The State Department issued a statement Monday saying passport processing times have "returned to our pre-pandemic norm" and will be processed within 6-8 weeks for routine service and 2-3 weeks for expedited service.
The department experienced massive delays over the summer, calling it "unprecedented demand". In July 2023, the State Department said the processing time for a routine passport was 10-13 weeks with that time dropping to 7-9 weeks if you paid to expedite it. Those times did not account for the shipping of applications or finalized passports.
From October 2022 to September 2023 (the federal fiscal year), the State Department said they "issued over 24 million passport books and cards - the highest amount ever in our nation’s history."
When faced with unprecedented passport demand in 2023, we set a goal to get back to pre-pandemic processing times before the end of the year. We're happy to report that we've met that goal. Passport processing times are now 6-8 weeks for routine processing & 2-3 weeks for… pic.twitter.com/oJc9dxjU1D
— Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) December 18, 2023
