The Best Time To Renew Your Passport (& The Easiest Way To Do It)

With a few exceptions, you probably don't touch — or perhaps even think about — your passport until you're prepping for your next vacation abroad. Maybe you've tied the knot and want to drop your maiden name from it, or perhaps recent plastic surgery has you feeling like it's time for a new photo. The worst scenario, though, is realizing your passport expired just days before your trip. That's why it's smart to renew it well before it expires. How early, you ask? Aim for nine months in advance. And believe it or not, the easiest way to renew is still the old-school way: snail mail.

You likely already know by now that to enter some countries, your passport needs to be valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, or you risk being denied entry. Some airlines won't even let you board a plane if your passport is nearing expiration. The last thing you want is to rush to the airport with your bags packed, only to be turned away at the check-in counter. And sure, renewing can be a hassle, and it's easy to procrastinate (we get it). But since passport processing can sometimes drag on for months at a time, six months might not be enough of a cushion. You'd be doing yourself a favor if you started the renewal process around the nine-month mark. Even the State Department says so.

While it's now easier (and faster) than ever for people without passports to get one and for people with passports to renew theirs, it's still smarter to get it early than to be sorry. As of this writing, passport processing takes six to eight weeks for routine applications and two to three weeks for expedited ones. And that doesn't even include the time it takes for documents to crawl their way through the mail. It can take up to two weeks for your application to reach the processing center and about the same amount of time for your shiny new passport to land back in your hands.

Plus, delays can happen at any time, so being proactive is key. The State Department clearly states on its website: "Get a new passport at least 6-9 months before your current one expires, or ahead of planned travel." For reference, during the peak of the pandemic, people were waiting up to 18 weeks to get their new passports.

But if you like living life on the edge and insist on waiting until you absolutely have to, travel expert Scott Keyes suggests a nifty tip for calculating the last minute you should do it. "Look at the expiration date and subtract six months. So if it expires on Christmas ... you need to act like it expires on June 25," he told CBS News. "The thinking is that you might stay for a while and your passport won't be valid for your return flight to the U.S."

Unless your passport expired over 15 years ago, you've lost or mangled it, or it was issued when you were under 16, you don't need to renew it in person. Instead, do it via mail. Yes, even in this day and age, the State Department still recommends using good old snail mail (though they swear they're working on modernizing the process).

The good news is, it's fairly easy. You just need to submit a completed Form DS-82, a photo that meets the requirements, and a personal check or money order for the $130 renewal fee. If you want to opt for the expedited service, add $60, and if you need your new passport mailed within a day or two after issuance, pony up an extra $21.36.

But times are changing. The State Department has been testing its online passport renewal process since 2021, but at this time, only a select group of U.S. citizens can qualify. The requirements include, but are not limited to, being over 25 years of age, living in the U.S., having an undamaged passport issued between 2009 and 2015, not requiring a name change, and not planning to travel abroad for at least eight weeks. There's no word as to when it will be available more widely, but hey, hopefully it'll be sooner than later!