You can renew your own passport. Online is narrower than you think.
If the book was issued at 16 or older, is undamaged, and isn’t lost, renew by mail ($130, no $35 facility fee) or online if you actually qualify. Skip if the book already covers the trip.
If your book was issued at 16 or older, is undamaged, and is not lost, you can renew it. Mail is the default. Online is narrower than people think.
A child under 16 cannot do this. That is a different post. Do the document before you open a card.
Who this is for
An adult with a trip in the next 12 months and a ten-year book that is expired, about to be, or too close for comfort. You qualify for Form DS-82. You want to skip the post office if you can.
Skip this if
The book already covers the trip. It was lost, stolen, or damaged beyond wear. That is in-person DS-11, not a renewal. You are under 16. Read the child post. If there is no international trip in the next 12 months, leave the book in the drawer.
How it works
The official pages are Renew Your Passport by Mail and Renew Your Passport Online. Confirm the live list the morning you apply. This is not a blog’s version.
Mail, Form DS-82. You can use it if all of this is true: the book was issued in the last 15 years, issued when you were 16 or older (and valid 10 years), never reported lost or stolen, not damaged beyond normal wear, and it is in your current name — or you have a certified marriage, divorce, or court order. You mail the old book in with the form. State returns the old book separately. Confirm the timing on travel.state.gov. The mail page and the FAQ do not say the same number.
No $35 facility fee. That fee is for in-person DS-11.
Fees, from the fees page (confirm; last we pulled, March 19, 2026):
Passport book: $130
Passport card: $30
- Book and card: $160
Expedite is $60 extra. Optional 1–3 day return delivery is $22.05. Pay with a personal check or money order to the U.S. Department of State. Do not send cash.
Name change: more than a year after the book was issued, DS-82 plus the certified document. Within a year, that is Form DS-5504. Confirm on State’s change/correct page. Do not guess.
Online. This is not “mail, but a website.” State’s online page (last updated June 29, 2026) wants all of: you are in the United States, you are 25 or older, you have a 10-year book, it is expiring within a year or expired less than five years, no name or sex marker change, and you are not traveling for at least six weeks from the day you submit. Routine service only. You cannot expedite an online renewal. You submit it yourself. No third-party “we file it for you” site. Same $130 / $30 / $160. Credit or debit card. Digital photo.
If you are 16 to 24, you can still be in the mail line. You are not in the online line. That is the part people get wrong.
Processing is the same clock as the kid post. Confirm the live processing-time page. Last pull: routine 4–6 weeks, expedited 2–3 weeks plus $60. Mail time is extra, up to two weeks each way. Online is routine only, so the six-week travel buffer is not a suggestion.
Airlines sometimes want six months of validity left. That is a destination rule, not a U.S. passport rule. Check the country, not a rumor.
What to do this month
Look at the date on the back page. If it dies before the trip, start now.
If you are 25 or older, in the U.S., the book qualifies, and you have six weeks with no international travel: online is the least annoying path. If any of those fail, mail DS-82. If the trip is inside 14 days, you are in agency territory with proof of travel.
If spring break is the trip and the book is thin, do this in the fall. Do not stack it onto the kid’s DS-11 Saturday unless you enjoy that. The kid has to appear. You might not.
What not to do
Do not renew online if you need the current book to fly in the next six weeks. Do not try to expedite an online application. Do not mail a child’s passport. Do not pay a courier. Do not send cash. Do not treat “six months validity” as a U.S. law. Do not open a card because the book is expired. The document is the bottleneck.
Next
Kids under 16 already have a post. Global Entry is a different errand, and only if you are actually landing from another country. When the books are in the house, then we talk about the trip, and only then the card.
Pick the card for the trip that’s already on the calendar.