Passport Fees Go Up Next Week

You've been meaning to get a passport. It seems like a good idea to have it in the drawer, just in case you decide to go up to Canada or your sister invites you on a cruise in Mexico. Nearly everyone you know has finally broken down and gotten their passport. You will get around to it, one of these days.

News flash: Passports fees go up on July 13. The final notice was posted in the Federal Register on June 18. Adults still have one week to pay $100 for a new passport book or $45 for a new passport card. After that, they will pay $135 for a passport book and $55 for a passport card.

If an adult already has a passport book, a passport card costs $20.

New passport books for minors (under age 16) will be raised from $85 to $105. Minors' passport cards go from $35 to $40.

Renewals cost more too. Adult passport book renewal goes up from $75 to $110. The adult card renewal was was $20; it becomes $30.

Additional visa pages will cost $82. This is currently a free service.

The fee for expedited service will remain the same: $60.

The new fees are based on a cost of service study conducted in June 2009. According to the Department of State, it is the most detailed study the department has ever conducted of its for-fee services, and represents a cost correction from the last update of the schedule of fees four years ago.

Passport books are valid for travel by air, sea or land. Passport cards are not for international travel by air. They are a convenient new less-expensive form of identification for land and sea crossing between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean only.

For more information about U.S. passports, visit travel.state.gov/passport.