Few Americans took note on July 13, when the U.S. Department of State raised all of the fees associated with getting and maintaining a U.S. passport. These fees include the cost of getting a new passport as well as a renewal, and a multitude of add-ons that can be associated with passports in certain circumstances.
The new fees increased prices for passport services up to 35%. The costs changed as follows:
New adult passport $100 –> $135
Renewal passport $75 –>$110
Passport card $45 –> $55
Additional pages $0 –> $82
It is this final fee for additional pages that is perhaps most shocking, since prior to this July, additional pages cost nothing! It seem the American government is now not only punishing its citizens for traveling, but placing particular emphasis on punishing those who travel frequently.
Obviously, it is a price that wanderlusters will gladly pay, and at least the passport’s validity remains the same at 10 years, but there is no guarantee as to how quickly an avid traveler might run through pages and, therefore, incur the hefty $82 fine for additional visa pages.
According to the Department of State’s travel.state.gov website, which aims to provide American travelers with information about international and overseas travel, passport fees don’t just go toward actually issuing an individual with a passport, but are used for a variety of other purposes, such as, “the costs of providing emergency services for American citizens overseas…helping Americans who have been the victims of crime while traveling … and providing support to the families of American citizens who have died overseas.” (source).
While that’s all well and good, I still don’t understand the $82 increase in fees for additional pages. What gives!
