The State Department on Tuesday reopened a temporary online portal for Americans to renew their passports – but the slots are likely to fill up quickly for the applicants who qualify. 

What You Need To Know

  • The State Department on Tuesday reopened a temporary online portal for Americans to renew their passports

  • The online portal aims to streamline the application process for both passport books and cards, though there are 10 requirements applicants must meet

  • Should individuals miss the online portal submission period, the State Department plans to open another round to the public come November 

It’s the third iteration – and second for members of the public – of a pilot program the department originally unveiled in August, when it allowed 25,000 individuals to register online to renew the government document. A previous February test run applied only to government employees and contractors, per the New York Times.

“We are temporarily opening our online renewal service to new customers beginning October 11,” a message on the State Department travel website, posted Tuesday, reads in part, though the site experienced a temporary outage on Wednesday due to unexplained technical issues. “Thank you for volunteering and testing our system during this pilot program.” 

The online portal aims to streamline the application process for both passport books and cards, though there are ten requirements applicants must meet in order to apply online instead of in-person or by mail. 

Applicants must be aged 25 years or older with a passport that either is or was valid for 10 years, the passport must have been issued between 2013 and 2017, applicants must live in the United States and must not be traveling internationally for at least six weeks from the date of submission.

Applicants also cannot change any identifying information in their renewal, must be applying for a tourist passport, must have the ability to pay with a credit/debit card or bank transfer and must have the ability to upload a digital passport photo in a .jpeg file format. 

Should individuals miss the online portal submission period, the State Department plans to open another round to the public come November. 

The first public application period closed in mid-September, when the department said it had reached its “monthly goal of accepting applications” and would be “temporarily closing down the online renewal service to new customers” until October. 

"We will continue to conduct limited pilot programs for the public in the leadup to the full public launch, anticipated next year," a State Department official told Spectrum News. "Our new online system will save Americans money, time and effort, making it much more convenient to renew their passports."

Currently, the processing times for online renewal applications are the same as for in-person or mailed applications. Routine renewal turnaround times are between 7 - 10 weeks, while expedited passports are processed between 4 - 6 weeks, not including mail time. 

The new system comes after President Joe Biden in December broadly directed his administration to overhaul the customer service experience between the general public and numerous federal services, actions that included ordering the secretary of state to “design and deliver a new online passport renewal experience that does not require any physical documents to be mailed.”

A State Department official said the agency is committed to Biden's directive, adding: "Delivering on this promise, we are working toward providing a secure online passport renewal option."

This article was updated to include a statement from a State Department official.