My wife and I sent in passport renewal applications in the same envelope and paid for expedited service.

Mine began processing within a week (now 7 weeks ago). My wife never had her check cash and was not showing a status. After about 3 weeks of calling, someone finally admitted that it was most likely lost. She reapplied sending in her birth certificate since her old passport was lost by then. We don’t think she will get it in time so she will most likely need to make an in person appointment and fly to a passport office to get hers. We’ve also paid $50 to have a new birth certificate issued and rush mailed to us so she has it just in case she needs it for an in person appointment.

Mine should have been good to go, but today I got a letter (not even an email) saying that my application was missing my old passport, which I definitely sent in with the application and check. So… I have no passport to send them and will most likely also have to fly somewhere to get my passport in person.

The fact that this process is 100% mail and manual based is insane. We recently closed on a heloc without ever seeing anyone in person. We had a zoom call with a notary to verify identity and signed everything online. How is this process so archaic?

Rant over, until tomorrow when I call the passport office.