For many Americans, submitting your passport application during the week can range from a minor annoyance to well-nigh impossible. Unfortunately, many places that accept passport applications are closed during the weekend. To make it easier for families to apply for a passport, three years ago the federal government began holding “Passport Day in the USA.” The event, which allowed people to submit passport applications at federally operated regional passport agencies as well as some local passport acceptance facilities, was an instant success. Tens of thousands of people came out to take advantage of the extra operating hours and apply for passports.
This year, Passport Day was originally scheduled for April 9th. However, due to the potential for a government shutdown, the event had to be cancelled at the last minute. Fortunately, it’s been rescheduled, with travel blog Jaunted reporting that the date is now set for September 17th.
If you decide to submit your passport application during Passport Day, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, you need to allow enough time before your trip to receive your passport back in the mail. Normally, passport agency offices handle emergency passport requests for people traveling within the next 3 weeks, often issuing documents the same day or overnight.
However, on previous Passport Days, emergency passport applications were not accepted during the extra Saturday hours. Instead, applications were subject to standard processing times of six weeks for regular processing and three weeks for expedited processing with an additional $60 fee.
For faster service without the need to travel to a passport agency office, you can use a private passport expediting service like RushMyPassport. If you need to apply in person for your passport, you will have to go to your nearest post office (or another location that accepts passport applications) and get your application “sealed,” but then all you have to do is send it to us. We hand-deliver it to the Department of State, for processing in as little as 24 hours.
Submit your passport application today!