My Name Is Spelled Wrong on My Passport: Forms DS-82 and DS-11

If your name is spelled wrong on your passport, the fix depends on who caused the error and how old the passport is. When the State Department misprinted the name you submitted, the correction is free at any time using Form DS-5504. When your legal name has changed and the passport is less than a year old, DS-5504 still handles it for free. Once more than a year has passed since issuance, a name change means a full renewal starting at $130.

Start by Identifying Whose Mistake It Is

This one question decides your form, your fee, and whether you can handle it by mail.¹

A printing or data error means you sent in the correct spelling and the passport came back wrong. Transposed letters, a dropped hyphen, a missing accent. That’s the government’s mistake, and they fix it for free regardless of how old the passport is.²

A name change is different. Your legal name is now something other than what’s on the passport because of marriage, divorce, or a court order. Here the timing matters. If less than a year has passed since the passport was issued, you use the same free DS-5504 process. Once more than a year has passed, you’re applying for a new passport and paying the standard fees.³

The one-year clock starts from the passport’s issuance date, not the date your name changed.

Fixing a Printing Error

If the State Department misprinted your name, mail in a correction packet. There’s no fee.¹

Form DS-5504, printed single-sided, signed, and dated.
Your current passport with the incorrect name.
An original or certified document showing the correct spelling, such as your birth certificate.
One 2×2 inch color passport photo with a white or off-white background, taken within the last six months.⁴

Send everything to the address listed in the DS-5504 instructions. Use a trackable mailing service — you’re putting your only passport and an original vital record in the same envelope.

Correcting a Name Change Within the First Year

If your name legally changed and your passport was issued less than a year ago, the packet is nearly identical. Same form, same photo requirement, no fee. The only substitution is the supporting document: instead of proof of a misprint, you include the record that proves the name change.¹

Form DS-5504, single-sided, signed, and dated.
Your current passport.
An original or certified marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order showing the new name.
One 2×2 inch color passport photo.

Correcting a Name Change After One Year

Once the passport is more than a year old, the free option is gone. You’re renewing, and there are two paths.³

By Mail With Form DS-82

If you’re eligible to renew by mail, file Form DS-82 with a $130 application fee for an adult passport book.⁵ Include your current passport, a certified copy of the name change document, and one passport photo. The online renewal system won’t work here; name changes have to go by mail.⁶

In Person With Form DS-11

If you’re not eligible to renew by mail, you’ll apply in person at a passport acceptance facility using Form DS-11. The total for an adult passport book is $165: a $130 application fee plus a $35 acceptance facility fee.² Bring evidence of U.S. citizenship, a valid photo ID with a photocopy, your name change document, and one passport photo.¹

One boundary worth knowing: if you can’t produce a marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order for the name change, DS-5504 and DS-82 aren’t available to you at all. That situation requires an in-person filing with additional affidavits and records, and the State Department’s page on name corrections lays out what’s needed.¹

If You’re Traveling Soon

Standard processing runs four to six weeks. Expedited runs two to three weeks.⁷ If either window works, add $60 to any application for expedited service, and $22.05 more if you want 1-to-3-day return delivery once the passport is printed.² The expedited fee applies even when the correction itself is free under DS-5504.

If your international trip is within 14 calendar days, or you need a foreign visa within 28 days, you can request an in-person appointment at a regional passport agency. These are separate from the acceptance facilities at post offices and clerks’ offices and serve by appointment only. Schedule through the Online Passport Appointment System if you haven’t yet submitted your paperwork. If you’ve already mailed it, call 1-877-487-2778 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET; weekends, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET).⁸

A separate fast track exists for a life-or-death emergency: a parent, child, spouse, sibling, or grandparent outside the United States who has died, is dying, or has a life-threatening illness or injury, with travel needed within two weeks. You’ll need a signed hospital letter on official letterhead and proof of upcoming travel. Try scheduling online first. Otherwise call 1-877-487-2778 during weekday business hours (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET), or 202-647-4000 outside those hours.⁹

Tracking the Correction

Once you’ve mailed the packet, check status at passportstatus.state.gov using your last name, date of birth, and the last four digits of your Social Security number. It can take up to two weeks after submitting a DS-5504 for the status to move to “In Process,” so don’t read early silence as a problem.¹⁰

Your corrected passport and your supporting documents come back in separate mailings. The passport ships via a trackable service. Your citizenship evidence, like a birth certificate or court order, arrives by First Class Mail and can take up to four weeks longer.

Loose Ends After the Correction

The name on your airline reservation has to match the ID you show at the checkpoint, so update reservations and frequent flyer accounts as soon as the new passport arrives.¹¹ If you have TSA PreCheck, contact the enrollment provider you originally applied through; until your PreCheck profile matches the new passport, you won’t get PreCheck benefits.¹² Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler accounts need the same update through CBP.

If you hold a valid visa in your old passport, the State Department recommends applying for a new visa in your corrected name. A valid visa in a canceled passport can still be used at the border as long as you carry both books together; the officer will stamp the new passport and note that the visa lives in the other one. Do not remove the visa from the old passport, which will invalidate it.¹³

1
U.S. Department of State. Change or Correct a Passport
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Travel.State.Gov. Passport Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Frequently Asked Questions about Passport Services
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U.S. Department of State. Passport Photos
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U.S. Department of State. United States Passport Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Renew Your Passport Online
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U.S. Department of State. Processing Times for U.S. Passports
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Travel.State.Gov. 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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U.S. Department of State. Checking Your Application Status
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Transportation Security Administration. Does the Name on My Airline Reservation Have to Match the Name on My Application?
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Transportation Security Administration. My Personal Information Has Changed – How Do I Update My Information So That I Can Continue to Receive TSA PreCheck?
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U.S. Department of State. About Visas – The Basics