Entry Level

Why travelers are waiting weeks or even months to receive a new passport or renewal

- Lark Gould

NEED TO GET a U.S. passport or renewal? Get in line. The understaffed and overwhelmed U.S. Passport Agency has been receiving a whopping 400,000 applications per week, breaking all records, and angry travelers are telling blood-curdling tales of canceled travel plans and high-dollar amounts lost to passports that never arrived after weeks of waiting.

The embattled State Department is pointing to the dramatic travel rebound from Covid-era lockdowns when agency workers were furloughed or let go. The sudden tsunami of staffing needs has yet to subside, but America’s mass travel wave continues to swell.