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http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/17/ ... index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For people seeking U.S. passports, faster service is getting slower.

The summer's maddening backlog in passport applications has forced officials to abandon the old standard of a week's wait for people willing to pay $60 extra for speedy service.

People can expect to wait about three weeks for expedited service, and the government indicated Thursday they should get used to it. A regular application now takes 10 weeks to 12 weeks.

The State Department announced the policy change a day after officials offered a new estimate of the burgeoning cost of processing the mountain of passport applications. It will cost nearly $1 billion over three years to handle the surge in applications created by post-September 11 security rules for travel.

Because of the backlog, officials said they will no longer offer assurances that an expedited application will be processed within three business days of receipt.

Instead, people will have to check the State Department Web site to see how fast expedited is.

That processing time is 10 business days. Factoring in shipping time, expedited service usually takes about three weeks.

Critics saw the announcement as fresh evidence of mismanagement.

"What color is the sky in their world?" said Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio. "I can't believe they're proposing a rule where they want to charge you the same amount and in return you're virtually guaranteed to get worse service."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the agency changed its rules "to ensure that the department can continue to offer this expedited service consistent with its regulations despite increases in demand for expedited passport processing."

Asked if a longer wait was still worth the same $60 fee, McCormack joked: "I'll ask people. Maybe we could have like sort of first class and business class and economy class."

The new government rule leaves open the possibility that expedited service someday may become a one-week affair again. But consular affairs spokesman Steve Roister contended that even under the old system, applicants were told to expect it would take two weeks to receive expedited passports.

Officials on Thursday renewed their pledge to clear up the overall passport backlog by September.
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"This is a clear admission of failure and a decision not to solve the problem," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York.

Last year, the agency processed 12.1 million passports. Through the next four years, officials expect to process almost 100 million passports.

The surge in demand stems from rules that went into effect in January requiring U.S. travelers to carry passports when flying to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. A similar requirement is to go into effect for all land and sea crossings next year.

During the worst of the delays in late spring and early summer, some applicants who would normally expect to wait six weeks for passports found they had still not received them after 12 weeks or more.

As a result, the Homeland Security Department eased or delayed its requirements, and the State Department was forced to take drastic and expensive measures to trim the backlog, hiring hundreds and paying some employees to return to the U.S. from overseas to handle the paperwork.

How long is the wait to receive a renewed existing passport rather than applying for a new one? I'm going back to San Jose with three friends on September 13th. One of them sent in his renewal form & old passport in the beginning of this month, which will give him a 5-6 week window to get the new one in the mail. Now he's shitting bricks that he won't have his new passport in time.

Good post, Wit. A lot guys, including myself, wait till the last minute to renew. I went thru this in April so I can offer some suggestions:

1. Obviously, renew as early as possible. I think you can renew anytime within 1 year of the expiration date. I may be wrong, but I don't think they will let you renew it more than 1 year before it expires.

2. If you live in/near a city that has a Regional Passport Center, use it. This is an official passport office, not a private firm. The only catch is that you have to be travelling within 2 weeks. If you're not travelling that soon, they will tell you to renew by mail. You make the appt, go in, and have a passport in about 3-4 hours. The cost is $127 ($67 + 60 expedite fee).
http://travel.state.gov/passport/about/ ... s_913.html

3. You can renew thru a private passport agency. They can get you a new passport in as little as 48 hours. But they will charge you accordingly. Under 4 bus days is like $250 (in addition to the $127 gov't fee). If you can wait 7-14 days, it's only about $70 more.
Just google "passport renewal" and you'll get a list of them.

And shitting bricks he should be with the current backlog. Strongly advise that he see if he can somehow pay the extra fee and upgrade to expedited service at this point.

I didn't actually need to renew mine until April of next year, but I went ahead and did it now because I need to apply for a Brazil Visa shortly, and one of the requirements is that you have at least six months remaining on your passport at the time you apply.

Being that I have Labor Day in CR also coming up, I didn't feel it was worth the risk to wait on the normal process, so I paid the expedite fee and got my new passport back in less than three weeks. It's another $60, but worth it for the peace of mind.

QUESTION: I'm arriving in CR with just under four months left on my passport and plan to renew at the American Embassy...any idea on how long that takes?? Figure it's gotta be fairly quick because they have to have a way to replace lost passports etc... Course, I'll have three months so hope it won't take longer. Any others having done this who can share the experience???

Back to the original thread... My parents are traveling soon and renewed both their passports. As an experiment, my Mom renewed hers (expired in the '70s) with the expidited fee and received it in two weeks. My Dad did the regular service (his was NOT expired but was an official governement passport he gave up when he retired from Gov. service) and he received it in six weeks.
I think it has more to do with the government warning people it may take longer to cover themselves IN CASE it ends up being longer. Most people I've talked to haven't had near the wait the government says.

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Up to a month or so ago the turn around time at the Consulate for a renewal was about 10 working days. I do not know if this still the case. I would be more concerned if they will do a renewal for you. Everyone I know who has had their passports renewed in CR was residing here. Not sure if that is an actual requirement or not.

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Alex Levine

Had my last renewal done in Panama...turn around 2 days 1.5 yrs ago. A friend of mine was just told 12 days normal process at Panama embassy..or 3 day expediting for emergencies. Probably better/faster offshore than back in the US of A.

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