I renewed my UK passport from 6000 miles away in sunny CA. Took a week for it to arrive. Just been to the post office to renew the kids US passport which requires both parents to be there or notarized documents to say why not. Estimated delivery is 14 weeks.<p>My (US) wife continues to be in awe of the UK services compared to the US. I just wish the bus would come on time when I'm over there...
For anyone not reading the article, if you have a non-expired passport, you can already do everything online. Except! You need to mail in your current passport.<p>There are also expedited processing options. The ones I saw last year weren't terribly expensive.<p>Edit: Fastest is 3 days, if you have emergency that qualifies. <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html" rel="nofollow">https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fas...</a>
This is part of the White House’s executive order on improving digital service delivery.<p>> Sec. 4. Agency Actions to Improve Customer Experience. (a) The Secretary of State shall design and deliver a new online passport renewal experience that does not require any physical documents to be mailed.<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/12/13/executive-order-on-transforming-federal-customer-experience-and-service-delivery-to-rebuild-trust-in-government/" rel="nofollow">https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-action...</a>
It's nice not to have to provide external references to renew your passport. Canadian passport holders have to provide two references to renew their Canadian passport. I'm a birth citizen and have never lived anywhere else. And my reference couldn't be family members. As an introvert, it wasn't easy, but I managed to find two people.<p>The Canadian government should abolish the requirement to provide references to renew a passport. It's pointless and creates a burden for people who are not extroverts with dozens of friends.
Near the end of last year, I had to renew my passport that had expired. I had to travel and was in a sweet spot window where I couldn't renew it and get it in time and I couldn't just go to a passport office and get one.<p>I ended up having to drive to El Paso, which was the only passport office that was open in the entire United States! I had to wait until a few days before my flight. There were people from all over staying in a hotel waiting for their passport. They had standby flights to leave once they got it. I met people from California, Arizona, Michigan, New York, and Florida. It was totally ridiculous.
Next make the fees non-extortionate.<p>My kid's Irish passport costs €25 to renew. Her US passport is €130.<p>We wouldn't even bother with the US one except that it's illegal for her to enter the US on anything but a US passport. If we showed up with her Consular Report of Birth Abroad (which proves her US citizenship) could they legally refuse her entry to the US? I don't know.<p>But €130 to enter a country of which you're a citizen is annoying.
I went through this process the other day with an expired passport and it took two weeks from submitting my documents online to getting a new passport and passport card. I had paid for expedited processing and shipping. Overall a great experience.
I renewed my Indian passport 8000 miles away in California. The process took me around 10 days, no physical visits necessary. Honestly, I am quite impressed at the Indian passport services these days , both in the country and abroad.
<i>Aisde</i>: If you apply for a passport for the very first time, does it require someone to countersign your application? Or some means to verify you?<p>For example, in the UK, we have no national ID card. So, first-time passport applications and photos must be signed by someone else (the ‘countersignatory’) to prove the identity of the person applying.<p>(From GOV.UK) Your countersignatory must:<p>- have known you for at least 2 years<p>- be able to identify you, for example they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows you professionally)<p>- be ‘a person of good standing in their community’ or work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession (<i>there is a accepted occupations for countersignatories</i>)<p>The countersignatory signs one of you photos and application. As far I'm aware, there is no real way to verify the countersignatory.<p>How are brand new passports issued in other countries when identity is required?
Here in Finland I can order a passport or ID card online, just need to add a photo to system. But now I need to go to police station to give sample of handwriting and possibly update my fingerprints... Waste of time. They already have both, but those are too old...
The whole paper process was foolish anyway - you go online to fill out an application, which then prints a bar code on the paper for them to scan. (They don't actually read the text on the form, it's all by the barcode.)<p>They scan the photo you send in anyway, and then print it on the passport. So they don't actually need you to ever so carefully make sure the photo is the right size.<p>It's like the joke about printing a document, then taking a picture of it on a wooden table: <a href="https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Web_0_0x2e_1" rel="nofollow">https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Web_0_0x2e_1</a><p>Just upload the info, upload a digital photo, and cut out all the paper.
The passport process in the USA is beyond awful. I just had to renew passports for my three kids, and my wife. It took a call to my local house of representatives office (who referred me to a different rep) to make it happen after 6 months.<p>Anything to do with the government is beyond awful.<p>From a country that practically invented modern software, modern SaaS solutions, modern mobile apps, it's a total disgrace.
I am super paranoid about passports since when I got my first one in 2020, USPS delivered it to the wrong house. They never got it back. So there is a passport of me out there in someone's hands.<p>I had it cancelled and got a new one issued, but who knows how often just my photo ID is being used :S. And the fact that they have all the info from my passport.
I just renewed my passport completely online through their beta program, and it was amazing. Only about two weeks from when I submitted the form to my new passport arriving. Hopefully that's the rough timeline for everyone going forward, but I wonder if they are able to process things faster right now due to lower volume.
Hopefully they'll accept these ones. A few border entries ago, CBP told me they recognized my US passport but they weren't going to let me in anyway. Several hours and interrogations later they finally admitted they had to let in a US citizen, "but remember we can cancel your passport."<p>LOL.
This change will be quite welcome. The most difficult part of my last renewal was to find a working stapler in order to attach the passport photo. The experience had me questioning whether we are really living in 2022.
When I got mine a few years ago, it was a process. Mailing in forms. Going to get photos taken and having to mail physical copies in. Waiting for weeks.