Should I update my passport before an international trip?
Take the trip first. There is no deadline for updating a passport after a name change, and updating it means sending the book away for weeks.
Nothing about a name change puts a deadline on your passport. The State Department handles a name change through the ordinary renewal forms, on the ordinary timelines — there is no expedited process you are expected to start, and nothing that forces you to replace the book early.
Updating it does mean giving it up for a while. Whichever form applies, your current passport travels in the envelope with the application, and the State Department lists roughly four to six weeks for routine processing and two to three expedited — processing only, with mail time in both directions on top of that.
So the order is
- Book and travel in the name printed in the passport you will carry.
- Come home.
- Send the passport off on whichever form your dates put you on.
If the trip cannot move
Expedited service exists and adds $60 to the fee, with expedited return delivery charged separately. It is still a processing time rather than a promise about a date, so it is not a way to squeeze an application into the fortnight before a departure. Check the current times on travel.state.gov before you decide.
Everything else can carry on meanwhile. Social Security, your license, your bank and your letters are unaffected by a trip — the passport is the one document that has to be in your hand on the day.
Other questions people ask
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