The US State Department has taken a giant leap into the digital age by launching a beta program for online passport renewal. This pioneering effort is expected to bring the often dreaded passport renewal process into the 21st century, sparing applicants from the inefficiencies and drudgery typically associated with government paperwork — DMV flashbacks, anyone?

For now, the program will start by accepting a limited number of applications each day, but don’t be surprised if it quickly scales up. After all, nothing quite says “elephant in a china shop” like a bottleneck of American citizens eagerly pounding on the digital doors of renewal.gov.

To qualify for this digital gambit, applicants must be at least 25 years old and currently hold a 10-year passport issued between 2009 and 2015. Oh, and it helps if you live in the United States or one of its territories. Of course, your biographic data also needs to be error-free and unchanged since the last time you proved to the federal government that you exist.

Keep your jet-setting dreams in check, though; applicants should ensure their wanderlust is tempered for at least eight weeks from the point of application, as anyone hoping for a routine service (as opposed to expedited service) will need to exhibit that rarest of virtues: patience. Once the online application is submitted, consider your old passport part of the digital trash heap—it will be canceled, rendering it unusable for international travel.

In a groundbreaking bid to outpace its reputation for snail-paced processes, the initially offered processing times will be the same as for regular, mail-in renewals. So, no, you’re not quite living in the promised land of “2-Day Prime Shipping on Passports” just yet.

President Joe Biden first announced the creation of this online passport renewal process in 2021. The White House initially anticipated rolling out the program by the end of 2022, but pandemic-related backlogs had other plans, delaying the long-awaited digital dawn.

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it, the pilot online renewal platform was halted last year to fine-tune and improve it. Clearly, even the best-laid tech plans can hit a few bugs—which is programmer speak for “unexpected features.”

With the beta program running for several months to track and address any issues, the State Department has processed 565,000 online applications to date through several rounds of testing. And indeed, the dream that one day 65% of passport renewal customers will be able to renew online may not be so far-fetched.

Eligible applicants are required to create a login.gov account to access the program, reminiscent of those fun CAPTCHA games that test if you're a human or a robot. Additionally, the program is open for a limited midday Eastern Time window each day, whereby millions of users will attempt to get through the digital velvet rope.

One might wonder if the busiest travel season is the best time for a beta rollout, but hey, unpredictable timing is the spice of life, right? The passport offices have certainly increased staffing and resources to handle the avalanche of demand, and the anticipation of more efficient experiences has citizens excited to potentially outpace even the dreaded DMV in terms of bureaucratic nightmares.

So here’s to passports renewing in the comfort of your pajamas. It’s a marvel of modern convenience, designed no doubt by a few folks who’ve had their share of passport agony — just like the rest of us.