Don't Miss Your Chance: 25,000 People Can Now Renew Their US Passports Online

 

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Is it time to renew that passport? If you act now, you might be able to do so without leaving your home.


On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department launched a test run of its passport renewal program, set to come out nationally sometime next year. This pilot run will allow 25,000 people to renew their passports online—with stipulations, of course.


To be eligible to use the online service, you must be at least 25 years old and have a passport in usable shape that was issued between 2007 and 2013.1 The program is only open to those whose passports are set to expire in the next year—already expired passports are not eligible. If you need to change any information on your passport, like your name or date of birth, you will not be able to do it during this online test run.


When you're ready to renew, you can create a MyTravelGov account. Once you fill in your information, you'll have to wait 24 hours before logging into your account and registering for a new passport. You'll be asked to complete the passport renewal application and upload a JPEG passport photo of yourself.


Online renewal will cost the same as a renewal by mail—$130 for a passport book, $30 for a passport card, and $160 for both. The state department warns that if you have one type of passport, you cannot renew online and ask for the other.1


If you're geared up to travel in the next five weeks, this isn't the opportunity for you—processing times will be the same as the mail-in option for this test run.1


President Biden signed an executive order in December last year that promised an array of "customer service improvement commitments," including online renewal of passports. This initial trial run will give insight into how well this system will work before it's released to the public.


You can read more about the trial run and see if you're eligible to apply here—but don't wait; the pilot run will close once 25,000 applications come in.