there's talk of the validity going down from 10-year to 5-year
on the next-gen US passport. I wonder how Chinese embassies
will issue 10-year China visas on thos passports. :D :D :D

Just got my ten year Chinese visa on a passport with only three years left. They left a note inside that explains when my US passport expires (or within six month of the expiration), bring a current passport and the expired passport with the visa issued inside for entry. So guessing that is how they are going to handle ten year visas if the US goes down to five year passports.

This is the first I'm hearing :of a possible validity length change. I, too, was going to hold out for one of the new ones (late 2016 expiry for me) but not if it means 5yrs vs. 10.

I've heard nothing about a decision about reducing our passport validity from ten years to five years, but I've not yet asked about this either. I do know that there was an interest to reduce the validity period for "security" and "control" reasons, and there was some mention about RFIDs frequency of failing to function being made lower if passport duration was cut down to five years for all.

I would oppose a validity period reduction as it may lead to more than a doubling of current passport costs for US citizens to fly internationally.

Naturally, the security folks leading the argument for shortening the period are being supported and rewarded by the RFID industry which is also lobbying hard for the change to a 5 year period.

I'm assuming the RFID industry as a whole has bigger fish in the sea to fry than this issue. I would be surprised if even the current, private-sector supply-chain players for US passports' RFIDs are pushing for this reduction, although I've some times been surprised by what I've seen and how petty some interested parties can be.

The chips going into passports aren't even a drop in the bucket. Chip failure rate is better addressed by using a plastic substrate, like the Irish passport.

That is the kind of thing which is planned for the new U.S. passport type, and it will increase the production costs for US passports.

I expect another US passport price increase, when we are "the privileged" in a country where "users should pay the 'user fees'" even as the user fees are run up due to the paranoia of even those who barely, if at all, fly internationally.

When Ireland switched to a laser-engraved plastic ID page, they claimed it lowered the production cost of the passport with a more efficient production line. There's no reason the same should not be the result in the US.

That will only happen if the Vulcans take over the U.S. government.

Why? They're making a similar switch, yes, plastics cost a bit more than paper, but it's a chance to optimise other parts of the production line. For example, by using a laser-engraved data page not only is the passport more secure (the laser engraving is extremely difficult to replicate) it is also a cheaper process from my understanding due to speed/efficiency. I'm not sure Americans would tolerate a laser-engraved data page though, since it would not be in colour.

Other aspects of the production line can all be optimised with a switch to new materials. A newer, more secure passport should cost less to produce.

By Americans, do you mean the general public, or those in power? Why would the general public give a <redacted> whether the photo is black and white, or color? I mean, look at the quality of the current color photo in your passport. Even my night shots of Reykjavik with my iPhone from 30,000 feet in the air are sharper.

I don't think anyone doubts the production costs could be lower; the doubt is whether the US gov't would pass that cost reduction onto its subjects, uh, citizens. I'll add another vote for "no." :(

Ireland's "more efficient production line" couldn't currently have lower production costs today if there were to have been no switch to the current biodata page standard? I doubt that. Has Ireland reduced the cost of Irish passports charged that hit Irish citizens? I thought that the EUR price had risen by at least 30% in the past ten years, with minors' passports having been hit by an even larger increase.

The US supply chain for passport production and fulfillment has never been a copy of the Irish supply chain. There are numerous reasons that the cost of production and fulfillment won't be the same across different countries, but you are free to believe whatever you wish.

It's wishful thinking to expect the upcoming, newer, "more secure" US passports to result in a lower cost for the government and a lower price for US nationals.

1. I never said the price to the citizen was lower, I said the production cost (to the government) could be lowered. Thus, hopefully, reducing future increases.

2. I never said the US and Ireland were using the same processes, only using them as an example that better materials and a higher quality document don't necessarily increase production cost.