How Much Is a Passport? Book, Card and Renewal Fees for 2026
How much is a passport? A first-time US book costs $165, a mail renewal $130, and a card $65. Full 2026 fee table for adults and minors.
The short answer
How much is a passport depends on whether it is your first one. A first-time adult passport book costs $165 total: a $130 application fee to the State Department plus a $35 execution fee to the facility. A mail-in renewal is $130 with no execution fee. A passport card alone is $65 for a first-time adult, $30 to renew. A child’s first passport book is $135.
Most people only find out what a passport costs when they are already standing at the post office counter with a stack of forms. The figure on the page rarely matches what a friend paid two years ago, and that gap is real.
The application fee and the fee paid to the acceptance facility are two separate charges. Only one of them shows up if you renew by mail instead of applying in person.
This breaks down every fee by document type, by age, and by how you apply, checked against the State Department’s published fee schedule and cross-checked against independent fee trackers in August 2026.
What you need before you apply
- Proof of US citizenship: a certified birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or a previous US passport
- A photo ID: driver’s license, government or military ID
- One 2×2 inch passport photo, in color, taken within the last six months
- Your Social Security number
- A check or money order for the application fee, payable to the US Department of State
- A separate payment method for the execution fee, if applying in person for the first time
How much does a first-time passport book cost?
A first-time adult passport book uses Form DS-11 and always requires an in-person appointment. The application fee is $130, paid to the US Department of State, and the execution fee is $35, paid separately to the acceptance facility, usually a post office or county clerk’s office.
Together that is $165, and it is genuinely two payments. Most acceptance facilities want the application fee as a check or money order and will take cash, card or a check for their own execution fee, so bring more than one payment method.
Note: the execution fee is charged once per application, not per document. Applying for a book and a card on the same DS-11 still costs one $35 execution fee, not two.
How much does it cost to renew a passport?
Renewing costs less than applying for the first time, because a mail or online renewal has no execution fee. The application fee for Form DS-82 is $130 for a book, the same figure as a first-time book, but nothing is added on top.
Not everyone is eligible to renew by mail. The State Department requires that your previous passport was issued after your 16th birthday and within the last 15 years. It must also be undamaged and in your current name, or accompanied by certified proof of a legal name change.
Miss any of those conditions and the renewal becomes a first-time application in practice: Form DS-11, an in-person appointment, and the $35 execution fee again.
Is a passport card enough on its own?
The passport card costs less than the book: $30 to renew, and $65 total for a first-time adult ($30 application plus the $35 execution fee). It is not a cheaper substitute for the book, because it does something different.
A passport card is valid for land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. It is not valid for international air travel of any kind, including a flight to those same countries. The passport book is valid everywhere, by air, land or sea.
Applicants who fly internationally need the book regardless of price. The card mainly suits residents near the Canadian or Mexican border who cross by car, and it works as a compact secondary ID once you already hold a book.
What does a passport cost for a child under 16?
A child’s passport always uses Form DS-11 and always requires an in-person appointment with both parents or guardians present, even for a renewal. There is no mail option for minors, regardless of how recently a previous passport was issued.
The application fee for a child’s book is $100, plus the $35 execution fee, for a total of $135. A child’s passport card alone is $15 plus the $35 execution fee, for $50 total.
If only one parent can appear, the absent parent must provide a notarized Form DS-3053 giving written consent, valid for 90 days from the date it is signed. Without it, or a form DS-5525 for exceptional circumstances, the application will not be accepted.
Passport fees at a glance
| Applicant | Document | Form | Application fee | Execution fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult, first time | Book | DS-11 | $130 | $35 | $165 |
| Adult, first time | Card only | DS-11 | $30 | $35 | $65 |
| Adult, first time | Book + card | DS-11 | $160 | $35 | $195 |
| Adult, renewal by mail | Book | DS-82 | $130 | none | $130 |
| Adult, renewal by mail | Card only | DS-82 | $30 | none | $30 |
| Child under 16 | Book | DS-11 | $100 | $35 | $135 |
| Child under 16 | Card only | DS-11 | $15 | $35 | $50 |
| Child under 16 | Book + card | DS-11 | $115 | $35 | $150 |
Figures are the State Department’s published fee schedule, checked against independent fee trackers in August 2026. Fees change without much notice, so treat this table as current rather than fixed.
Why you pay two separate fees
The application fee and the execution fee go to two different places, which is why applying in person almost always costs more than renewing by mail. The application fee, paid to the US Department of State, covers producing the passport itself.
The execution fee, paid to the acceptance facility, covers the work of an official reviewing your documents, witnessing your signature, and forwarding the application. Renewals by mail skip that step entirely, because you are not appearing before an acceptance agent.
That is also why a lost, stolen or damaged passport cannot be renewed by mail even if it is otherwise eligible by age. There is no document for an agent to verify, so the in-person step, and its $35 fee, comes back.
Should you pay for expedited processing?
Routine processing takes roughly 4 to 6 weeks from the State Department, plus the time your application spends in the mail on each end. Expedited processing cuts that to about 2 to 3 weeks, for an additional $60 on top of the standard application fee.
Adding 1-to-3-day return delivery costs another $22.05, so the passport arrives quickly once it is issued rather than by standard mail. That fee applies to the book only, not the card, and it is worth pairing with expedited service if the date is tight.
Expedited service is worth paying for once travel is inside about two months. Outside that window, routine processing at the base fee is the cheaper choice with no meaningful downside.
What if you need a passport in days, not weeks?
Two services exist below expedited processing, and both require an in-person appointment rather than a mail application. Urgent Travel Service is for travel within 14 calendar days, or 28 days for a foreign visa. You call the National Passport Information Center to book the appointment and bring proof of the travel dates.
A life-or-death emergency, meaning international travel within 72 hours because of a family member who has died, is dying, or is in hospice care, gets priority even inside that window. Documentation such as a death certificate or a signed statement from hospice staff is required at the appointment.
Note: neither service is a separate line-item fee on top of the standard application. What changes is the appointment channel, not the $130 or $165 figure itself, though expedited processing and delivery add-ons still apply if selected.
Waiting until a trip is booked to start the paperwork is the single most expensive mistake in this process. It forces a routine application into an appointment slot and an expedite fee that would otherwise have been avoidable.
Your application was delayed or the fee was wrong
- Check the status online first. The State Department’s online status tool covers both routine and expedited applications and updates faster than a phone call will.
- Confirm which fee was charged. A facility charging more than $35 for execution, or a second execution fee for a combined book-and-card application, is a facility error worth querying directly.
- Call the National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778 if the status has not moved for longer than the quoted processing window. Representatives are available weekdays 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, and weekends 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern.
- Ask about Urgent Travel Service if a delay now threatens booked travel within 14 days, rather than waiting for routine status to update on its own.
- Escalate to a passport agency appointment for anything the phone line cannot resolve, particularly a lost application or a fee dispute the facility will not correct.
Frequently asked questions
In short
A first-time US passport book costs $165, a mail renewal is $130, and a passport card runs $65 new or $30 to renew. Children always pay the in-person rate, and expediting adds $60 on top of whichever base fee applies.
The one distinction worth remembering: the $35 execution fee only shows up when you apply in person, not when you renew eligibly by mail.
Rules and fees change without much notice. This article was checked against the State Department’s published fee schedule in August 2026; if something here no longer matches what you were charged at the counter, tell us and we will correct it.
Once the passport itself is sorted, the next practical questions are what you can pack and how you will get data abroad. Delta’s carry-on size, and every other major airline’s covers the bag, and which iPhones support eSIM covers the phone.
