You May Be Able To Renew Your Passport Online

If you are trying to renew an expired or soon to expire passport, you may be in luck. A new pilot program has been created to renew passports online. The State Department is seeking up to 25,000 applicants to test out the functionality of the new program in August on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are some stipulations, however. To qualify for online renewal, applicants must be:

• At least 25 years old
• Renewing a passport that was issued between 2007 and 2013 (it needs to have been valid for 10 years, but be no more than 15 years old)
• Renewing a passport that is set to expire within one year or has already expired

Note that you must be in possession of the expired passport and you cannot make any changes to name or gender.

To take advantage of this pilot program, you need to create a MyTravelGov account . You then wait until notification that your account has been registered and then you can proceed with the application.

The State Department said it expects the processing times for the online renewals to be the same as passports renewed by mail, meaning 8 to 11 weeks for “routine” processing and 5 to 7 weeks for “expedited” service. People with plans to to travel internationally within the next 5 weeks are not recommended to participate.