Friends,

I hope you’re doing well and enjoying the beginning of a beautiful Virginia spring!

Before we get into the full swing of summer, I want to make sure you’ve heard about a problem facing too many travelers: major delays in renewing their passports. As life gets back to normal following the pandemic, we’re seeing folks waiting longer and longer to receive replacements for their expired passports – and that’s putting vacations, business travel, and family visits in jeopardy.

I don’t want Virginians to face frustrating delays – so I’m taking this on at the highest level, and am pushing on the State Department to get this fixed, pronto.

In the meantime, however, if you are considering international travel at any point this year, I would strongly recommend applying for your passport as soon as possible. Do not wait until the last minute before a trip to get your passport. Remember, many countries require your passport to have at least six months of validity remaining, so file your renewal now and avoid stress when it comes time to board your flight.

Part of the problem can be traced back to a pilot program that briefly allowed folks to renew their passports online. People that applied through this system are seeing especially long delays, so if you were affected – or you’re in a crunch to get your passport renewed for any other reason – my office is standing by, eager and willing to help. My constituent services team works daily to help Virginians cut through red tape at a variety of federal agencies, including passport issues. You can reach out to these folks through my website, available here.

I hope you have a healthy and relaxing summer, and in the meantime, I’ll keep pushing to make our federal agencies work better for all Virginians. If you want to get in touch with me about administrative delays or another issue that is important to you, you can send me an email anytime using the form on my Senate website. You can also find more updates on my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,