Travel Weekly: N.Y. Lawmakers Say Hiking Passport Fees Is A Bad Move

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By Bill Poling

The State Department is planning another Passport Day on March 27, when passport offices, post offices and other passport-acceptance facilities will be keeping Saturday hours.

The Passport Day would accommodate working families and others who have trouble finding time to apply.
Two congressmen from upstate New York, Rep. Brian Higgins and Chris Lee, have spoken out against a proposed increase in passport fees, saying it could erect another barrier to international travel.

Higgins and Lee are co-sponsors of the Passport Fee Relief Act (H.R. 1733), a bill they introduced a year ago to authorize income tax credits for the cost of passports and other "enhanced identification documents" required by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

The new fee structure would boost the price of a first-time passport from $100 to $135, while the price of renewals would rise from $75 to $110.

The cost of a passport for minors (under age 16) would stay the same ($40), but other consular fees pertaining to passports and visas would also increase.

Notably, getting additional pages to a valid and well-used passport -- currently a free service -- would rise to $82.

Passport applicants who lack proof of citizenship currently incur a $60 fee to get State Department assistance in researching their record. That fee would rise to $150. There will also be a new fee of $450 for renouncing one's citizenship.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs has not yet pinned down an effective date for the new fees, but it said in a Federal Register notice last month that the fees were the result of a 22-month cost study and were developed in keeping with a government policy that consular fees be based on the cost of providing the service.

The bureau is accepting public comments through March 9.

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