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Travel|Travel Docs Update: Online Passport Renewal and Digital Driver’s Licenses
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/travel/passports-real-id-travelers.html
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New options have arrived, for both U.S. passports and driver’s licenses, that may give travelers more flexibility.
Sept. 19, 2024, 4:27 p.m. ET
Americans needing travel documents increasingly have digital options that can make the process faster and easier.
As of this week, renewing a passport no longer requires mailing in an application, but can be done with a click of a button. And in the last few months, more states have started issuing mobile driver’s licenses, which can be stored on a phone.
Here’s what travelers should know.
You can now renew your passport online.
Renewing a passport will no longer require you to mail in an old passport and send a check to the State Department, or schedule a visit to a passport agency. Now, many U.S. passport holders can renew online and pay by credit or debit card. Eligible applicants must be 25 or older, be renewing a passport issued between 2009 and 2015, and live in a U.S. state or territory. Applicants will also have to upload a digital passport photo. You must have your old passport in your possession.
It’s unclear if the online option will speed up passport processing, which the State Department advertises as generally taking six to eight weeks. (The State Department said in a news release on Wednesday that routine passport processing is currently well under this time frame.)
More states have issued mobile driver’s licenses, which are accepted at select airports.
Mobile driver’s licenses have proliferated; more than a dozen states, including California and Hawaii, now offer them. Other states say their versions are coming, among them Montana, New Mexico and West Virginia.
Some of these digital IDs can be downloaded to Apple or Google Wallets, while others, like New York State’s mobile license, require you to download an app. For IDs stored in Apple Wallet, travelers can even show a license using an Apple Watch.
