American travellers can now renew passports online: All you need to know

“By offering this online alternative to the traditional paper application process, the Department is embracing digital transformation to provide the most efficient and convenient passport renewal experience possible,” Blinken said.

The new system aims to address staffing shortages that arose after the Covid pandemic, which resulted in lengthy delays.

To qualify for online renewal, applicants must meet the following criteria:

📌 Be a US citizen or resident aged 25 or older, with an existing passport that had a 10-year validity.

📌 The application should not involve changes to name, gender, date of birth, or place of birth.

📌 The renewal must be for a regular (tourist) passport, not a special issuance passport (diplomatic, official, or service).

📌 The applicant must not be traveling for at least eight weeks from the date of the application.

📌 The applicant cannot reside in a foreign country or use an Army Post Office (APO) or Fleet Post Office (FPO) address.

📌 The applicant’s passport must be with them in good condition, without any damage or mutilation, and must not have been reported as lost or stolen.

To begin the process, applicants need to click the Sign In button on the MyTravelGov homepage, which will take them to log in or create an account on Login.gov. Once logged in, they can start the application by clicking the “Renew Your Passport” button on the homepage.

The applicant will get 30 days to complete the application, after starting the process. If the applicant fails to do so, the process will need to be restarted.

The steps include entering recent passport information, providing travel plans (if any), uploading a digital photo, signing the application, making payment using a credit or debit card, and opting in for email updates to track the status.

For those who do not qualify for online renewal process can still apply by mail.

While passport processing times are typically advertised as six to eight weeks, most applications are now completed more quickly, and the online system is expected to further reduce that.

The system will allow applicants skip the current process of printing and mailing paper forms and a check. They can now submit their documents and process payments online through a secure website.