U.S. State Department urges people whose passports expire later in 2016 to renew them now

If your U.S. passport expires this year or next, the State Department is asking that you don't wait too long to get it renewed.

In 2006 and 2007, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect, making it a requirement that Americans flying back to the U.S. from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda have a passport. Because so many people who previously didn't need to get passports applied, "we were overwhelmed then," Michele Bond, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, told The New York Times. "We are not going to be overwhelmed again." Not only that, but more countries are starting to enforce requirements for six months' validity on a U.S. passport, Condé Nast Traveler reports.

The State Department is bracing itself for a flood of passport renewals, and is urging people whose passports will expire in 2016 or 2017 to start the process, since it's likely there will be a backlog. Officials told the Times the State Department expects to issue 17 million new passports and renewals in 2016 — 1.5 million more than in 2015 — and right now, processing time is estimated at six weeks.

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