewhere – anywhere - as long as it required a passport to cover a story.
At that time, U.S. citizens could travel to Canada and Mexico without a passport, so I had farther-flung destinations in mind.
My workday started at 5 a.m. and finished at 1 p.m. so one afternoon, armed with my birth certificate and Washington state driver's license, I went to the local Kinko’s, got a passport photo taken, then went to the Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle where I filled out my application for a passport.
While reviewing my application, the woman at the counter asked me where I was planning to travel. I responded (rather proudly, in fact) that, “I’m a reporter at KING-1090. I don’t have anywhere planned at this time but I want to be ready in case a big story breaks.” That satisfied her, she stamped it and said it would be submitted for processing.
I don’t know what I expected but what happened next definitely was not it.
When I went to our mailbox the next day, there was my passport! One. Day. A feat never to be equaled!
I viewed my new passport as a ticket to whatever came along; hoping that adventure would be involved.
After trying – unsuccessfully – to renew my passport online, which the State Department now allows (article here), I had a traditional passport photo taken, filled out and submitted the required passport renewal application (Form DS-82), wrote an old-school paper check, and sent everything in.
Today, just two days short of four weeks, I received my new passport, which is good until November 2034. My “house arrest” is over!
When we last renewed my wife’s passport in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, it took almost exactly two months. Today, the State Department says the average processing time for a passport renewal is four to six weeks, so State beat even its quickest estimate. Great news, but certainly not a record.
I obtained my first U.S. passport in May 1986. Coming up on three years as a reporter at KING-1090, a news-talk radio station in Seattle, it was my fondest hope that I would be sent somewhere – anywhere - as long as it required a passport to cover a story.
At that time, U.S. citizens could travel to Canada and Mexico without a passport, so I had farther-flung destinations in mind.
My workday started at 5 a.m. and finished at 1 p.m. so one afternoon, armed with my birth certificate and Washington state driver's license, I went to the local Kinko’s, got a passport photo taken, then went to the Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle where I filled out my application for a passport.
While reviewing my application, the woman at the counter asked me where I was planning to travel. I responded (rather proudly, in fact) that, “I’m a reporter at KING-1090. I don’t have anywhere planned at this time but I want to be ready in case a big story breaks.” That satisfied her, she stamped it and said it would be submitted for processing.
I don’t know what I expected but what happened next definitely was not it.
When I went to our mailbox the next day, there was my passport! One. Day. A feat never to be equaled!
I viewed my new passport as a ticket to whatever came along; hoping that adventure would be involved.
When Operation Desert Shield commenced in August 1990 and military units from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base in the Puget Sound Region were deployed to the Middle East, many noncombatants were being staged in nearby Jordan. I applied for a visa from the Hashemite Kingdom so that I could travel to the region and provide coverage.
Jordanian officials granted my request and issued a visa good for four years and "multiple" entries. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I never traveled to the war zone and didn't actually use the visa. What coverage I engaged in was stateside and focused on the connections to Puget Sound.
I renewed passports in 1996, 2006, 2015 so this is my fifth passport. For the last two, I have requested the “large” passport book with extra visa pages for "frequent international travelers." Acts of purest optimism, I know, but hope springs eternal.
FYI, the large passport book has a generous 52 total pages while the standard contains only 28 pages for visa stamps and travel endorsements. And there is no additional cost for the larger book.
The new iteration of the passport carries a proviso: “If your passport expires within six months of your date of departure, you may be denied entry into some countries.” Many countries require a passport to be valid for six months after date of entry while others require only three months’ validity.
Bottom line: if you’re within a year of your expiration date, find a window of up to two months that works for you, and get the renewal process started.
If you're like me, you’ll enjoy the feeling of freedom once you have your newly renewed travel documents in hand and you're ready to make your escape!
I renewed passports in 1996, 2006, 2015 so this is my fifth passport. For the last two, I have requested the “large” passport book with extra visa pages for "frequent international travelers." Acts of purest optimism, I know, but hope springs eternal.
FYI, the large passport book has a generous 52 total pages while the standard contains only 28 pages for visa stamps and travel endorsements. And there is no additional cost for the larger book.
The new iteration of the passport carries a proviso: “If your passport expires within six months of your date of departure, you may be denied entry into some countries.” Many countries require a passport to be valid for six months after date of entry while others require only three months’ validity.
Bottom line: if you’re within a year of your expiration date, find a window of up to two months that works for you, and get the renewal process started.
If you're like me, you’ll enjoy the feeling of freedom once you have your newly renewed travel documents in hand and you're ready to make your escape!
Bon voyage!
Visit my main page at TheTravelPro.us for more news, reviews, and personal observations on the world of upmarket travel.
Photo by Carl Dombek
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