How to Renew an Expired Passport: Online, Mail, and Fees

You can renew an expired U.S. passport by mail with Form DS-82, or online at travel.state.gov, if your most recent passport was issued when you were 16 or older, was issued within the last 15 years, is not lost or stolen, and is undamaged beyond normal wear. Meet those four conditions and you skip the in-person appointment. Miss any one of them and you have to apply from scratch with Form DS-11 at a passport acceptance facility, which adds a $35 execution fee to the standard passport cost.¹

Can You Renew, or Do You Have to Start Over

The Department of State allows renewal only when all of the following are true: your most recent passport was issued at age 16 or older, it was issued within the last 15 years, it has not been reported lost or stolen, and you can submit it with your application.²

A name change since your last passport does not disqualify you. Include a certified copy of the marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order that documents the change.²

If your last passport was issued before your 16th birthday, you cannot renew, because child passports are valid for only five years.³ Children under 16 also cannot renew. A parent or guardian must file Form DS-11 in person each time, with both parents’ consent or documentation explaining a parent’s absence.²

Renewing Online

Online renewal is faster to file, but the eligibility window is tighter than the mail option. You can use it only if your passport is expiring within one year or expired less than five years ago, you are 25 or older, you are not changing your name or gender marker, you are inside a U.S. state or territory, and you are not traveling within six weeks.⁴

Everything happens at travel.state.gov. You upload a digital photo, complete the application yourself, and pay by credit or debit card. No agent or third-party service can submit for you. You keep the old passport instead of mailing it: the State Department cancels it electronically once you submit, so it cannot be used for travel, but nothing changes hands.⁴

Online renewal only runs at routine speed. If you need faster than that, use mail with the expedite fee.

Renewing by Mail With Form DS-82

If you meet the general renewal criteria but not the narrower online rules, file by mail with Form DS-82. Download it from the State Department’s forms page or pick it up at a post office, and print it single-sided. Double-sided forms are rejected.²

Your envelope needs to contain:

The completed, signed, and dated Form DS-82, which asks for your Social Security number, previous passport details, and current contact information.⁵
Your most recent passport book or card.
One 2-by-2-inch color photo taken within the last six months, against a white or off-white background, with eyeglasses off unless you have a signed doctor’s note. Attach it with four staples in the corners, close to the edges.⁶
Certified name-change documentation, if applicable.
Payment by personal check or money order payable to the U.S. Department of State, with the applicant’s full name and date of birth written on the front. No cash.²

The mailing address is a PO Box, so you have to ship through USPS. UPS, FedEx, and DHL cannot deliver there.² Use a trackable USPS service and keep the tracking number until your status updates online.

What It Costs

Fees are the same for online and mail renewal:¹

Passport book: $130
Passport card: $30
Book and card together: $160
Expedited processing: $60, mail only
1-to-3-day delivery: $22.05, not available for card-only applications⁷

If you end up on the DS-11 path because you no longer qualify to renew, add the $35 execution fee paid to the acceptance facility on top of the passport fee.¹

How Long It Takes

Routine processing runs four to six weeks. Expedited service, available by mail for an extra $60, drops that to two to three weeks.⁸ Those windows are measured from the moment the processing facility receives your application to the moment they mail the new passport, so add transit on both ends. The 1-to-3-day delivery upgrade only affects the outbound leg; without it, the new passport ships by standard mail and can take another week to arrive.

If your timeline is tighter than expedite can handle, the State Department runs passport agencies and centers that take appointments for travelers who are leaving the country within 14 calendar days or need a foreign visa within 28 calendar days.⁹ Bring proof of your upcoming travel, such as a flight itinerary or an employer letter. These slots go quickly in peak season, so call as soon as you know you are close to the wire.

Life-or-Death Emergencies

A separate route exists for genuine emergencies. If an immediate family member outside the United States has died, is in hospice care, or has a life-threatening illness or injury, and you need to travel within two weeks, you may qualify for an emergency passport agency appointment.¹⁰ Immediate family here means parent, child, spouse, sibling, or grandparent. Aunts, uncles, and cousins do not count.

If Your Expired Passport Is Lost or Stolen

If you can’t produce your old passport, you can’t renew, even if it was already expired. Report it to the State Department using Form DS-64, which you can submit online, by phone, or by mail. Once reported, the passport is permanently invalidated and cannot be used again even if it turns up later.¹¹

From there, you apply in person on Form DS-11 as a first-time applicant, paying the full application fee plus the $35 execution fee. If it happens overseas, contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.¹¹

Don’t Cut It Close

An adult passport book is valid for 10 years from issue, but many countries require at least six months of validity beyond your planned stay. Border officers in those countries can turn you away even though your passport has not technically expired. A safer habit is to start the renewal when you have about nine months of validity left. That gives processing time a cushion and keeps you eligible to travel anywhere while you wait. If online renewal fits your situation, the filing itself takes about ten minutes.

1
U.S. Department of State. United States Passport Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Renew Your Passport by Mail
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USAGov. Renew an Adult Passport
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U.S. Department of State. Renew Your Passport Online
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U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals
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U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Photos
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U.S. Department of State. Passport Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Processing Times for U.S. Passports
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U.S. Department of State. Make an Appointment at a Passport Agency or Center
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U.S. Department of State. Get a Passport if you Have a Life-or-Death Emergency
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USAGov. Lost or Stolen Passports