Heads up, travelers – if you’re planning to get a United States-issued passport book or card, now might be the best time to do it because on April 2, the price is going up.
Yup. Effective April 2, 2017, the passport execution fee (the fee you’re charged for submitting your passport application to a passport acceptance agent [which is a United States Post Office, state or local government or State Department official] for verification and review) is going to go from $25 to $35 – a $10 (40%) increase.
As per the U.S. Department of State:
The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs determines the cost of each service through a Cost of Service Model. The most recently approved update to the Cost of Service Model showed that the costs associated with passport execution were higher than the current fee of $25. A similar study conducted by the U.S. Postal Service came to the same conclusion. In both cases, the studies showed that the cost of the passport execution service was close to $35. The Department seeks to recover for the U.S. government, as far as possible, the cost of providing consular services through the collection of consular fees.
So at least they told us why the price is going up. OK, ir’s reasonable; I can take that.
The execution fee is charged on top of the application fee. A passport book (which is what most of us just call a “passport”) application fee is $80 for applicants under 16 and $110 for those 16 and older. For a passport card (which is not the same as a passport book, as it only allows for land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda, but not any international air travel) you’ll pay an application fee of $15 for children and $30 for adults age 16 and older.
Individuals who apply for a passport renewal by mail will not see a fee increase at this time.
So if you’ve ever been on the fence about getting a passport book or card, maybe this will be your kick in the pants to get one, before the price goes up. Let the $10 stay in your pocket, right? 😉
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