OH WELL, do you think it costs $100 to make up a passport, and what is the $25.00 fee for. just another tax under the guise of FEE. When will it stop??

Posted By earle forbes on July 1, 2010, 9:26 AM

The $25 goes to the application site. It probably costs the Post Office much more than $25 processing these applications.

From what I see when I'm at the Post Office - people need a lot of hand holding with the forms, taking up a lot of time with a Postal Employee, usually it is basically the Employee filling out the form for the people.

Posted By Iolaire McFadden on July 1, 2010, 10:53 AM

If people cannot fill out the forms themselves they should not be applying for passports. It's not complicated at all. This approach once again shows society evolving into an "I can't do it, oh government please bail me out" mindset. The $25 fee is a just another scam by our wonderful tax and spend politicians. This is a 67% increase above the old fee and a harbinger of what our future will look like. What are visitors to the USA being charged when they arrive in our country? We have to pay to get out and then pay to get back in. I'm disgusted!

Posted By John on July 1, 2010, 12:06 PM

Sorry, that should be an 80% increase.

Posted By John on July 1, 2010, 12:09 PM

Another way for the govt to dig into our pocketbook. The next thing will be a requirement for all Americans to have a passport to live in the USA

Posted By Karen Dancy on July 1, 2010, 12:12 PM

i better do mine. i keep procastinating and should of had it done months ago. my passport just expired three months ago.

Posted By erica on July 1, 2010, 1:09 PM

One way to mitigate the increase in the fee is to take your own passport photo. I did this with my most recent passport renewal and it was a piece of cake. And a BIG plus was that I could continue taking pictures until I got one I liked! Anyone with a newer digital camera (ie not an older, low resolution model) can do it - just send the picture to your local grocery store photo processing counter so that the print is high quality. There, I just saved you $15. You're welcome :)

Posted By Jessica on July 1, 2010, 3:18 PM

Its what's comming. With Health care, we want kids to remain kids until their 26 years old. Tax the Tanning Salons an extra 10% because the Gov needs money to care for all and we don't have enough sense to make decisions ourselves. Watch what's else will be taxed in the future.

Posted By Frank on July 1, 2010, 4:26 PM

Fee is only for first time applications. It is NOT new. I use www.epassportphoto.com for my photos. No issues to date.

Posted By Michael on July 1, 2010, 4:33 PM

So how does this affect renewal fees?

Posted By Lindsi on July 1, 2010, 4:50 PM

Here are some more details on the new rules, but clearly your cheapest options is to apply for a new or renew passport book or card by July 12th. p

The fee of $135 cited ($110 + $25)is for a new adult passport book. A new child book (under 16) is $105. If you are renewing a passport, you can save the $25 acceptance fee by not having to go to a county clerk or post office by including your current passport as proof of identity when mailing in your application or using a private expeditor service.

Note: The adult passport card increases from $20 to $30, and the passport card for a child increases from $10 to $15 on July 13th, plus $25 for acceptance fee if applying as new.

It should also be noted that the $25 administrative fee collected by official passport acceptance agents at post offices and city governments may increase within the year. The Department of State said they would review in the coming year the costs associated with this fee as over 100 different acceptance organizations stated fee is too low.

Finally, requesting the Passport Agency to add extra pages to a valid 28-page passport book will cost $82 starting July 13th. Prior to this new rule, it is free so you still have time to add pages to your valid passport book if you anticipate traveling quite a bit in the coming years.

Frequent travelers when renewing or getting a new passport can ask for the larger book, 52 pages, at no extra cost. Extra pages are needed by frequent travelers going to countries that require a visa.

Rob Smith
National Association of Passport and Visa Services
"Expedited Services That Are a Code Above The Rest"
www.napvs.org

Posted By RobSmith on July 2, 2010, 12:31 PM

Wowwww, wish I had known about asking for extra pages for free when renewing. I had to have pages added to my last passport. BTW, I just went to the official passport site to see about having more pages added to my current one and it seems to indicate that you cannot do that until you are down to 2-4 pages..... So, I guess I will have to pay the fee when I get down to that many.

Posted By Judy on July 6, 2010, 6:52 PM

Passports cost enough! used to be $65 dollars the last time I got one a few years ago. A passport should not cost more than $65. $135 is highway robbery.

This government needs to keep passports affordable. They cost too much already.

Posted By Morgan on July 6, 2010, 6:56 PM

Thank you so much for this information. We were going to renew our kids passports, now we will do it ASAP and save $70.

Posted By Sue S. on July 7, 2010, 8:33 AM

I am a frequent traveler and I had to add pages to my passport a couple years ago. I will need to do it again before my passport expires. There is no way on God's green earth that it costs the gov't $82 to add pages! $82!!!

Since we are required to have a passport to travel out of the country, the Gov't should provide its citizens with these documents at either no cost or at cost...what in the world do we pay taxes for? They are simply using this as a profit center.

Posted By SA on July 7, 2010, 11:44 AM

The fee is just a another tax! So glad this is where the state department is spending time and energy. How about checking the passports and documents of those that come into the country!

Posted By Melissa on July 8, 2010, 5:30 PM

I am absolutely amazed at the comments. Ok folks...lets look at it this way....a 10/year passport costs $1.13 per month. So....you book a cruise at $2500.00, $5000.00, $1000.00 PER PERSON/ even less (if you can). You spend thousands for an airline ticket AND NOW you are now complaining about a passport cost. Are you the same person that paid $3.00+ for a pint of bottled of water? OR...$8.50 for your martini of choice.
Stand back and see what's going on and remember to smell the roses.

Posted By Dan G. on July 13, 2010, 7:57 PM

I agree with Dan. Life Savers used to cost a nickel.
Get real complainers.

Posted By Stephen Dworkin on July 18, 2010, 10:27 AM

While I would generally tend to agree with Dan, I also find the fees a bit ridiculous.

Consider this- they are raising prices and fees after recently making passports required for all international travel. Think about how many additional passports they have sold in the last couple of years, raking in tons of additional revenue... and now they have to increase the price and add more fees?

If I were to go to my local grocery store and they forced me to buy an apple on every visit, the cost of apples wouldn't go up and they wouldn't charge an extra tax or fee for "apple core recycling," etc. They would simply enjoy the extra profits of selling tons more apples.

The government can consider increasing fees when they get the no-fly list right. Too many people are being put on these lists erroneously. If we're going to be charged more for travel, at least get your own process to work right, government!

Posted By Rory on July 19, 2010, 11:26 AM

From my understanding, the newer passports are 'high tech' and include some kind of identifying technology. Wouldn't that also make them more expensive to produce than the older plain paper ones?

Passports are now needed at borders were a Driver's license would have previously sufficed so more people need them and that probably required more people hired. Passports are a simpler method of ID when needed (Passport alone accepted instead of 2 other forms of ID for employment or anywhere else which requires you to confirm ID and citizenship/residence).

If you don't need one, then don't spend the money. If you do travel out of the country or need a government-issued ID like this, then consider the expense when you divide the cost over the 10 years the passport is valid and it seems much more reasonable. It will probably cost you less than various airline/travel fees over the same time period (and it has more varied uses).

Posted By Neverwill on July 20, 2010, 6:30 PM

www.idphoto4you is good website to create passport photos. Very easy to use.

Posted By george on July 21, 2010, 5:45 AM