How long does each agency take?

Two clocks are worth keeping apart: how long an agency takes to process what you sent, and how long the whole sequence takes end to end. The second is mostly made of waiting for the first, plus the certified copies at the front.

Social Security

Social Security says a card is mailed within 5 to 10 business days after it has processed the request. Processing itself is the variable part. The record usually updates before the card lands, and you do not need the card in your hand to go on to the license counter.

The passport

The State Department lists routine processing at roughly four to six weeks and expedited at roughly two to three, and is explicit that those figures cover processing only — mailing time in both directions sits outside them. Your current passport travels in the envelope with the application, so the whole window is time without it. Check the current figures on travel.state.gov before booking anything.

Your driver license or state ID

Most states hand you a temporary document at the counter and mail the card, and how long that takes is a state answer rather than a national one. Two states publish a wait before you arrive rather than after: Arizona asks for two business days after the Social Security update, and Washington allows up to five business days for an enhanced license.

Everyone else

Banks, employers, insurers and utilities each set their own pace, and none of them publishes one — so we do not print a figure for them. They are the part you can run in parallel — nothing on that list waits for anything on the government list except a bank that wants to see photo ID in your new name.

The longest single wait is usually the one at the front: certified copies, which routinely take weeks by mail. You can build your whole kit while they are in transit.