Getting A Passport In A Hurry Is About To Become Easier

With the summer travel season heating up, the U.S. State Department is making it easier to get a passport in a hurry.

This month, the State Department quietly opened a trial for online passport renewal and announced it will open six new passport agencies, bringing the total number of passport agencies and centers to 35 nationwide, not counting the over 7,400 public institutions like post offices and libraries that double as passport acceptance facilities throughout the United States. More than 99% of Americans already live within 25 miles of an acceptance facility.

The new agencies will open in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Orlando, Salt Lake City and San Antonio. No timeline has been provided regarding the opening of the new facilities. The State Department did not immediately reply to Forbes’ request for comment.

“Utah is experiencing rapid population growth as it becomes a center for global commerce and tourism—as well as home base to thousands of Latter-day Saints who embark on worldwide religious missions each year,” said Utah Senator Mitt Romney in a statement, noting that he’s been pushing for a passport agency in Utah for three years. “I could not be more thrilled.”

These new passport agencies will be different from ordinary acceptance facilities in several ways. Think of them as the emergency fast track, providing same-day services to those with “urgent travel to a foreign country in the next 14 calendar days, or need a foreign visa in the next 28 calendar days,” per the State Department’s website.

Unlike acceptance facilities, which take walk-ins, you need an appointment to enter a passport agency building. You must show printed proof—flight, cruise or hotel reservation, for example—that you have an international trip planned within two weeks. In addition, you’ll pay the $60 expedite fee on top of the normal application fees.

News of the new passport agencies comes as demand for international travel is at an all-time high. Today 48% of Americans hold passports, compared to just 5% in 1990, according to the State Department. Last year, the U.S. issued a record-breaking 24 million passport books and cards—a 78% jump from just a decade earlier.

In the first five months of 2024, Americans made 28.2 million international trips, according to data from the National Travel & Tourism Office (NTTO), the agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that tracks tourism statistics. That’s an 11% jump from the 25.4 million trips taken to foreign countries last year during the same period.

During the height of the Covid pandemic, the wait time for a new passport grew as long as 18 weeks. Even last year, the turnaround time was eight to 11 weeks for a standard passport renewal. Today the backlog is gone, with current wait times back to pre-pandemic norms: six to eight weeks for standard service and expedited service of the little blue book in as little as two weeks.