You don’t have to send your passport in by mail to get a new one anymore.
“Eligible U.S. citizens can renew a passport online,” a State Department web page says. “We’re conducting a beta release of an updated online renewal system.”
This is not the first time that Americans have been able to use the internet to get an updated passport. In 2022, the State Department ran an online renewal pilot program that received more than 500,000 requests, but it only lasted a few months.
“Assistant Secretary [Rena] Bitter characterized CA’s online passport renewal pilot program that concluded in March 2023 as a successful effort that would help inform the launch of a comprehensive online renewal option later in 2023,” reads a report from the Congressional Research Service. “However, some Members of Congress expressed concern that technical difficulties during the pilot caused uncertainty among applicants and questioned State Department oversight of the program.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia wrote a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in March 2023 noting that some of his constituents were having trouble with the system.
“In an increasingly online age, I welcome the ability for my constituents to renew their passports through a secure paperless process. However, the [Online Passport Renewal] system seems to be fraught with significant errors that have caused Virginians headaches, stress, and unfortunately in some instances, delayed or missed travel. Simply put, the service my constituents have received is unacceptable.”
The expected processing time for the current online passport renewal process is six to eight weeks. However, not everyone will be able to use the system. “During the next several months, we plan to continue to limit the number of applications accepted each day so we can monitor the system’s performance in real time,” the State Department said.