![]() Some applicants-first-timers and those whose passports were lost or stolen, for instance-have to go down a more annoying route, standing in line at a physical passport acceptance facility. Most passport holders can do so by mail, which involves printing out forms, filling them out, enclosing photographs (which must be up to State Department snuff), sending in the old passport, and paying up via check or money order. The current methods of renewing passports are indeed time-intensive and outdated. "There's no reason, frankly, that someone who already has a passport and just needs to renew it shouldn't be able to do that online and not have to come into a passport center with all the resources that requires," he said. In a March budget hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken named another important factor behind the current delays: archaic processing practices. And wait times have ballooned accordingly. It's now receiving half a million passport applications every week, up 30 percent from the same time last year, per The New York Times. In FY 2022, the State Department issued nearly 22 million passports, a record high. Many State Department employees were let go or reassigned to other duties after pandemic travel restrictions caused passport demand to crater. "Almost 1.8 million applications that were in the pipeline just sat there for three months," reported The Washington Post. Once COVID-19 and government restrictions hit, most State Department employees began teleworking and couldn't process passport applications at home for security reasons. ![]() Pandemic-era problems have helped cause previous and current backlogs. As of March 24, routine processing was taking 10 to 13 weeks, while expedited processing was taking seven to nine weeks. But thanks to delays at the State Department, many are finding that their documents won't be ready in time for summer vacations. ![]() With international travel finally rebounding from COVID-era lows, Americans are renewing their passports in huge numbers.
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