Often times, a US passport renewal requires reading the tea leaves and having the stars all align perfectly. As a general rule of thumb, you cannot travel with your current passport if it is set to expire within six months and you cannot renew it more than nine months from expiration. My current passport expires in August. After doing the math, I timed my nine months at November 21st and this is where things could go sideways. Guidance from the Dept. of State says normal processing time takes four to six weeks and expedited service takes two to three weeks. I have a return flight to Barcelona scheduled for five weeks and I arrived in the US two days from the earliest possible renewal date. I find myself in a bit of a pickle.
For this go around, I’m on the fence. What do i do? Do I send the application and hope it arrives before I leave? If it doesn’t arrive, then I will have to spend a bunch of money to have it forwarded it to me in Barcelona. Do I opt for expedited service at an additional cost of $60? I don’t want to do this, because I would rather spend that $60 on being jolly during the holidays than ensuring I get my passport back before I return to Barcelona. Do I dare do the unthinkable and apply online?
I’m a Traditionalist
I’m a traditionalist in the sense that I have received a total of five passports over the years via the tried and true paper application process. Each passport book from over the past four decades is full of love, romance, and adventure. It all started in in 1981 when my mom took me and my brother Niko down to an actual photography studio to get our passport photos taken by a professional photographer. This first passport photo required a trip to the barber, a clean pressed shirt, and a personal stylist (mom with her itchy hairspray trigger finger at the ready) to make sure my brother Niko and I were ready for our first US passport photos. I look back at that eight year old smiling idiot in that photo that had no idea what it meant to be going to Greece that summer to meet our extended family. We traded in an air conditioned house with an Atari 2600 and Asteroids for the honor of shitting in a hole in a village with only one telephone located half way around the world. My first 1981 US passport was also the first machine readable passport.
The Decision
Finally, I took the decision to complete my US passport renewal in Barcelona at the US Consulate. I often forget that there’s a little sliver of America in every foreign country that you can lean to for many services we take for granted in America. The process for renewing a passport is pretty straightforward and mirrors the process in America. You need to complete the same application, two passport photos (this time from a real photographer and not the clerk at Walgreens), submit the expiring passport, include a printed receipt of passport fee payment, and provide a pre-paid DHL shipping label to receive your passport.
Dropping off the items at the US Consulate is pretty anti-climatic. They open a drop box for only one hour between 4-5 pm, Monday through Friday. You show up to the consulate and the security guards look at you like, “WTF do you want?” Then they tell you to wait and make you go through all the usual security stuff to get in. Then, the dude takes your envelope and drops it in the drop box for you, robbing you of the satisfaction of doing it yourself and basically tells you to, “Get the fuck out!” which is totally fine by me. As an American, you think they would be waiting for me at the Consulate with a PBR, a slice of apple pie, a hot dog or even just a cool American high five.
Passport Processing Time
I dropped that passport application off at the US Consulate in Barcelona on January 15th and received the new passport at my home on January 29th. I didn’t pay for any expedited service or any more money than any other US citizen would’ve paid for their passport renewal. In the final analysis, I’m happy I experienced renewing my passport overseas and I’m so impressed with the turnaround time. This passport renewal adds another dimension to an already wonderful life of travel. In 1981, I was only 1 of ~3M people applying for a US passport renewal or first time passport. In 2024, I was only 1 of ~25M people to get a passport. This is very encouraging and I think this is great news because I believe Americans are its greatest ambassadors overseas. Unfortunately, a few rotten souls fueled by excessive alcohol and hubris make sure the “Ugly American” moniker persists.