Passport Prices going up soon.

[cruisingnewyorkers]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this, but effective March 8th, the cost of a US Passport will increase by $12.00 per person. It is called a security fee. It applies to all passports, both new and renewal.

There is some new technology with the new passports and the passports will be returned by Priority Mail instead of first class.

So, if anyone is thinking about applying for a passport or renewing one, you may want to beat the price increase by applying soon.

 

 

Donna

[barbgazz]

I really don't think a mere $12.00 (the price of lunch at mcdonald's) is going to break anyone, lol.

[hstrybuf]

My passport is fairly new so I still have my $12! That's good for a couple of drinks on the ship. ;)

[WeirdEyes]

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to wait until the middle of March to get my son's passport, but I'll go now. Like hstrybuf said, $12 is two drinks on the ship. :D

[tribefan]

Looks like we will be getting our passports the beginning of March instead of the April. With there being 3 of us, that saves me $36 and that is quite a bit!

 

Thanks for the headsup!:D

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

I think the passport offices are going to have a sudden rush of new applications! We have 7 years before ours expire....it may be even higher then! :eek:

 

 

***

[mek]

Had to renew ours last summer, so I have another 9 years to go. By then, I'm sure it will have increased several times!

[maggieworkman]

Thanks for the heads up. DH got his last month and I just applied for mine this past Thursday. We were going to do one per month, but I guess I will get the kids' done before March. I will tell my mom to get hers done soon too.

 

Will this increase apply to the kids ones too?

 

Maggie

[Happy ks]

I cannot find any notification of it on the passport site.

 

http://travel.state.gov/index.html

[tropicalsunset]

Thanks for the heads up... gotta get one for my youngest son.... hey its the cost of my next Martini!!!! :D :D

 

Hey, Barb!!!! (who lunches at Mickeydees now that the kids are grown???? :D :D ) $12. now for lunch ???? OOOOEEEEE!!~

[fmark]

I work for the post office and I have not heard a thing about an increase. If they are planning an increase I think they would have notified us about it by now. I wonder where the info came from and if it is official.

[dougp26364]

I really don't think a mere $12.00 (the price of lunch at mcdonald's) is going to break anyone, lol.

 

It might not kill anyone but I know people who will spend $6 in gas shopping for an item with all that shopping saving them even less money. ;)

 

We bought ours after the last increase. It didn't break us but, if I'd have known the price was going up, I'd have gotten our passports when they were cheaper.

 

I bet one of the future increases in fee's will be a shortened lifespan of the passport. Maybe curring it down from 10 years between renewals to 5-7 years.

[martdm]

I work at an government office that processes passports and we received notification from the Dept. of State of this change last week, so it is true.

[cruisingnewyorkers]

I processed nearly sixty passports today, and we were notified by the State Dept. (Boston) early this week.

It is on the State Departments Web Site also near the bottom of the page.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2005/42133.htm

 

From the information that they sent to us, it applies to all passports.

 

I hope this helps

 

Donna

[Ocean Boy]

I was at the post office this morning and they also confirmed that prices are going up $12.00.

 

I don't think you are going to find wide spread notice about the impending price change. I am sure they are not looking for a mass flooding of applications, and loss of revenue, from people trying to get in under the wire to beat the increase.

[ruskatab]

Wow thanks for the heads up...hubbies paper work has been just sitting here so we will get that done next week before the increase. That 12.00 bucks is 2 drink on my cruise in Oct....lol!

[Happy ks]

They should put it on the news page of the passport online site. It's not a huge increase, but can impact some. I'm glad we already have ours.

 

Thank you for posting this information. Have you posted it on other boards yet?

[LoriLinay]

So what will the new total price be?

[mtchg]

..it cost 85 dollars. So 85 plus 12....yikes!

 

Mitch

[VABeach]

I've been bugging my parents to get theirs for a few months now. They FINALLY got them in the mail last week. Glad they didn't wait any longer.

[Colts-Steelers]

Donna,

 

Hubby doesn't want to send his original birth certificate with the passport application and we don't have time to get certified copies to send instead before the price increase. How often does it happen that a BC is lost or damaged during the process? Just trying to find out to ease his mind.

 

Kathy

[cruisingnewyorkers]

Kathy,

 

I have been processing passports for over 11 years and have never had anyone call me and tell me that they didn't receive their bc back.

Has it ever happened? I'm sure it has. However, the State Dept. does pay the cost of getting a new BC if this happens.

 

It is much more difficult to replace a naturalization certificate and they have to send them in also. It takes up to a year and cost at least $210.00.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Donna

[pach]

Can you renew your passport online?

[1corona4u]

No, you can not renew online. You have to send the old passport in. They do return it though. You can print out the forms.

[pach]

what's the website to print out forms?