For fellow Americans living in cities where ICE is active, many people, especially those of Hispanic descent, are already carrying around passports on their persons at all times because they’re rightfully afraid of being forcibly disappeared or deported to some random South American country.
A passport card can be obtained for $30 from the Department of State. It is considered exactly equivalent to a passport within the US, but it’s the size of a credit card. It is a valid travel document for land and sea travel within North America and the Caribbean. It also counts as a Real ID. The card is good for ten years.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html
Do not do this if you are transgender or have an X gender marker. They will cancel your passport and tell you to apply for a new one with your sex assigned at birth.
Holy shit that’s so fucking cheap I paid like 200 aud for my Australian passport
That’s because it’s a passport card. Cards are only useful for crossing into Canada or Mexico, or for some carribian islands.
More importantly, it’s not valid to use for entry via airplane anywhere, even if it’s one of the above. So basically most useful for people that commute between regularly or are going on cruises. Or in this case as proof of citizenship.
Full passports are $130 USD. I renewed both in November.
Ahh righto, I assume you need a full passport for a card?
You can apply for a card without getting the book, or you can also apply for the book without getting the card. There’s a combo deal where you can get both for slightly cheaper than if you get them individually.
If you already have a card, applying for a book counts as a “renewal” rather than a new application.
Not at all. And it’s a little cheaper than my state ID (which is not a driver’s license, just an ID) and lasts considerably longer (10 years like a normal passport instead of 2 for the state ID).
Its great value, if you don’t already need a license and don’t plan on doing any air travel.
Oh nice
When was that? My partner paid something like $400 or more last year.
Honestly you might be right on it being $400. I remember it being way more than what I thought would be reasonable and in the hundreds; not the specific number. I filled mine online in VIC with the passport authority late last year. Picked it up and did all the in person paperwork at my local post office. Bloody rip off aye!