The treacherous process of renewing a passport might soon be a thing of the past.
As of Wednesday, people who want to renew their passports online rather than sending everything in the mail have the opportunity to do so.
The online renewal program — which the State Department first tested in 2022 before taking it offline in 2023 — is open to the public, but is beta mode for now.
Having the program in a trial mode will allow officials to “monitor the system’s performance in real time” and alter the process in response to evaluation and user feedback, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Additionally, users might not be able to start their application right when they want to. The renewal system will open for a limited time each day around 1 p.m. Eastern time. Only a small amount of spots will be open per day, and it will close once the daily limit is reached.
Online renewals don’t necessarily guarantee a faster renewal, however. Officials said that these renewals are not yet eligible for expedited processing and will take about the same processing time as those submitted by mail.
But not everyone can participate in the beta program.
In order to renew online, you must meet the following requirements:
- Applicants must be 25 or older and living in the United States
- Applicants must already have a passport that is or was valid for 10 years
- The passport being renewed was issued between 2009 and 2015, or over 9 years but less than 15 years from the date you plan to submit your application
- Travelers renewing online cannot be updating biographical information such as name, gender, date of birth or place of birth
- Applicants cannot be traveling internationally for at least 8 weeks from the date the application is submitted
- Applicants must be renewing a regular (tourist) passport. A special issuance (diplomatic, official, service) passport is not able to be renewed online
- The passport you’re renewing must be physically with you, not damaged or mutilated, has not been previously reported as lost or stolen
- Users must be able to pay for the passport using a credit or debit card and musts be able to upload a digital passport photo
“This beta release during which we are limiting the daily applications is an important and standard part of the software development process,” the State Department wrote on its website.
“We appreciate your patience while we test our system and prepare for a full launch of the updated online passport renewal system. ”