Thanks for posting that. I've just made an appointment at the Dublin embassy--maybe I can get two sets at once.

There hasn't been any official date posted, but I had heard rumors it was supposed to start in April. However, some Congresscritters have gotten wind of this, also complaints about the attempted Stealth imposition by the State Dept, and are looking into it, which has delayed implementation. But for how long, who knows.

The fee increases, once in effect, will affect EVERYBODY including those getting passport services overseas.

Thanks again for the reminder. I just had more pages added at the DUB embassy. Took less than 20 minutes in and out, must have been a record!

Singapore US consulate does it free and fast...

Free in Toronto as well.

For now. The free part is not going to last. When the new fee goes into effect that most definitely does include all overseas consulates as well.

Actually, thinking about it, the proposed $82 fee is an obvious attempt at the de facto elimination of adding pages. No one in their right mind would pay $82 for 24 pages of paper to be added and no extension of validity, when renewing at the also jacked up price of $115 might (or might not) yield a 52 page passport, depending on if they ignore your request for one or not, with 10 more years of validity.

In the case of someone needing pages early on in their passports life, it is entirely likely they will need pages several time over before the passport expires. So 48 pages for $115 is $2.39 per page vs 24 pages for $82 is $3.41 per page. Renewing will be a substantially cheaper per page cost.

In the case of someone not needing pages until late in their passports life it would likely be the only pages they would need but they would still be better off renewing for the added length of validity.

Going forward, after the new fees kick in, the only way it will ever make sense to add pages at $82 is if you are stuck overseas, need pages to get to your next destination and have to get it done TODAY at a consulate. Otherwise renewing will always be the better deal.

Clearly they are trying to force more renewals and largely eliminate adding pages to increase how much cash they can shake down frequent travelers for.

Honestly, the only reason for extra pages to be more (or even the same) as a renewal is to put the squeeze on travelers in a bind, who run out of space in the middle of a trip and don't have a choice but to pony up. Last time I went it didn't take long, it was maybe 5 minutes between the consul giving the go ahead and me getting the passport back with extra pages.

Given how more and more countries are requiring a visa for US citizens, and how much space those take, visa pages are getting more and more precious. It's a vicious cycle.

That said, I actually agree they should charge something, as getting extra pages does take up time and resources, but $82 is insane.

This is really frustrating. I just added another two page sets to my passport (it now will barely fit anywhere) and it cost me $30 at the US Consulate in Rio de Janeiro. The ones before that, done in London, were free. Both were very fast, in and out in a half hour but in Rio I had to make an online appointment.

Hopefully with the renewal one can get the large passport with extra pages instead at the time of initial issuance. I renewed one in Hong Kong once where they did that ofd their own volition without me even asking. That was a while ago.

This is bad news...:td:
Was planning on getting pages added in London next month.
Hope it will still be free until then.

Both the general State Department Passport site: http://travel.state.gov/passport/fri/add/add_850.html

And the US Embassy in the UK site: http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new...rts/extra.html

clearly state there is no fee for the service

You should consider yourself lucky to have an option to add pages. Most countries don't do that. I am now on 4th passport in last 10 years and all previous ones had to be replaced long before expiring as they were full. Also, it only comes in one, standard size - 32 pages.

.......................yet.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...fees_4734.html

"The proposed schedule of fees for passport application services is as follows:"
"Total Cost: $82 for additional visa pages"
"The public will be notified of the date the new fees will go into effect."
No notification yet, so no $82 fee yet, but I would hazard to guess it will be implemented sooner rather than later.

I have started getting tetchy when they put their stamps in in such as a way as to take up two (or even three) spots. Especially with this change coming down the pipeline!

The Dublin airport used to take up an entire page for 1 entry/1 exit, it was really ridiculous. And if you said you were just in for 3 days, they'd only give you 3 days even if you're entitled to 90. I started asking for 90 every time just to try and save space because I come to Dublin a lot. I was pleased that my my recent trip last week saw a changed stamp that is still 3x the size of most other EU countries but half the size it used to be.

Canada is even worse: 24 pages for 5 years, though one can request a "Great Traveller" of 48 pages.

Italian Passport: Most Expensive?
 

It's about 83 euro to get an Italian passport. That's for a 10 year passport with 48 pages (32 pages is only 1 euro less), but there's an important catch: you can only travel to/from Italy for one year from the date of passport issuance. After that, you have to buy a 40.29 euro tax stamp for any travel to/from Italy, and each tax stamp is good for only one year. If you use your Italian passport to travel to/from Italy only once per year for 10 years you will pay about 443 euro total. That is, if you flash your Italian passport to an Italian passport control officer, particularly on exit, it had better have an unexpired tax stamp.

One potential way around this steep tax is to use an ordinary identity card for international travel, but that's only good within Europe, and you can't get one outside Europe.