Issuance of U.S. Passports Overseas

For Passport Renewals

U.S. Embassies and Consulates will forward the approved passport applications to the National Passport Center by express mail and the new passports will be returned in the same way.

Processing time from application to delivery for the new passports should be no more than 2 weeks depending on the type of mail service.

While the added document security will benefit all Americans, especially those overseas residents who are frequent travelers, we recognize that this procedure will take more time than our previous same day service.

We ask that you take the time to please check your passports to see when they expire and be sure that you apply for replacements well in advance.

For Emergency Passport Issuance

Emergency passports will be limited in validity, and cannot be extended.

Emergency Passport holders will be required to exchange their limited validity passports for a full-validity photo-digitized passport upon completion of their emergency travel, either through passport facilities in the U.S. or U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad.

The State Department remains committed to ensuring that American citizens receive the most secure documents in a timely manner.