The State Department has opened an online passport renewal portal, allowing a limited number of Americans to submit an application online.
The department is conducting a trial for the renewal system over the next several months, with a certain number of applications accepted each day. The beta program launched Wednesday.
The online system will open during a midday window daily and will close once the maximum number of applications are submitted, the State Department said.
The department has not said how many applications it will accept each month. The Hill reached out to the department for more information.
A State Department spokesperson told CNN the number of applications the agency accepts will slowly increase over time.
The updated program comes more than two years after President Biden signed an executive order, permitting the State Department to create an online passport renewal system. The 2021 order was part of the Biden administration’s recovery efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The State Department launched a pilot program in 2022 but halted it last year “to make sure that we can fine tune it and improve it before we roll it out in a bigger way,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the time.
To qualify for the online system, applicants must be U.S. citizens and residents 25 and older who already have a passport with 10-year validity. Travelers must also not be changing their name, gender, date or birth and cannot be traveling internationally for at least 8 weeks from the date the application is submitted, among other requirements, per the State Department.
Travelers looking to submit an online passport application must also have or create a MyTravelGov account.
The State Department has faced repeated criticism over backlogs and long waiting times since the onset of the COIVD-19 pandemic, which created a decrease in passport renewal requests followed by a later rush for Americans wanting to travel internationally.
It announced in December processing times fell back to the pre-pandemic norm.
The State Department’s website notes that processing times for online requests typically take the same amount of time as renewals done by mail. Processing should take six to eight weeks for routine requests.
The online process is not offered for expedited or urgent travel requests, the State Department said.