After years of long waits, Americans can expect their passports to arrive in a more timely fashion from now on.
“Passport processing times have returned to our pre-pandemic norm. As of December 18, 2023, passport applications will be processed within 6-8 weeks for routine service and 2-3 weeks for expedited service,” the State Department said in a statement.
Historic numbers of passport applications have been filed in the last year.
“Between October 2022 and September 2023 (the federal fiscal year), the Department of State issued over 24 million passport books and cards,” the department stated.
Americans have experienced long waiting times for their passport applications and renewals since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rachel Arndt, deputy assistant secretary for passport services at the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, admitted in July 2021 during a briefing on passport processing times that it took up to 18 weeks to get a new passport or renew one.
“Currently our wait time for both new and renewal routine passport applications can be up to 18 weeks, and that includes our processing time, the initial internal intake of the applications, and mailing,” she said.
Even an expedited application took up to 12 weeks back then.
The delays caused many applicants to contact their Congress members for help and, as a result, the lawmakers pressed the State Department.
“We are writing to express our concerns with the backlogs in passport services our constituents are experiencing at the New York Passport Agency,” several lawmakers from New York wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in July 2023. “These completely unacceptable delays have caused our constituents to lose out on the cost of airline fees and vacations, even after some constituents paid an extra fee to expedite their application.”
In response to the overwhelming volume of calls received, the State Department has tripled the number of lines at the National Passport Information Center and recruited and trained additional staff to handle the influx. The center also added weekend service on Saturdays and Sundays to meet the surging demand.
Caden Pearson contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
