Passport Renewal FAQ: Eligibility, Fees, and Processing Times

To renew a U.S. passport, submit Form DS-82 online or by mail if your most recent passport was issued in the last 15 years, after your 16th birthday, and is undamaged and in your possession. The fee for a passport book is $130, and routine processing currently runs four to six weeks. If any of those conditions isn’t met, you’ll need to apply in person on Form DS-11 instead.

Who Qualifies to Renew

Four conditions decide whether you can use the renewal process at all. Your current passport has to be in your hands (not lost, stolen, or reported missing), issued less than 15 years ago, issued when you were 16 or older, and undamaged.¹ Miss any one of those and you’re back to the first-time application track: Form DS-11, filed in person at a passport acceptance facility such as a post office, library, or county clerk’s office.²

Normal wear won’t disqualify you. A cracked cover or bent pages from years in a back pocket are fine. What crosses the line is water damage, missing visa pages, an unreadable data page, or significant tears.³ Child passports (issued before age 16) can’t be renewed because they only last five years and follow a separate track.

Renewing Online

Online renewal is now available directly through the State Department’s website, but the eligibility rules are tighter than for mail. To use it, all of the following must be true:

Your passport was a 10-year book that’s either expiring within a year or has been expired less than five years.
You are 25 or older.
You aren’t changing your name or sex marker.
You won’t travel internationally for at least six weeks after you submit.
You are located in a U.S. state or territory when you apply.
Your passport is undamaged and hasn’t been reported lost or stolen.

Only routine processing is available online; there is no expedited option.⁴

You upload a digital passport photo, fill out the application on the State Department site, and pay by credit or debit card. One thing to note: you keep your old passport, but the system cancels it electronically the moment you submit. Don’t try to travel on it after that. Status updates arrive automatically by email as the application moves through processing, approval, and shipping. If something’s wrong with what you submitted, you’ll get a letter or email and have 90 days to respond.⁴

Renewing by Mail

Mail renewal uses Form DS-82, which you can complete in the State Department’s online form filler and then print. The form asks for your full legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, and mailing address.¹ With it you’ll include:

Your current passport. It gets mailed in, cancelled, and returned to you separately.
One 2-by-2-inch color passport photo taken within the last six months against a plain white or off-white background. Neutral expression, both eyes open, no glasses (the only exceptions are documented medical need or religious headgear worn daily).
Payment by personal check or money order made out to “U.S. Department of State,” with your full name and date of birth written on the front. Cash and temporary checks aren’t accepted.
Certified name-change documents (marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order) if your name has changed since the passport was issued.

Photo problems are one of the most common reasons applications stall. Retail pharmacies and postal facilities take passport photos, typically for $12 to $18. If you shoot your own, follow the composition rules closely; shadows, wrong dimensions, and non-white backgrounds all trigger rejections.

Where to Send It

Where the envelope goes depends on your state and whether you’re paying for expedited service. For routine processing:

If you live in California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, or Texas: National Passport Processing Center, Post Office Box 640155, Irving, TX 75064-0155.
All other states and Canada: National Passport Processing Center, Post Office Box 90155, Philadelphia, PA 19190-0155.

For expedited service, everyone uses: National Passport Processing Center, Post Office Box 90955, Philadelphia, PA 19190-0955. Write “EXPEDITE” on the outside of the envelope.⁵ Use a trackable method like USPS Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express, and a large enough envelope that the form and passport don’t have to be folded.

Fees

The renewal fee for a passport book is $130. A passport card alone is $30 to renew, and renewing both at once costs $160.⁶ The card is a wallet-sized document valid only for land and sea entry from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and parts of the Caribbean; it cannot be used to fly internationally.⁷

Two optional add-ons speed things up:

Expedited processing: $60 on top of the base fee.
1–3 day delivery of the finished passport to a U.S. address: $22.05. This applies to books only, not cards.

For mail renewals, combine everything into a single check or money order. Renewals don’t include the $35 execution fee that first-time applicants pay at an acceptance facility.⁶

Processing Times

Routine processing currently takes four to six weeks. Expedited processing runs two to three weeks.⁸ Those numbers measure agency review only. Shipping time is separate, which is why the 1–3 day delivery add-on exists.

Times swing with demand, and spring and early summer are the worst months. Renew well ahead of any planned trip. Many countries require your passport to be valid for at least six months beyond your stay, so a passport that’s technically still valid can still get you turned away at the border.

You can check your application status at passportstatus.state.gov. For mail applications, give it about two weeks after mailing before the system registers you as received.⁹ Online applicants get automatic email updates at each stage. When everything’s done, your new passport and the cancelled old one arrive separately in the mail. The old book typically comes back with holes punched through the cover to mark it invalid.

Urgent Travel

The $60 expedite works if you have several weeks. If you’re traveling internationally within 14 calendar days, neither routine nor expedited mail will make it. In that case, you can book an in-person appointment at a passport agency or center. These slots are reserved for people with confirmed international travel within 14 days, or a foreign visa need within 28 days.¹⁰

For a true emergency (death, life-threatening illness, or serious injury of an immediate family member abroad), the State Department offers life-or-death emergency appointments. Immediate family here means a parent, child, spouse, sibling, or grandparent. Aunts, uncles, and cousins don’t qualify, and you must have travel planned within the next two weeks.¹¹

Name Changes and Data Corrections

If your name has changed since your current passport was issued, the form depends on timing. If the change happened less than one year after issue, use Form DS-5504 by mail. Submit your current passport, a certified original of the name-change document (marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order), and a new photo. There’s no application fee unless you want the $60 expedite.¹²

If more than a year has passed, use the regular renewal form (DS-82) with the certified name-change document and pay the full renewal fee.¹² The document needs to clearly link your old name to the new one, and photocopies generally won’t do; the agency wants a certified original with an official seal or stamp. Your documents come back after review.

The same DS-5504 route handles printing errors on your passport. If the State Department misspelled your name, printed the wrong birthdate, or made a similar mistake, you can get it corrected free within one year of the passport’s issue date. After a year, you’re back to a standard paid renewal.¹²

Sex Marker Policy

As of January 2025, under Executive Order 14168, the State Department issues passports only with an “M” or “F” sex marker, and the marker must match the applicant’s biological sex at birth. The “X” marker is no longer available.¹³

Renewing From Overseas

If you’re living abroad, the process is different. In most countries you have to apply in person at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate, even for a renewal. Procedures vary by post, so check the local embassy or consulate website for appointments and specifics.¹⁴

Canada is the exception. U.S. citizens in Canada who meet the standard DS-82 requirements can mail their application to the U.S. processing centers just as they would from a domestic address, and can list a Canadian mailing address to receive the new passport.¹⁴ The online system, though, is not an option from abroad. It requires you to be located in a U.S. state or territory when you submit.⁴

1
U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Renewal Application for Eligible Individuals
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U.S. Department of State. Passport Forms
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U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Spain and Andorra. Damaged Passports
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U.S. Department of State. Renew Your Passport Online
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U.S. Department of State. Renew Your Passport by Mail
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U.S. Department of State. United States Passport Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Compare a Passport Card and Book
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U.S. Department of State. Get Your Processing Time
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U.S. Department of State. Passport Application System
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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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U.S. Department of State. Name Change for U.S. Passport or Correct a Printing or Data Error
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U.S. Department of State. Sex Marker in Passports
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U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Passport Outside the United States