Passport Government Fee Payment
Paying the government fees for your passport doesn’t need to be a hassle! In most cases, you can pay for your passport with a personal check or money order. You might even be able to pay for your passport with a credit card! You will have different options to pay your government passport fee, depending on how you submit your passport application.
Our complete guide to how to pay your government fees is below. Wondering how much you’ll need to pay? Check out our Passport Fee page for a breakdown of all the fees involved.
Applying at a Passport Acceptance Facility for Service by Mail
- Passport application fee (and expedited service fee, if selected) must be paid by check or money order made payable to “Department of State.”
- Passport Acceptance Agent Fee may be paid by money order or bank draft. Most locations accept personal checks; Passport Acceptance Facilities located at US Post Offices accept credit cards.
Applications Mailed Directly to the National Passport Processing Center
- Passport application fee (and expedited service fee, if selected) must be paid by check or money order made payable to “Department of State.”
Applying at a Regional Passport Agency
- All fees may be paid by credit card or check or money order payable to “Department of State.” You may also pay by cash with exact change only.
Applying Through a Passport Expediting Company
If your application does not need to be sealed into an envelope at a Passport Acceptance Facility (i.e. passport renewal, additional pages, second passport):
- All fees – Government fees, company service fees, shipping fees – can be paid in a single check or money order payable to the passport expediting company. Most companies also accept credit cards.
If your application does need to be sealed into an envelope at a Passport Acceptance Facility:
- Passport application fee (and expedited service fee, if selected) must be paid by check or money order made payable to “Department of State.” This check will be sealed into the official envelope.
- Passport Acceptance Agent Fee is paid directly to the Passport Acceptance Facility by money order or bank draft. Most locations accept personal checks; Passport Acceptance Facilities located at US Post Offices accept credit cards.
- Passport expediting company service fees and shipping fees are paid to the expediting company by check or credit card.
Guidelines for Writing Checks or Money Orders
Follow these guidelines to make sure your check will be accepted for passport processing. Incorrectly written checks are a common cause of application suspensions.
- Make your check payable to “Department of State.”
- Double-check the fees to make sure you are including the correct amount.
- Personal checks must have your name and address printed on them; do not use temporary or starter checks.
- The amount must be written out in full (i.e. “One Hundred Seventy and 00/100”)
- Write the applicant’s full name and birth date on the memo line
See examples to make sure that your check is correct
