The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has announced that processing times for passports have been sped up by two weeks.
Previously, the Department committed to a processing time of six to eight weeks, now down to a four-to-six-week period.
A Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the reduced passport processing times became effective on Oct. 3.
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“In September 2024, we fully launched our Online Passport Renewal system, allowing millions of Americans to now renew their passports online from the comfort of their homes,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “We project nearly half of all passport renewal applications in 2025 will be online.”
“By moving away from the traditional paper application process, we are embracing digital transformation to offer a more efficient and convenient passport renewal experience for Americans.”
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The change “showcases our progress to continuously improve the efficiency, equity, and accessibility of the U.S. passport application process,” said the Department in a press release.
“For Americans in need of expedited service for U.S. passports, our processing remains 2‑3 weeks. These processing times begin when an application is received by the State Department and do not include mailing times,” said the release.
About 48% of Americans hold a U.S. passport with 160 million valid U.S. passports in circulation, according to the State Department.
In September, Secretary Blinken made the announcement that passport holders would be able to submit an online form to renew their passports, no longer requiring a mail-in application.
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The process was rolled out to speed up passport processing and is available for citizens seeking to renew their travel documents up to one year before expiration, or within five years after expiration.
“We transformed Passport Services from top to bottom. From engaging change management and customer experience strategists to hiring hundreds of passport adjudicators (the most ever) and focusing on modernization, we made it more efficient and more convenient for all Americans to receive passport services,” the Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
In 2022, 80.7 million Americans traveled internationally with 18.7 million people traveling in the second quarter of 2023, according to the International Trade Administration.
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment.