The U.S. Department of State issued a COVID-19 update on April 3rd, stating that they will only issue passports to U.S. citizens in the event of a qualified life-or-death emergency.
From the statement (bold print is theirs, not mine):
Because of public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, effective March 20, 2020, we are only able to offer in-person service at passport agencies or centers for customers with a qualified life-or-death emergency and who need a passport for immediate international travel within 72 hours.
While you can still apply in person for a U.S. passport at some acceptance facilities and renew through the mail, you should expect significant delays receiving your passport and your citizenship evidence documents. Please consider waiting to apply until we resume normal operations. We suspended expedited service on March 19 and are not offering this service to any applicants.
They define “life or death” emergencies as serious illnesses, injuries, or deaths in your immediate family (read: parent, child, spouse, sibling, aunt, uncle, etc.) that require you to travel outside the United States within 72 hours (3 days).”
Go to this page of the Dept. of State’s website for what to do if you need to get a passport within 72 hours due to a life or death emergency.
What if you recently applied for a new/renewed passport and are still waiting for it?
If you applied for a passport and requested expedited service on or before March 19, 2020, they’re trying to meet their commitment of 2-3 weeks door-to-door service. But with limited staff, they say they’re still working on incomplete expedited applications that were submitted on or before March 19. So you may experience some delays.
If you applied and requested routine service on or before March 19, 2020, they suggest you should expect significant delays to receive your passport and citizenship evidence documents.
#stayhealthy #stayathome #washyourhands
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 12,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
