Backlog of passports causing travel headaches

0
607 views

Posted:

Updated:

Travelers are experiencing delays in obtaining passports this summer. The backlog has become so bad that one legislator has called it a crisis.

Even expensive expedited processes can take months.

The State Department’s online passport renewal system has stopped working. It was halted months ago due to a technical problem, officials said.

For mail-in renewals, the average time to renew is 10 to 13 weeks or 7 to 9 weeks for expedited services.

State Department officials issued more than 20,000,000 passports in the past year, and they are on track to surpass that record this year.

Some congressional leaders want to fix this problem as soon as possible.

Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said that “we need to go back to the old approach, where you could walk in without an appointment.”