TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Passport backlog surges to 2.2M as applicants wait up to 24 weeks

Link to Article


If your passport is expiring anytime in the near future, apply very early. This backlog will likely continue to grow.

Thanks for posting. Fortunately, ours don't expire until 2024, so hopefully by then, everyone will have renewed!

I hope that this doesn't affect anyone's travel. I saw the article and wanted to post it as a reminder for those whose passports might be expiring in the near future.

I'm pretty nervous. I sent my renewal off on July 8, 16 weeks prior to next travel date. I can't even check status for six weeks. I did pay for expedited. Fingers crossed.

Linda, we sent in Ian’s passport for expedited on July 6 and it was already showing up in the system as “in process” by Saturday July 10. We did mail it Priority Overnight and also paid for expedited service and overnight return shipping. Also worried! Our trip is in 12 weeks. Fingers crossed.

Dustin

Not to long ago, a poster said his passport was expiring in December, I had advised that he get the paperwork started now. Some snickered. Not so funny now is it!!

One family member initiated their first-time passport in early May and had it in hand by end of May. So, mileage may very.

Good to know. I just checked again and they are now saying in process as of July 13; USPS tracking says it was delivered July 9. Oh well. It's now Hurry Up and Wait. Crossing my fingers for both Ian and me.

Linda--best wishes!

In Vermont you can get your passport the same day?

No, I don't think so.

She might be thinking of going to a Federal Passport Office like I did in Miami for a renewal on an expired passport. But that was years ago for me.

But, there is no guarantee that they will approve the application. All, and I will say it again, ALL in person appearances at regional State Department offices are by appointment only. Absolutely no walk-ins. If it is travel related, the appointment must be within 3 days of your travel and you must show proof of travel when scheduling your appointment.

** Regional passport agencies are offering extremely limited in-person services if you need to travel internationally in the next 72 hours. Those with qualified life-or-death emergencies are prioritized.
Life-or-death emergencies are serious illnesses, injuries, or deaths in your immediate family (parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, sibling, and grandparent) that require you to travel outside the United States within 72 hours (3 business days).

Yep. Times have definitely changed.

If you go to St. Albans on Canadian border. Not a busy office. Some people have driven 5-6 hours and stayed overnight.

"Quote" command does not seem to be working???

I just did it.

How? Do you just click on "quote"?

My wife sent in her passport for renewal mid April for our trip in October and has not received it yet. Fortunately she has three more months as the trip is the end of October. When it was submitted we understood it to take 8 to 10 weeks which has passed.

YES

Well....up until last week you could..... https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...0-e597-11eb-88c5-4fd6382c47cb_story.html

Bluesfan--yes, the same as it always has been.

Not working for me. I rebooted and logged out and back in. Still does not work.

Dunno. I suspect maybe it's a browser issue. We have not had anyone else complain about it.