Need a passport? You’re in luck — now that wait times are shorter

Among the many aspects of travel that the pandemic disrupted, one concern was more bureaucratic — but no less frustrating — for some Americans: an enormous backlog of U.S. passport applications.

As recently as last summer, the estimated wait time to get a passport was as long as 13 weeks — nearly twice as long as the pre-pandemic benchmark. Even expedited service took seven to nine weeks.

Now, for the first time since March 2020, processing times have returned to pre-pandemic norms, according to an update on the State Department website, with six to eight weeks for routine service, and two to three weeks for expedited service.

Through August, many Americans expressed fury and frustration that passport application wait times were disrupting their summer plans. Many across the United States were writing federal lawmakers for help, while others wrote directly to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Some officials described the situation as a “crisis” and an “unacceptable failure.”

The State Department, which issues and renews passports for U.S. citizens, has faced a number of challenges since the start of the pandemic. Staffing shortages caused extensive delays in the application process, including a scarcity of in-person appointments, while a surge of Americans hoping to travel led to a record number of applications and renewal requests.

David Alwadish, the founder of itseasy.com, a passport and visa expediting service, called the backlog of passport applications a “perfect storm.”

“Prior to the summer, it was awful,” he said. “They have corrected it, but that was the worst I have ever seen it.”

Between October 2022 and September 2023, the State Department issued more than 24 million passports — the highest number it has ever issued during a fiscal year, according to the agency.

To address the backlog and bring down application processing times, the State Department has increased staffing by 12% since December 2022, with hundreds of more people still in the process of being hired, according to a spokesperson. And between January and October 2023, the department authorized more than 30,000 hours of overtime each month.

Dr. Barry G. Simonson, a 65-year-old orthopedic surgeon from Long Island, N.Y., planned a vacation to Mexico with his wife this month.

But in late October, with the trip approaching, Simonson looked at the passports. “Oh, my God, they’re expiring,” he recalled thinking.

He immediately sought out itseasy.com, which warned that the process had been taking months, he said. But their passports arrived in about two to three weeks, Simonson said, and by early January, they were on a beach in Mexico.