Passport pain: New price increases in effect

Published by BBNTEAM at April 4, 2023

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Posted: Tuesday, April 4, 2023. 11:43 am CST.

By Aaron Humes: After public outcry forced its postponement last October at the time of the launch of the new EPICS system, proposed new passport fees go into effect today after being signed into law by Minister of Immigration Senator Eamon Courtenay on April 1.

As we reported then, the Minister did not rule out a future increase in prices: “Yes, I suspect it will increase at some point but certainly not this year (2022).”

The statutory instrument leaked on Monday sets the new fee for the adult standard 10-year passport at $200, up from $50 or 400 percent. For minors, the price goes from $30 to $150, a 500 percent increase.

A 20 percent hike in new fees for temporary passports takes the price to $300.

And if your passport was lost, damaged or stolen, or you want it in 24 hours, you must pay an additional $200 to the standard fees, meaning it will cost $400 in the former instance and $500 in the latter.

There remains high demand for passports with appointment backlogs reportedly stretching to June and July of this year. Тhе nеw раѕѕроrtѕ оffеr аddіtіоnаl lауеrѕ оf ѕесurіtу оf іnfоrmаtіоn аnd trаvеl, аѕ wеll аѕ lеѕѕ hаѕѕlе іn аррlуіng fоr оnе, wіth арроіntmеnt tіmеѕ ѕеt uр еntіrеlу оnlіnе аnd оnе іn-реrѕоn vіѕіt nееdеd tо tаkе оffісіаl рhоtоgrарhѕ аnd ѕо оn.

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