US citizens looking to travel for unavoidable reasons are required to call the State Department to schedule a new appointment or reschedule an existing one. ET on July 21 will be honored, the State Department assures. However, passport appointments scheduled online before 10 p.m. The expedited passport service online can reduce the wait time to 12 weeks for $60 per appointment. The current wait time for new and renewed passports is 18 weeks, which is unprecedentedly more than 6 to 8 weeks in the pre-pandemic times. Owing to the limited availability of appointments, US citizens are facing a long wait time for passports.

The availability of passport appointments is low these days, as more and more Americans are gearing up for international travel after months of indoor living due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. Third parties, if not prevented, will continue to use bots to grab all appointment slots, sell them to people with urgent travel needs and earn thousands of dollars. It will also keep third parties away from hawking last-minute passport appointment seekers. This discretionary move by the State Department will ensure limited appointment slots go to those who need a passport for emergency or urgent travel.

With effect from July 21, 2021, the State Department has temporarily disabled the online booking system for last-minute passport appointments.