 With an eye on travel this afternoon, here's Peter Greenberg. Do you need to renew your passport or apply for a new one? Last summer, the waiting time was months. This year, if you just need to renew your passport, the State Department says you can do so online. Does it mean it'll be faster? Not exactly. The government is still testing the system and limiting the number of online submissions every day. And that means a six- to eight-week processing time.