FYI: Passport Fees
 

I just wanted to post this information on here for people that may be applying for a passport. The U.S. Dept of State charges $55 to apply, and my local Clerk of Court office charged an additional $30. These fees had to be paid separately (2 different checks).

I guess I'm confused. I've always gotten or renewed my passport by sending to the US dept. of State. What does your local Clerk of Court have to do with it?

Hmmmm. I've never heard of this additional fee. Was this an expedited passport? Short notice?

I think we renew at the POst Office. If you involved the clerk in some way then I suppose he can charge what he wants. All you had to do was send it to the State Dept. as someone else said.

Here's the story:

Age 16 and older: The passport fee is $55. The execution fee is $30. The total is $85.

Under Age 16: The passport fee is $40. The execution fee is $30. The total is $70.

Note: When applying at other than one of the 13 Regional Passport Agencies and paying by check or money order, these fees must be paid separately because the $30.00 Execution Fee is retained locally by our 4,500 designated passport application acceptance facilities across the U.S. (Regional Passport Agencies also accept V, MC, D, and AE. Acceptance facilities may or may not accept credit cards.)

Passport Renewal (Form DS-82)
Non-Refundable

You may use this form if your previous passport:

1. Was issued when you were 16 or older.
2. Was issued in the last 15 years.
3. Is not damaged.
4. Is submitted with your application.

The total fee is $55.

Expedited Service - Add $60 for each application

For any service - e.g., first-time application, renewal, additional pages, name change.

Additionally, to receive your passport as soon as possible, we strongly suggest that you arrange overnight delivery service for:

1. Sending your passport application
AND
2. Returning your passport to you.

Info is from the State Dept. website:

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

For RENEWALS, there would be no need to use a local agent, since it can be done through the mail.

Flyboy has it right. There are 15 options of where to send it for no fee. If none of those suit you, then sure, you have to may more for someone else to do the "work" for you. Makes sense to me. Is there a reason you couldn't send it to one of the 15 regular agencies?

If you are applying for a new passport or the old one expired more than 6 months ago, you have to go to one of these places to start the procedure.
If you are just renewing a still valid or under 6 month expired passport then you could just mail it in.

Robertw does say APPLYING FOR and not RENEWING so the charges are in line with the detailed info posted by Flyboy. I'm betting most of us here are in the renewing category so don't remember and haven't had to deal with the applying for part in a long time.

If someone had just asked how much a passport costs, most of us would probably have given the renewal cost so this is good info for any new overseas travel.

Yep, mine got stolen and I had to get a replacement. It was 55, 35 (the fee here) and the passport service charged 100 to get it to Houston and back in a day or so... it was a sudden trip.

Mine had been expired for well over a year and it was renewed with no problems.

What I don't understand is people that travel to another country with a birth certificate and drivers license.

FYI, the regional passport offices normally won't let ordinary citizen travellers apply in person there anymore. They are too busy with special-case interviews due to post-9/11 security issues. So, you pretty much have to pay the 3rd-party fee whether you like it or not, even if you live in a city with a passport processing center.

The one that burns me is that you cannot renew a child's passport any longer. Now you have to completely reapply every 5 yrs, and pay the full corresponding application fee and processing fee.

I was wrong about the 6 month expiration. If your passport was issued 15 years ago and is expired, then you do have to apply in person, meaning going down to one of the 4,500 designated passport application acceptance facilities. Here is some more info about who has to apply in person as opposed to mailing the application: (This is from the State Dept. site)

You Should Apply IN PERSON if....
You are applying for a U.S. passport for the first time.
Your previous U.S. passport was lost, stolen, or damaged.
Your previous U.S. passport has expired & was issued more than 15 years ago.
Your previous passport has expired and it was issued when you were under 16.
Your name is changed since your passport was issued and you do not have a legal document formally changing your name.
You are a minor child 14 or older.

ryn2691. i didn't know that about kids and reapplying every 5 years. good to know (thanks). though that is a bit annoying, i'm sure they do it because kids faces change so much. we got a passport for my son when he was 14 months old. he's 21 months now and he's already changed so much, i don't think he looks much like the picture that's on his current passport!