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Much to the chagrin of frequent international travelers, the U.S. Department of State is poised to do away with additional passport pages.
By the end of 2015, travelers will no longer be able to add extra pages to their U.S. passport, instead having to renew their passport altogether, which requires more money and additional paperwork.
According to Allied Passport & Visa, beginning Dec. 31, 2015, passport holders will no longer be able to simply pay for extra pages to add to their book when they run out of room.
Therefore, travelers looking to do so will have less than nine months to shell out the $82 fee for more pages. Keep in mind that you'll need to have your documents sent in by Dec. 18 in order to have the extra pages added before the new policy takes effect.
But there is some good news that comes from the State Department's decision.
New passport holders will be issued a 52-page "jumbo" book that will feature 20 more pages than the current standard passport. But at the same time, the increase in pages will also make the book more difficult to carry around, especially for frequent travelers.
Outside of the inability to add extra pages and the size of new passports, there appear to be no other significant changes on the horizon.
U.S. passports will continue to be valid for 10 years and travelers won't have to worry about registering and paying for new visas before they expire so long as they bring their old stamped book along with their new one.
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