Passport delays continue

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - As summer continues, many plan to take a destination trip this summer, but if your plans involve renewing your passport, you may have to put those plans on hold, as the state department is receiving around 500,000 new applications every week.

As panic begins to shake individuals who are having to reschedule their plans, the congressional office says they are willing to help.

The estimated processing time for a new passport is anywhere from 10 to 13 weeks, with expedited services to take seven to nine weeks.

The state department does not expect to get back to pre-pandemic processing times until the end of the year.

The congressional office recommends if you recently applied for a passport that you check and monitor your passport application status frequently.

If you are traveling within 14 days and your passport renewal application is past the expected processing times, the congressional office says they can try to relocate your passport for you and ask for it to be pulled and sent.

If you are travelling abroad within 30 days and you have already applied for your passport, the congressional offices says they can reach out to the passport agency that has your application to alert the agency of your date of travel and request they issue the passport before your travel date.

The congressional office says that will continue to monitor and assist until the passport is received.

Things to know:

• The congressional office says they can try to locate your passport and ask for it to be pulled and sent.
• If your passport cannot be located or it cannot be shipped by your travel date, we can seek an appointment at a passport service center.
• At the appointment, a passport will be processed for you on that same day.
• For the appointment, you will need to bring all documents necessary for a passport application and you must have documents proving your date of travel.
• If the passport appointment is for a child, the child must be present at the appointment.
• The closest passport centers to our district are Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, and Hot Springs.

For help and assistance Clay Higgins office says that if anyone is having trouble, they can reach the main lines at their Lafayette and Lake Charles offices for assistance.

Lafayette: (337) 703-6105

Lake Charles: (337) 656-2833

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