New 52 Page US Passport

Posted December 18, 2011 By Kevin

I recently renewed my old US passport that was set to expire on February 2012. There’s now an option to get the thicker 52-page version instead of the regular 28-page version, with both costing the same. It used to be free to add extra pages to a passport, but now it costs $82 to do so. With that in mind, and the possibility that I might end up using up all the pages of the slimmer version during my upcoming trip, I opted for the 52-page one.

For some reason, I was really excited about getting the new passport. I checked online almost everyday on my application status. The regular service is supposed to be from 4-6 weeks, but I got it under 3 weeks. I also got my old passport back in the mail a couple of days after the new one.

Aside from having more pages, the cover is also much thicker than the old one, probably because of the microchip they put in it now. Of the 52 pages, only 41 are available for visas and stamps, the rest contain miscellaneous information.