Well DANG. We stopped by AAA this afternoon and starting looking at Mexico trip options. We came home, booked some United frequent flyer tickets…. then sigh…. cancelled a few minutes later when I remembered to double-check on my passport expiration.
What is the best method to renew an expired passport?. Mine is just a few weeks past its 1/22/2022 date. I’ve heard horror stories about waiting past due date. But per travel.state.gov I have a hope that not too bad since less than 15 years old. We’ve canned the Mexico dream for this winter, so turn around time is not a concern.
I don’t think there will be a problem with it being expired. There have been delays getting passports due to covid so keep that in mind. It is much better than a year ago. I heard nightmare stories then of 6 months and longer.
Having done this in the past year but within the time line, I have a few suggestions.
Make sure you use a photo that is taken correctly. I made the stupid mistake of mirror imaging my photo (we took, don’t ask). I had to request and pay for a new passport.
I paid for the speedy time, and the return postage, and for a passport card. I almost didn’t add them all together when paying.
I just had Costco take my photo — they know how to do it and we’ve never had a problem. It’s $6 for 4 photos, o think. AAA also takes photos for passports. We kept the 2 spares in case we ever need them for visas or something. It didn’t seem to take unduly long—several weeks. We renewed my mom’s for ID by mail. It was expired. No big deal.
@Colorado_mom hopefully you can get a passport appt somewhere (assume you’re in Colo?). Check with local universities, in their study abroad offices, many process passports.
I’d stick with Walgreens or CVS for photos, they do them often.
My husband’s expired, he applied for a new one in early January. Expected return is 3-4 months, not much faster even if you pay for expedited.
My son’s passport expired last fall. We brought his photos, ID, expired passport and my checkbook to the local post office. They reviewed everything and we sent in his application the last week of December.
We received his new passport last week. I was shocked.
You can definitely renew your expired passport by mail. I did so in August of last year. I went to a place that did the pictures and made sure I completed the forms correctly and it was super easy. I also paid for the expedited service and it took maybe 3 weeks for me to receive my new passport.