How to Get Your First Passport
So have you never been to a foreign country? Never had a passport?
Now you might be asking yourself why even get a passport to begin with? Well, I'll give you four good reasons.
The first is if you want to fly to a foreign country like Italy or France or what have you, you're going to need a passport book. This is because when you arrive at a foreign country, the immigration officials are going to need a place to put their stamp. That stamp gives you a certain length of time in the country.
They'll affix a stamp into your passport book and write in the number of days you're allowed, and it's usually 90 days for most countries for U.S. citizens. Mexico gives you up to 180 days, which is wonderful. So that's the first reason.
Another reason is if you want to take a sea cruise, you want to go from, say, Miami to the Bahamas or Jamaica, you'll need a passport. If you want to drive or walk into Mexico or Canada from the U.S., you'll need a passport.
And finally, if you want residency in another country, you'll definitely need a passport. This is because you're going to need an official form of ID, and you’ll need a place for immigration to put your residence visa or your work visa in your passport.
You technically could do the things on this list with just your birth certificate and your state driver's license, but having a passport makes everything faster and more efficient for you, especially when you return to the United States. Immigration still needs to verify that you are a U.S. citizen, and a passport is the fastest and best way to do it. Otherwise, they'll have to vet your birth certificate, look at your driver's license, make sure they're the real McCoy, everything is legit, and that could take some time.
U.S. passport book
The passport book allows for international travel by air, land, and sea. It's $130 USD right now. The passport card ($30 USD) is about the size of a credit card or your driver's license. It allows for domestic air travel in the U.S., and also allows for international land and sea travel between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.
But it's not valid for international air travel, and that's because, as I mentioned previously, immigration needs a place to affix their stamp, and they can't do that with your passport card. It's got to be a passport book for international flights.
I say just get both. It's worth the extra cost.
And the nice thing is, it's 2025 now and Real ID is becoming mandatory nationwide. And most people, myself included, a state driver's license isn't Real ID compliant. But I'm not going to worry about that because I already have a passport book and a passport card.
The passport card is Real ID compliant. In fact, passports that are issued now in the U.S. have electronic chips inside them that makes it easier for them to be scanned at a port of entry by NFC (near-field communication), I believe is how it's done. You obviously can't do those things with a birth certificate and a driver's license.
The first step in this process is, you're going to need to get your hands on your birth certificate. It needs to be issued by a state or county government, and you'll know because the birth certificate will have an official seal or stamp from the county or state government that issued it to you.
The first place I would look is your parents, your next of kin, if they're available, if that's an option, they might still have yours. If not, you can go to your state's vital records office and order it directly from them. The way to do it is just go to Google and do a search like New Mexico vital records or New Mexico birth certificates. Either one of those queries should lead you in the right direction.
And finally, there's a third option called VitalChek. They're an independent company that contracts with state governments to provide birth certificates, death certificates, etc. to the public.
Once you've ordered your birth certificate, I say you should get your passport photos taken next. You can go to any Walgreens, CVS, or AAA. They're nationwide. You just tell them you're applying for your passport, and you need passport photos — they'll take care of you. I think it's about $20, it might be a little more, but definitely inexpensive.
And another tip is if you're thinking about residency in another country like I am, then it's probably a good idea to get extra passport photos taken because you'll need official photos for your residence visa.
You might as well get it done while you're there. Kill two birds with the same stone.
Now that you got your passport photos, you should go and fill out the form DS-11 on the U.S. State Department website. Then you just click on the link that says “adult applying for the first time”. First, confirm you meet the requirements for a passport, then go straight to step two, “Fill out your form and print it”. Read the disclaimer, check the box, and click Submit. This will take you to the form filler tool. Fill out the form with your personal data, double-check for accuracy, and then click Next. Print out the completed form DS-11, but do not sign it yet; it needs to be signed in-person when you turn in your passport application.
Once you get your birth certificate back in the mail, you're going to need to make a copy of it, and you're also going to take your driver's license (or other government photo ID) and photocopy both sides of it.
When you're applying for your first passport with the Form DS-11, there are two fees that you're going to have to pay — an application fee and an acceptance fee. The application fee goes to the U.S. State Department, and the acceptance fee goes to the facility that takes your application in person.
The passport book application fee is $130, the passport card application fee is $30, and the acceptance fee is $35, so that's $195 total. If you want expedited service, that's another $60. So your total cost maxes out at $255. That's for the card and the book, with expedited service, and of course the acceptance fee. Click here to see the State Department’s list of passport fees.
To find out where your nearest acceptance facility is, go to IAFDB.travel.state.gov.
Input your ZIP code, indicate the number of closest facilities you want to see, and check the applicable box if you need handicap access or want to find acceptance facilities that also take passport photos. Click on Search and your results will be displayed in order of increasing distance. You're going to have to investigate each one, find out what their operating hours are, where they are located, and what form of payment they take.
Finally, the next part is to pay. You have to pay for the application and acceptance fees. Usually, you submit a check. It could be a personal check, certified check, cashier's check, traveler's checks, or a money order. The check for the application fee must be paid to the U.S. Department of State.
After you pay for everything in person, you're going to submit the form DS-11, and you're going to sign it in front of the agent. You have your original and photocopy birth certificate, your photocopy driver's license, and your two passport photos. Those will all go together with the application (form DS-11) that you turn it in person and pay the application fee and acceptance fee.
Getting your stuff back should take a few weeks. The first thing I got back was my birth certificate that came in the mail. And then my passport card came next, and then the passport book after that. All together, if you select just standard routine process, nowadays, it should take four to six weeks for all the processing. That does not include mailing. You'll want to add about a week for mailing.
If you go the route of expedited processing, that'll cut the time in half, down to two or three weeks for the $60 additional you have to pay. You have to decide for yourself if you want to spend the extra money to get your passport back quicker.
In any case, your passport, once you get it, it will expire 10 years from the date of issue minus one day. So if you get your passport issued on April 1st, 2025, it will expire March 31st, 2035. And one final note about passports, most countries will need at least six (6) months of validity left on your passport in order to grant you entry.
So, if you have a passport that expires like in a week, you basically have an expired passport. No country will let you in. It's just too soon. Once you have a year left on your passport, then I recommend renewing it.
