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Editor's Note: We know COVID-19 is continuing to impact your travel plans. Should you travel now, be sure to familiarize yourself with the CDC's latest guidance on domestic and international travel as well as local requirements, protocols, and restrictions for both your destination upon your arrival and your home city upon your return. Be safe out there.Let me start with a tangent. Earlier this year, I realized I couldn't travel on my passport about 10 days before my planned trip to Rome. I knew that wait times to renew passports were exorbitant, with COVID-19-related issues creating a massive backlog. So, $300 and a flight to Puerto Rico later, I stood in the only office in the US that had availability for same-day passport renewal. Once there, the process was surprisingly seamless. But still, it was a major headache (and a pocket ache).
The State Department recognizes the hassle it can be to renew your passport, even if you aren't flying off the continent to do so. The agency launched a pilot program for volunteers to test out an online passport renewal portal that won't require mailing in your application and supporting documents back in August, and with a spate of new applications available, there's still time for you to test the product.
To be one of the program's volunteers, follow the steps on the Department of State website. The volunteers will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. This is ideal if you've been avoiding getting your passport renewed because the idea of finding a printer, an envelope, and a post office fills you with an unexplainable dread.
There are ten requirements for you to be eligible to renew online, which are listed on the site. If you meet all of them, you can take the following steps to enroll in the pilot program, according to the Department of State:
For those of you who didn't make it to be one of the 25,000 volunteers in the first rollout program, don't fret. According to CNET, the Department of State plans on adding 25,000 more applications in September. In 2023 the program will be available more widely to the public.
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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.