Needing a passport to travel is just one of the facts of life when you’re traveling outside of the United States. If it’s been more than ten years since you have used your passport, chances are your passport has expired and you will need to renew it in order to travel outside the country.
Very few countries have exceptions to the rule of needing passports to enter them. Only Mexico and Canada do not require passports for entrance, and that is only if you enter them either by sea or land. Otherwise, you will still need a passport to enter their borders if you fly into the country.
You needn’t worry about getting your passport renewed, however, because this isn’t as difficult a process as getting a new passport can be. Today, you can get your passport renewed without having to be in attendance at a passport acceptance facility – unless you choose to do it that way.
If you don’t want to renew your passport at a facility in person, now you can mail in your renewal quite easily. The first step is downloading the renewal applications off the US government’s travel.gov website – you don’t even need to leave the house to get this paperwork started.
There are some rules to renewing your passport through the mail. You must have been at least 16 years old when your passport was issued, and your passport may not be more than 15 years old (it’s ok if it has expired). You can have held a minor passport and still renew as an adult.
Your passport must be in decent shape – at least decent enough that its authenticity can be verified. If your passport has been so mutilated, ripped or otherwise damaged that the office cannot be sure of its legality, you will need to go to a passport acceptance facility to apply for a new passport in person.
Name changes on passports can not be processed through the mail. For instance, if you held a passport in your maiden name and got married and want to renew your passport – you will need to apply for a new passport in person at a passport acceptance facility. Other name changes follow these rules.
When you send in your application for renewal, you will need to send along your old passport, along with two standard passport photos (identical 2″x2″ photos taken with a passport camera) and your passport renewal forms. You’ll also need to pay the passport renewal fees.
Be prepared to wait for your new passport to arrive. The wait times are long – both for people who are applying for the first time for their passport and for those who are renewing their passports. Give yourself plenty of time before your trip to make sure that your passport arrives in time.