HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) – A Hampton Roads family has been waiting months for their passports to arrive, and they’re not alone.
The State Department said they’re getting about 400,000 passport applications every week, following higher-than-normal volumes in January through May that surpassed 500,000 applications per week.
An official with the State Department says in Fiscal Year 2022, they issued nearly 22 million passports, more than ever before. They also say they’re on track to break that record again for fiscal year 2023.
The family is supposed to head out of the country on vacation this weekend and they don’t know if they’ll be able to go.
William “Justicce” Waugh, his fiancé and her two kids all have plane tickets to the Dominican Republic for Sunday.
They were planning to meet other family members there, but now they’re worried they might not be able to make the trip because their passports won’t be here in time.
They’ve paid for expedited processing, called Congressional representatives, and tried to get in-person appointments, but still no luck.
“I’ve spent so much money, so much resources, preparing for this,” said Justicce Waugh. “I have to disappoint my children by telling them the possible trip is probably not going to happen.”
Waugh said he’s frustrated, confused and tired of being on hold.
He and his family applied for passports back in April ahead of their trip to the Dominican Republic next week.
“I was thinking I’ll have it in a month, maybe a month and a half, middle of June at the very latest,” said Waugh.
A few weeks ago when they weren’t in yet, they applied for expedited processing for all four family members, which can get expensive – $60 for each application, plus $19 for expedited shipping.
The State Department told Waugh if he didn’t get his passport within two weeks of travel, he’d also be eligible for an in-person appointment within 5 days of his travel date.
His five day window started on Monday.
“I called at 8:04 a.m.,” Waugh said. “They opened at 8 a.m. They said that the call volume was so high they couldn’t receive any calls. I called back around 9 a.m. and finally got through to a representative after a 45 (minute) to hour long wait for them to tell me that there were no appointments available throughout the entire United States.”
The State Department said more Americans are traveling internationally following the pandemic, which is why there’s a high demand for passports.
The State Department said current processing times are 10 to 13 weeks for routine processing. It takes seven to nine weeks for expedited processing, which costs an extra $60.
The State Department said these processing times do not include mailing times. It may take up to two weeks for applications to arrive by mail at a passport agency or center, and up to two weeks for you to receive a completed passport in the mail after it is printed.
“It took them a week for them to receive it,” Waugh said. “That shouldn’t be an issue on my behalf I’m just the customer.”
Waugh said he’s tired of waiting and is incredibly frustrated with the system.
“I didn’t wait until four days, three days, two days, one day to my travel date, I called exactly whenever you guys told me to,” said Waugh. “How is it possible that there is no appointments available?”
Waugh said he was surprised that all the appointments filled up that fast and didn’t know it was even possible.
“I don’t think that there could be enough people to call within an hour of them opening to fill up every single facility throughout the U.S.,” Waugh said. “I’m nervous, I’m confused, I’m being misled, I’m being given a lot of different information and I’m not being helped.”
He said he’s called several times throughout the past few weeks to try to get updates, but hasn’t had any luck. He says they continue to encourage him to keep checking back.
“There’s no means of finding out whether or not they’re approving it, they’re denying it, they’re considering it,” said Waugh.
Waugh said on one of the calls, the representative told him he shouldn’t have gauged when to apply based on past experiences.
“He said even though they said 10 weeks 10 years ago and it came in three weeks, that’s not going to be the case now,” Waugh said. “I just didn’t know that and I don’t feel like they have any type of program actually set up to help us.”
He said he was hoping to go on vacation next week, but it’s not looking very likely.
“I financed for plane tickets because I’m just a regular working person who would like to travel just like everyone else,” Waugh said. “I want to see the world, I want to do nice things. I would like for my children to experience these things, so I sacrifice in order to try to make it happen.”
He still has a few days and hasn’t changed any plans, but said it’s difficult to stay optimistic.
“I’m praying, but it doesn’t seem likely at all,” Waugh said.
When we asked about Waugh’s application, the State Department told us: “Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to comment publicly on individual passport records or applications. Our advice to all U.S. citizens considering international travel is to apply for their passports far ahead of time to avoid last-minute stress.”
Waugh said he’s also still waiting to hear back from Rep. Jen Kiggans’ office and they’ve also contacted Rep. Bobby Scott as well.
An official from the State Department also told 10 On Your Side, “We are working hard to get back to our pre-pandemic processing times by the end of calendar year 2023. We will update our website with the current processing times as we make progress towards this goal. We continue to advise travelers to carefully review the current passport processing times on travel.state.gov before making any definite or non-refundable travel plans.”
