In the not-to-distant past (prior to September 18, 2024), applying for a new passport was a chore. To get a new passport, applicants usually needed to go online, fill-in or download and complete a printed form, obtain a passport-style photograph, draft a check (from a checkbook!), photocopy identification documents and include their old passport in a package that was to be mailed to one of several U.S. Department of State - Passport Agency Offices. If you were lucky, you got to make an appointment to sit in line at a U.S. Post Office and wait to speak with a sometimes unpleasant bureaucrat to help you with the above. Well, no more!

In 2023, the U.S. State Department produced 24 million passport products, with approximately 10 million of those being passport renewals. Now, many of those 10 million applications can be filed entirely online. The expectation is that passport renewal processing times may be reduced by 30 to 40 percent (currently standing at 7 to 9 weeks without expedited processing). There are certain limitations as to who can use the online systems. Applicants must:

• Currently reside in the U.S. or a U.S. territory (not currently available to expats).
• Be at least 25 years old.
• Have a passport that either expired after 2019 or will expire in the next year. 
• Unfortunately, one must plan ahead to use the online filing site because it does not accommodate expedited applications. Furthermore, the online renewal option is unavailable to those making changes to their name, gender, or other biographic data.

To renew your passport, go here. The online passport application system is certainly a welcome service long promised by the U.S. Department of State. It shows us how far passports have come since the dawning of the passport era on humankind.

The first passport was referenced in 450 BC in the book of Nehemiah, a largely unfamiliar passage of the Bible. In it, Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, writes a letter so that Nehemiah could pass without problems towards the land of Judea, where it is supposed that he would go to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The king gave Nehemiah a letter to show "the governors of the province beyond the river" requesting safe passage while he traveled through his lands. A similar document was issued with the name, age, and other characteristics of the bearer in Ancient China to allow the passport holder to move freely in areas under Chinese jurisdiction.

There were others throughout history, but let’s progress to the modern passport – the one with which we are familiar, the one that you perhaps lost when you put it in that place you were definitely going to remember, or mislaid during your last move, or maybe had lifted from your backpack by vagrants with little hands in front of the Duomo in Florence – that passport! This multi-page booklet dates from the end of World War I. After a war that bridged continents and engulfed dozens of countries, the resentments between the winners and the losers made the borders firm and well-guarded(ish). This was how the modern passport was born.

Now, one can go online and more easily apply for a U.S. passport renewal. If the online passport service had been available to Nehemiah, he might have gotten to Judea a lot more quickly!

If you have questions about the passport renewal process, please reach out to the Immigration Team or the Workplace Solutions lawyer you regularly work with.

This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. The reader should consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.