[RoboVil]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I just renewed my passport using the online application. I submitted the application on July 9 and received the passport on July 18, only 9 days later. I paid $160 for the passport book and passport card. According to the State Department website, the current processing time is 4 to 6 weeks. I had the opportunity to pay an extra $60 plus $23.36 for expedited processing service and expedited mail service. In my case, that would have been a waste of $83.36. In my opinion, the expedited costs are basically worthless.

Thank you for the information. I will be renewing my passport in August. Good to know that expediting is not needed.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Janie123

You send in your old passport and new pictures.

If you renew online, there is no need to send in anything. You just upload a new digital photo.

[Mrfriendly]

We recently purchased and renewed our passports online. They came much quicker than we thought we did not pay pay for expedite.
The one challenge was taking an approved photo of ourselves on our phone and upload to the website. My wife kept smiling too much.

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Go to this website to see if you are eligible to renew online:

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

In my case, I already had a valid passport that was expiring. I only had to answer a few questions and upload a new digital photo. That was it. I could have prepared the photo using my smart phone for free, but I decided to pay $18 at Walgreens. They took the photo and emailed a digital copy to me immediately. Uploading it was very easy.

You can also get your passport photos at Walmart for $7.64. We recently did this for international driving permits. Ready in about 20 minutes.

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by wikolia

Thank you for posting this info. I will be renewing mine next month and was relieved to hear how quick and painless your experience was. I will need to renew Global Entry after my new passport arrives and add a new visa to the passport...all within an 8 week window....

I just renewed my Global Entry earlier this month, and was stunned at how quick the turnaround was. Renewed online, and had an approval message 48 hours later. I received the new card in the mail 4 days after that.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by NoMo50

You can also get your passport photos at Walmart for $7.64. We recently did this for international driving permits. Ready in about 20 minutes.

Not exactly. For $7.64, Walmart will provide 2 copies of printed, paper passport photos. But for the online application, you need a digital photo that you can upload onto the application. Walmart either does not provide a digital photo, or, if they do, they charge more for it. Walgreens will provide 2 printed copies, and they will send you a free email digital copy of the photo, that is ready to upload. No additional work required.

[Rocksnap]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Go to this website to see if you are eligible to renew online:

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

In my case, I already had a valid passport that was expiring. I only had to answer a few questions and upload a new digital photo. That was it. I could have prepared the photo using my smart phone for free, but I decided to pay $18 at Walgreens. They took the photo and emailed a digital copy to me immediately. Uploading it was very easy.

My PP was expired for 9 months when I finally got off my butt to get a photo at Walgreens. I didn’t get the memo on them furnishing a digital copy too.
Snail mailed mine in. Didn’t need expedited service.
Received the new PP in 5 weeks from mailing.

[Spartan86]

Originally Posted by NoMo50

I just renewed my Global Entry earlier this month, and was stunned at how quick the turnaround was. Renewed online, and had an approval message 48 hours later. I received the new card in the mail 4 days after that.

Yes, it’s very quick. Even if it doesn’t take too long the act of submitting an approved renewal prior to expiration automatically extends eligibility.

[mbene]

We just took the picture with our phone and downloaded it. We had to move to a different wall in the house because the site didn't like the first one we used.
No need to go get the picture, as long as you have a whitish wall, our wall is sort of off white, for your background. If the site doesn't like the picture it will tell you, find a brighter wall and take another one.
We did it on our laptop. Shot the picture on my phone, emailed it to myself then opened email on the laptop and downloaded the picture.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Not exactly. For $7.64, Walmart will provide 2 copies of printed, paper passport photos. But for the online application, you need a digital photo that you can upload onto the application. Walmart either does not provide a digital photo, or, if they do, they charge more for it. Walgreens will provide 2 printed copies, and they will send you a free email digital copy of the photo, that is ready to upload. No additional work required.

It's not like there's any hardship involved in scanning the paper photo to your cloud-based photo gallery. I imagine that iPhones all have this ability, I know Androids do. You can also scan to file with a tablet, or with a laptop with a camera, or with an actual printer at home that has a built-in scanner (though that does involve more effort and can be a pain to edit to the right size and dimensions).

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

It's not like there's any hardship involved in scanning the paper photo to your cloud-based photo gallery. I imagine that iPhones all have this ability, I know Androids do. You can also scan to file with a tablet, or with a laptop with a camera, or with an actual printer at home that has a built-in scanner (though that does involve more effort and can be a pain to edit to the right size and dimensions).

Scanning a paper photo to a cloud gallery makes no sense to me. If I wanted to do it myself, I would have taken the photo myself and created an uploadable digital file for free. I didn't need a paper photo. I went to Walgreens because they sent me a digital file that was already in the correct format (size, background, etc.) so that I could just upload the file to the State Department application. No editing required. To me, that was well worth the $18 that I paid to Walgreens. Easy peasy.