Travelers rejoice: The State Department hasannouncedthat online passport renewal is now available to all.
(I figured it out, and I’ll give you some tips below.)
How to renew your U.S. passport online
First, head toTravel.State.Gov/renewonline.
There, youll see a list of steps:
Confirm you meet the requirements.
type your most recent passport info.
Enroll in email updates.
Youll need to create an account atlogin.gov, then go back totravel.state.govto begin renewing your passport.
At the end of the process, it will send you topay.govto make a credit or debit card payment.
Who is eligible to renew their passport online?
Theres a long list of requirements, so confirm to read through them all.
Among the important ones:
You are aged 25 or older.
Your passport either expires in the next year, or has not been expired for more than five years.
(Another way of putting it: Your old passport was issued between nine and 15 years ago.)
You are not changing your name, gender, date of birth, or place of birth.
You have your old passport in front of you.
I only had a book, so I was only able to renew the book.
How long does it take to renew your passport online?
The processing time is officially the same as for a renewal by mailsix to eight weeks.
(That said, the State Department says it’s processing them a lot quicker these days.)
You cant use the expedited service online.
I got my passport 17 days after submitting the online request for renewalso about two and a half weeks.
That’s less than half the time I was asked to budget.
I was pleasantly surprised that the statement about quick processing was correct.
How much does it cost to renew your passport online?
The fee is $130 for a regular or large passport book.
(it’s possible for you to see the fullfee schedule here.)
Can you apply for a passport for the first time online?
Nope, this service is for renewals only.
Your old passport is automatically canceled when you put in the request for the new one.
So see to it you apply for renewal when you dont have international travel coming up.
(Or use theexpedited service, which is not available online.)
What information will I need to renew my passport online?
(I got my previous set done at a drugstore.)
The photo also needs to be taken from far enough away that it includes your shoulders and upper torso.
I had a harder time with this than I expected.
Aplainlight background, with no objects visible behind me?
I tried a few walls in my house before I found one that would work, in a bathroom.
They say no selfies, but I put my phone on a tripod and took a video.
(Then I replayed the video, paused it, and took a screenshot.)
My finished photo looked exactly like the examples they gaveor so I thought.
When you upload your photo, the system automatically crops it.
Even though the examples are all tall rectangular photos, the automatic crop is a tight square.
