Record number of US passport applications

Sherwood News

US citizens can now renew their passports online

Americans will be able to update their travel papers paperlessly

9/19/24 11:08AM

If you’ve been through the arduous process of renewing your passport, news that the system is shifting from paper-only to digital will likely come as a relief (unless you’ve just done it, in which case… sorry).

Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on Wednesday announcing that the online passport system is now fully available to the public. The rollout is part of President Biden’s Executive Order to rebuild trust in government by improving customer experiences.

Digital citizens

Modernizing passport processing can’t come quickly enough: the current advertised wait period for a new passport is 6-8 weeks for routine service, having only recently returned to normal-ish levels after years of backlogs, which saw processing times reach up to 18 weeks in 2021.

While wait times are now one-third of what they were at this point last year, the number of requests that the State must process is only increasing, with US passport applications reaching an all-time high of 22 million last year — on top of a record 161 million passports already in circulation in 2023.

Still, there are stipulations to renewing online, including already holding a valid passport for 10 years and not having travel plans within 8 weeks. But, less red tape for applicants might see a similar bump occurring this year as in 2007, when tightened travel restrictions led to a surge in requests.

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The most watched soccer match in US history got less than a third of the views the Super Bowl did

Between a top-spot finish in the group stage, a sweeping performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, and the president’s controversial intervention, Monday evening’s USMNT game against Belgium had, to put it lightly, shaped up into a box-office clash.

And though the US players’ performance on the pitch might not have lived up to the high drama off it, American soccer fans certainly showed up. According to early estimates, the 4-1 defeat against Belgium was the most watched soccer telecast in US history, hauling some 40 million viewers on average across the coverage on Fox and Telemundo.

That may be a record tally in the US for the sport that much of the world calls some variant of “football” — besting the 36.2 million who tuned in to watch the team’s previous knock-out match — but it’s still peanuts in comparison to the sport that shares the same name in the States.

World cup viewers chart — Sherwood News

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That perception gap on the issue is among the highest in the world, per a new Gallup poll.

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45% of Americans say they’re not taking a summer vacation this year, mostly due to costs

Flight comparison site Skyscanner is recommending some cheaper alternatives closer to home.

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Despite slight declines, Japanese tourism figures are still hovering around record highs

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