When it comes to passport issues, one thing is important: travelers should carefully review their processing times before planning trips.
In particular, in the United States, the process can be a slow process and it can take several weeks to receive it.
However, as a result of this situation, the State Department recently announced that waiting times have decreased. This way, Americans will receive their passports two weeks faster than before.
The statement issued by the State Department said that they are investing in supporting and modernizing technologies, increasing the staff level by 10%. Additionally, they already have hundreds of additional employees in the hiring process.
But what are the new wait times for US passports?
For standard services passport processing times can be 8 to 11 weeks. While for express service, it will be 5 to 7 weeks. All of this has been implemented since October 2 of this year.
Here it is important to mention that the processing time starts on the day the State Department receives the application. Therefore, shipping time is not included.
Additionally, regarding delivery times, it may take up to 2 weeks for applications to arrive by mail at their destination. Also, it can take up to 2 weeks for a person to receive their passport in the mail after it is printed.
For this reason, the State Department recommends that people interested in traveling apply for their passport six or nine months in advance. This way, they also have enough time to plan their trips.
Regarding passport costs, for adults over 16 years of age applying for the first time, there are two prices. One is the application fee and the other is the acceptance fee.
There is also the case of those who want to receive their passport in advance. If so, these people will have to pay the expedited processing service with an additional cost of $60.00 USD.
