What a passport actually costs
The passportphoto.digital team · August 5, 2026 · 3 min read
The confusing part about passport pricing is that the headline number is only one of two mandatory fees, and which ones you pay depends on how you apply rather than on what you are getting.
The short version
- Two mandatory fees: an application fee to the State Department, and a $35 execution fee to the acceptance facility.
- Mail renewals on Form DS-82 skip the execution fee entirely, because no acceptance agent is involved.
- Neither fee is refundable if your passport is denied — by law, both are collected and kept.
The two mandatory fees
The application fee goes to the U.S. Department of State. It varies by what you are applying for — a book, a card, both — and by whether the applicant is 16 or older. This is the fee people mean when they ask what a passport costs.
The execution fee is a flat $35 paid to the facility that verifies your identity and witnesses your signature. It is a separate payment, often in a different form: many post offices will take a card for the execution fee but require a check or money order for the application fee. Call ahead and bring both.
Fees have been revised more than once recently, and reporting on them goes stale fast. Use the State Department's own fee calculator, which asks what you are applying for and returns the current amounts rather than a figure someone wrote down last year.
When you skip the execution fee
If you qualify to renew by mail on Form DS-82, there is no acceptance agent, so there is no execution fee. That is a real $35 saving and it is the main reason mail renewal is worth checking eligibility for before defaulting to an in-person appointment.
Online renewal, where available, works the same way — no agent, no execution fee, and no check to write, since payment is taken during the application.
Everyone applying on Form DS-11 pays it: first-time applicants, every child under 16, and anyone replacing a lost, stolen or damaged passport. There is no version of an in-person application that avoids it.
The optional charges
Expedited processing is a flat surcharge that moves you into the faster queue. Faster 1–3 day return delivery is a separate charge that speeds the passport's trip back to you. They solve different problems and you can buy either, both, or neither.
A file search fee applies if you cannot produce evidence of citizenship and need the department to look for a record of a previously issued passport. It is avoidable by ordering a certified birth certificate copy instead, which is usually cheaper.
Correcting a passport within a year of issue — a printing error, or a name change — is generally done on Form DS-5504 without an application fee, though you may still pay for expedited handling if you need it quickly. Outside that window it becomes a regular renewal at full price.
The cost people forget
The photo. Drugstore and shipping-store counters run roughly $8 to $20 for two prints, which is real money against the total, and it is money you spend again if the photo comes back rejected.
That second charge is the one to plan around. A rejected photo does not just cost another counter visit — it costs the weeks the application sat in the queue before anybody looked at it, and those weeks are what actually hurt when a trip is booked.
You also usually get prints only. Online renewal and every immigration form filed electronically want a digital file, and a store that hands you two pieces of paper has not given you what the upload needs.
Need the photo for this?
One 2 × 2 inch photo covers passports, USCIS forms, green cards and visas. Upload one, read the report on all eleven requirements, and pay only if it passes.
Check my photo freeFrequently asked
Why does a passport have two fees?+
The application fee pays the State Department for producing the passport. The $35 execution fee pays the acceptance facility for verifying your identity and witnessing your signature.
Do I pay the execution fee when renewing by mail?+
No. Mail and online renewals involve no acceptance agent, so no execution fee applies.
Are passport fees refundable if I'm denied?+
No. By law both the application fee and the execution fee are collected and kept whether or not a passport is issued.
Can I pay by credit card?+
It depends on the facility and the fee. The execution fee often can be paid by card; the application fee frequently requires a check or money order made out to the U.S. Department of State.
How much does a passport photo cost?+
Around $8 to $20 at a drugstore or shipping-store counter for two prints. Online you pay once and receive both a digital file and a printable sheet.
Sources
General information, not legal advice. Fees, forms and processing times are revised regularly — the linked government page is the authority. Written and maintained by the passportphoto.digital team.