MisterBill

Can anyone explain to me why, when you renew a US passport, it expires ten years from the processing date as opposed to adding ten years to the previous expiration date? Is there any other government-issued license that works that way? Drivers licenses don't, TSA Precheck doesn't. Do other countries do the same thing? It seems to me that if people did not lose time when renewing early, more people would do it, and they could avoid some of the summer processing crush. It just seems like a money grab to me, since you end up getting less than ten years use out of your passport, which isn't cheap. You already get 9.5 years maximum, since the passport has to be valid for six months beyond the travel return date.

I was thinking of emailing my senator about this, since it really makes no sense to me.

UKtravelbear

The US is not unusual in this,

The UK used to add up to nine months from an unexpired passport but stopped in around 2017.

it causes all sorts of problems when determining whether someone is eligible to enter a country (or not) during the added on time.

The Schengen zone measures eligibility based on 10 yeas based on the date the passport was issued and excludes the add on time and this has caught a lot of people out.

But other jurisdictions don’t care about the add on time as long as the passport expiry date is after you’re going to exit the country,

Not all countries have any sort of 6 months validity after departure date rule. The US used to but no longer.

CDTraveler

I think "renew" is not what happens with passports. If you have 2 previous passports, look at the numbers in them: they are not the same - you are not "renewing" passport number X, you are being issued passport number Y. I can't say why they do it that way, just that they do.

Not all countries require your passport to be valid for that 6 months beyond expiration date. I've traveled to at least 2 other countries with less than 6 weeks left on mine, so that argument doesn't hold as being proof the State Department shortchanges you.

I doubt your senator would expend much energy on this particular issue.

CPRich

My passport expires in early September.

I returned from the UK, May 31, no problem.

You can "renew" a passport that's up to 15 years old, so you can get 5 free years

CDTraveler

Huh? A passport is valid for up to 10 years, not 15, so how do you get "5 free years" with which you can travel on that passport from that scenario?

gaobest

more that it’s not been used for those 5 years after expiration. :-)

my passport expired in December 2019 and I got delayed with renewing it. Then with Covid I further delayed. Finally renewed it in 2023 and it was easy. If I had waited past 5 years of expiration then it would be like starting fresh which would take even more time for me to do the paperwork.

CDTraveler

It still makes no sense claiming an expired passport gives you "5 free years" - it's useless for international travel, which is the purpose of having a passport. Yes, you can renew it easier, but otherwise it's useless. Many (most?) places won't accept expired DL's or passports as valid ID, so it's not even good for that.

MisterBill

Well, my Senator is Chuck Schumer, and he typically goes on TV (always on Sunday) to complain about something like long renewal times for passports in the late spring/early summer when times are crazy (and in the news). So it seems like this is something that could allow people to renew sooner if they knew that they weren't going to lose the remaining time on their existing passport.

UKtravelbear

To reiterate many countries no longer issue such extensions and nor do they accept such added time when calculating if your passport is valid for admission to them.

it would create more problems then you think it would solve.

CDTraveler

Blabbing about it on a talk show and actually doing something about it are several galaxies apart.

Again, if you look at the current system, you'll see you are being issued a new passport, not "renewing" an existing one. You get a new document with a new number when you send in that application. And if you price out the time you think you're losing, at $130 for a 10 year passport, that's $13/year, or $6.50 for those alleged 6 months you think you're being cheated out of. Is it really worth getting Congress involved, especially as the number of countries requiring 6 months of validity after arrival is rather limited?

uanj

Let me propose an alternative view. Passports are documents which countries agree to recognize as proof of identity covered by treaties. The US alone has signed hundreds of treaties currently in force with virtually every sovereign government. Not to mention agreements on international travel involving the use of passports for identification. Is it practical to amend or renew all these agreements for this purpose?

Within the US tribal and government authorities are free to amend IDs as they see fit. But you would need the world to agree to an automatic passport extension which is not going to happen.

The US should fix the process that is taking so long to issue passports. That would be my request to Senator Schumer.