After years of long waits, Americans can expect their passports to arrive in a more timely fashion from now on.
Historic numbers of passport applications have been filed in the past 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.
“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 at the time.
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 Antony Blinken in July. “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.
