Reserve a time on Saturday morning, March 27 with Susan Tumminia who will be taking appointments for processing U.S. passport applications. Call 236-7272, ext. 16. The Library rarely offers this service on weekends but we are participating in this nationwide event. Call the Library soon, as there are limited time slots available for this Saturday event. Weekday appointments are widely available.
If you’re contemplating taking an international flight in the next 10 years, you might want to get a passport sooner than later. On Feb. 9, the U.S. State Department published a “proposed rule” with 30 day public comment period which requests a 35% price hike although nothing is official as of this posting. First time passport costs for adults would increase from $100 to $135; renewals from $75 to $110. For minors, the costs goes up from $60 to $80 and passport cards would increase to $55 for adults and $45 for minors. Adding extra visa pages to your passport book is now free. The proposal calls for an $82 fee for this service. The Department of State performed an independent cost of service study and found that “the U.S. Government is not fully covering its costs for providing these services under the current fee structure,” according to the summary of the proposed rule. The execution fee collected by the Library would remain static.
