A U.S. passport is good for 10 years if you were 16 or older when it was issued, and 5 years if you were under 16.1U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions about Passport Services The clock starts on the date of issue printed inside the passport, not the day you applied or the day it arrived in the mail. That’s the printed rule. The practical rule is shorter, because many countries won’t let you in with a passport that expires within six months of your trip.
Adult Passports: 10 Years
If you’re 16 or older on the day your passport is issued, it’s valid for 10 years from that date.1U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions about Passport Services The 10-year term applies whether it’s your first passport or your fifth. A replacement issued because your passport was lost or damaged also gets a fresh 10-year term, not the leftover time from the old book.
One quirk of the age cutoff: a passport issued to a 15-year-old is a child passport, valid for 5 years, even if the holder turns 16 the next month. That 5-year passport stays valid until its printed expiration; only the next one, applied for at 16 or older, becomes a 10-year adult passport.2U.S. Department of State. Apply for Your Passport as a 16-17 Year Old
Child Passports: 5 Years
Passports issued to children under 16 are valid for only 5 years.3U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16 The shorter window reflects how quickly children’s appearances change. A photo taken at age 4 doesn’t reliably identify the same child at 10.
Children under 16 can’t renew by mail. Each new child passport requires a fresh in-person application with both parents or guardians present.3U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16 Families who travel internationally with young kids often end up back at the acceptance facility every five years until the child reaches 16.
Passport Cards and Shorter-Validity Passports
The U.S. passport card, a wallet-sized plastic ID, follows the same schedule as the book: 10 years for adults, 5 years for children under 16. It’s usable for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and some Caribbean countries, but not for international flights.4U.S. Department of State. Compare a Passport Card and Book The card is REAL ID compliant, so it also works as ID for domestic flights inside the United States.5U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passports and REAL ID
Not every U.S. passport gets the full term. Emergency passports issued at embassies or consulates abroad are valid for one year or less and are intended only to get you home.6U.S. Department of State. Replace a Limited Validity Passport Second passport books, issued when your primary passport is tied up at a foreign embassy for a visa, are valid for four years or less.7U.S. Department of State. Applying for a Second Passport Book If you’re holding one of these, check the expiration date printed inside; the standard 10-year assumption doesn’t apply.
The Six-Month Rule at the Border
Your passport’s printed expiration date is not the date that matters for travel. Many countries require your passport to remain valid for at least six months beyond the dates of your trip.1U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions about Passport Services A passport expiring in March won’t get you into one of those countries in December, even though it hasn’t technically expired. Airlines enforce the rule at the check-in counter, so a denied boarding is often the first sign of a problem.
Rules vary by destination. Schengen Area countries in Europe require three months of validity beyond your planned departure date rather than six.8U.S. Department of State. U.S. Travelers in Europe Some countries only ask that the passport cover the length of your stay. Check the entry requirements for your specific destination on the State Department’s country pages before you book.
Blank pages matter too. Many countries require at least one or two blank visa pages for entry stamps, and the State Department no longer adds pages to existing passports. If you’re close to full, you renew.
When to Renew
Because of the six-month rule, the useful life of an adult passport is closer to 9 years and 6 months than 10 years, and a child’s is closer to 4 years and 6 months than 5. Start the renewal process 6 to 9 months before the printed expiration date. That leaves comfortable room for routine processing, which currently runs 4 to 6 weeks from the date your application arrives at a passport agency, plus mailing time in each direction.9U.S. Department of State. Processing Times for U.S. Passports
Renewing early costs you nothing beyond the fee. Unused time on your old passport doesn’t transfer to the new one, but you also don’t lose anything by handing in a passport with months still on it. A passport with several years of remaining validity will never cause trouble at immigration; one with five months left might.