Glad it all worked out.
I sent in my application last week. Sent it priority because I wanted to track it. On Saturday, it shows that it left the sorting facility in Philadelphia. Does not show that it was delivered.
After reading your experience, I’m wondering if this is not unusual. That it doesn’t register as delivered. I’ll be on the lookout for the check to be cashed.
PASSPORT CARDS:
I mildly regret not paying an extra $30. The passport card is only good for land or sea travel (NOT air) to Canada, Mexico and some Carribean countries. But it could be handy to have an extra id that fits in wallet.
NOTE: It’s easy to get the passport card along with a new or renewed passport. Getting one later as an afterthought requires mailing in your existing passport. For obvious reasons, I am NOT inclined to try that 
deb922 - I bet your passport is OK.
Yesterday I received a very long, apologetic email from USPS. “… We get a list of tracking numbers received at the Department of State on a daily basis and we have tried to cross reference the tracking number you have provided with those numbers received and it did not come up as match. However, from the past experience, due to the high volume of envelopes coming in addressed to the Passport Agency, some of these envelopes miss the scanning process and end up at the ‘Passport Processing Center’…… “ Not sure why the final scan to close out on the “out for delivery” for passports is at Dept of State, not USPS. But that is how it seems to work.
At that point I checked again at passportstatus.state.gov, where status had previously showed “Not Available”. It had changed to “Approved”, with estimated arrival date 3/19 (ha, 7 days later than received). It came by priority mail, even though I had not paid extra for expedite.
Congratulations!
I just came back from the Post Office, having mailed my renewal materials via Priority Mail and also paid for expedited processing etc. I will circle back on that (hopefully) glorious day when I get my new passport back!
My passport had a few days left on it. Literally, “a few days”…
I haven’t traveled internationally since the pandemic, and I have no plans to do so. Still, it’s a vaguely uncomfortable feeling not having my passport at hand!
If you live in or move to a state with restrictive voter ID rules, a US passport would likely be of help.
It is also by itself a document that satisfies I-9 documentation when starting a new job in the US.
My daughter’s passport renewal also came today. It also came priority mail and I’m pretty sure didn’t pay for that as the check was for $130.
She sent in the paperwork in February, about the same time Colorado Mom did. Also, I noticed the passport was mailed from Dullas, VA (she renewed through Philly). Maybe they are having a different office (in DC?) help with the processing logjam?
I got my photos done and started the application. I really need to get this wrapped up this week. My passport is 4 years expired so has to be done this year or I start all over. I stopped filling in the application when it asked eye color. I don’t know what to put! Most people I talk to think I have blue eyes, but I have always said green. I believe my drivers license says hazel and my concealed carry permit says green because the clerk who took the application said they looked green to her. I think the outer iris is more blue and the inner iris is more green. I wonder if the inconsistency between documents makes any difference? I really need to pick a color and stick with it.
Maybe best to stick with the eye color on prior passport?
I don’t think they care, My hair changes color (naturally, of course) and so do some people’s eye color.
New passport book and new passport card came back separately slightly more than a month after mailing the application, check, photo, and old passport book and passport card.
Wow, I am really impressed. I got my new passport back today (complete with my AWFUL picture that I will have to live with for the next 10 years!).
No matter…it took less than 3 weeks (!) from the date of mailing to getting the new passport back today.
However, I noticed that two other things WERE NOT included: (a) my old passport, which is important for existing visas; and (b) the passport card that I applied for, solely so I could have another official ID. However, there was a brochure in the USPS expedited package that said they will send these separately. In other words, you get your new passport, your old passport, and your passport card in three separate mailings.
I guess there’s a security reason for this, but it seems like a bit of a waste of time and money.
Nonetheless, I am mega-impressed with the rapid turnaround to get the new passport (and truly despondent about my AWFUL picture)!
The old passport and other supporting documents have ALWAYS been returned separately. It will come in a plain envelop without any indication that it is from a govt agency. Don’t throw it away! Even my kids’ first passports (and all other kid passports since their can’t be renewed) came back in separate envelopes. For one of my kids I had to send in her foreign passport and her Certificate of Citizenship, a document that if lost cost about $300 at the time (now about $1500) to replace. I sweated that one out.
I finally got my picture and everything ready for my renewal. Went to the post office and the clerk (who I think was formerly on the East German weightlifting team) grumbled at me that the envelop was not flexible and couldn’t just be mailed, had to pay 3x as much. I said forget it and went to the kiosk and weighed it and paid the postage. Two days later it came to back to me postage due. I peeled off the stickers and the $1.36 I’d paid in postage and went to a different post office. The very nice clerk said “$1.36” I said I’d paid that but it came back. She said 'Oh, they should have just hand cancelled it for you." See, I knew that first clerk was just mean.
Now I wait. Hope mine comes in 3 weeks.
It LOOKS like they are moving quickly.
I recall renewing a passport in the late 1980s, and then again in 1990s and finally in the early 2000s and 2010s: in each of those cases, the old and new passports came together.
Yes: NEVER get rid of canceled passports. I had been traveling overseas a lot last decade to a particular country that never had an issue with my new passport. However, I had the great misfortune to take KLM on a flight to that country, and they refused to let me board since my visa to the other country was tied to my old passport, which was resting comfortably at home several thousands of miles away. I was delayed a day, but FINALLY got home after enormous hassle. So, absolutely: keep your old passports and make sure you have whatever passport your visa is tied to, in addition to your current passport if you are traveling no matter what people tell you. Different airports have differing standards.
Anyways, who cares! Absent the AWFUL picture, I am so happy to have my new passport. Prior to the pandemic, I traveled overseas a huge amount. I don’t have any set trips at the moment, but I am truly grateful that all limbs of the US government moved quickly on this.
Best of luck on getting yours. You should probably get it within a month tops (I paid extra for expedited service and mailing, just so I can have it in hand).
Some decades ago, I got the new and old back in the same envelope. But this is no longer the case, as noted on the State Department web pages.
Of the three envelopes (new passport, new passport card, old documents), the one the new passport card was in was the most non-descript. But the one with the old documents took the longest to come (a few weeks after the others).
Seems obvious that if the old passport has an unexpired visa that you intend to use, you need to
Not as obvious as you think.
I had traveled all over the world using numerous airlines, and NONE of them raised an issue. Indeed, the IATA visa database clearly showed I was fine.
However, good ole’ KLM (and possibly Lufthansa, based on further research, but I never had a problem there) was the problem. ETA: it was actually NOT the airlines…it was the airport causing the issue. Schiphol Airport, in the past, was notorious for this and research indicated that Frankfurt was too, although I didn’t personally experience it in FRA.
The country in question never bothered you about the visa that was not in the new passport?
Nope. Once I made my first entry with the old and new passport, they had recorded the connection. They had specifically told me there was NO NEED to carry the old passport, and the IATA visa database indicated the same. ETA: I had traveled all over the world like this back to that same country for more than a year. Never an issue except at Schiphol.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport was an altogether different situation, after having traveled numerous times with just the new passport.
After that disaster, don’t get me wrong: I’ll take every passport I ever had if there is any doubt!
Thanks to this thread, I applied for a new passport. I paid for the picture, rather than drive to AAA store. I didn’t realize I will be receiving the old passport in the future.
Glad to hear about the lag time. My new passport came last week but I’m still waiting on the old one.
(My picture is horrendous).