You can't travel internationally without a passport, but obtaining one is not the simplest process. To help you understand what is going on and what we expect to happen in the future, our highly-experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here’s the latest...
The State Department is facing a deepening backlog in processing passports. It’s now taking 10 to 13 weeks for passport applications to be completed, not including mailing time, says the agency. That’s up from pre-pandemic timelines of six to eight weeks. The delays are being blamed on a surge in international travel. The State Department is hiring more agents and approving tens of thousands of hours of overtime to process an expected 25 million passports this year, versus 22 million in 2022.
