With the U.S. Department of State’s recent announcement that they have resumed processing routine and expedited passport applications, the Lake County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller will begin acceptance of passport applications starting Monday, Oct. 12.
Applications in Lake County will be by appointment only from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday at the Lake County Courthouse, 550 W. Main St., Tavares. To schedule an appointment, visit www.lakecountyclerk.org/administrative_services/passports.aspx. Customers will be required to answer health-screening questions to enter the courthouse, as well as wear masks and practice social distancing at all times while in the courthouse.
“There is currently a large backlog of passport applications to be processed nationwide by the U.S. Department of State,” said Gary Cooney, Clerk & Comptroller. “We anticipate that there will be longer than usual turnaround times for getting routine passports. We encourage applicants to use expedited service if faster processing is needed, although processing times will still be solely dependent on the Department of State.”
The latest estimated processing times provided by the U.S. Department of State were 10 to 12 weeks for routine applications and 4 to 6 weeks for expedited applications.
The U.S. Department of State announced service interruptions in March due to COVID-19 and requested that non-emergency passport processing be suspended.
Customers can check the status of their application online athttp://travel.state.gov or by calling the National Passport Information Center at (877) 487-2778.
