Passport Processing Time Frames
There are essentially four basic passport processing times that can vary from a day to two months. We provide detailed pages for specific needs (like renewing a passport, getting a new passport, etc), and while the fees may vary, they all generally follow the same processing time frames.
Standard Passport Processing
At the time of writing this, and as it has been for many years, the standard processing time is six to eight weeks. Sometimes they do come back faster than that, it is rare that they take longer. One thing to keep in mind is that this assumes the application goes through processing without any issues. Forgetting to sign your passport application, submitting bad photos and other issues could cause delays. If you are traveling in less than three months it is recommended that you upgrade to expedited passport processing to be safe.
Government Expedited Passport Processing
The processing time for government expedited passport service runs two to three weeks. The State Department charges an additional $60 service fee for any expedited processing passport applications. As mentioned above, this assumes that the processing goes off without a hitch. Submitting in accurate or incomplete materials could delay the passport application processing, so if you are traveling in less than a few weeks, your best option is to utilize a passport expediting service or appear in person at a US Passport Agency location.
Passport Service Passport Processing
Private passport expediting services generally offer services ranging from one day to three weeks. In addition to providing a faster processing option, they can also provide support during the process and review all documents for correctness prior to submitting to the State Department for passport processing. This helps considerably in catching small issues that might become larger problems down the road.
Personal Appearance Processing Time
Scheduling an appointment to visit a passport agency will in most cases result in the fastest processing options (if you are leaving in a matter of days) and is more cost effective that using an expediting service, however requires you to travel to a passport agency location, wait in line for your turn, and then return to the agency to pick up your passport.
Hot to Get a New Passport
Every day we help travelers get new passports quickly for emergency travel situations that come up. In order to get new passports quickly you will need to review the new passport requirements on our new US passport page. The detailed new passport requirements include gathering your birth certificate, a travel itinerary, US passport style photographs and a completed New US Passport Application form (DS-11). Our new passport instructions will walk you through the process and ensure that you submit the correct new passport documents in order to expedite your new us passport order.