It feels like every year I need to get someone in my family a new passport. Unfortunately, we all got our passports and NEXUS cards at different times, so it’s not like every five or 10 years I can sit down, knock them all out at once and forget about passports for another decade. Instead, I feel like I’m constantly checking expiration dates, reviewing the rules and reminding myself what documents we need.
It’s especially tricky with kids. If your child is under 16, their U.S. passport is only valid for five years and it cannot be renewed. You have to apply for a new passport in person each time.
My son just turned 10, so we’re now in the process of getting his third passport issued. Can you believe that? He’s already been to more than 30 countries.
I’m constantly telling him and his seven-year-old sister how fortunate they are because this is definitely not normal. I didn’t leave the country until I was 23 and these two have already seen more of the world than most people will see in a lifetime. It’s mind-boggling when I stop and think about it.
My son is constantly looking at the world map hanging in his room and now his little sister wants one, too. But I digress.
Set multiple passport expiration reminders
When you’re in charge of travel documents for an entire family, my first piece of advice is to set multiple reminders for passport expiration dates. I do the same thing for our NEXUS memberships, which also give us Global Entry and TSA PreCheck benefits.
Interestingly, the U.S. Department of State is now helping with passport reminders. I recently received an email notifying me that my son’s passport will expire in a year. According to the State Department, these emails are now being sent for both adult and child passports about one year before expiration.
Don’t ignore that one-year warning. Some countries require your passport to have at least six months of validity beyond your travel dates and an airline may refuse to let you board if your passport doesn’t meet the destination’s requirements.
I don’t like surprises when it comes to international travel, especially when those surprises happen at an airline check-in counter, so I prefer to take care of passports well in advance.
The cheapest way to get a passport photo
There are several ways to get a passport photo and the cheapest is to take it yourself.
You can use your phone or camera, but make sure you follow the State Department’s rules carefully. In fact, the State Department says unacceptable photos are the number one reason passport applications are put on hold.
For a U.S. passport photo, the State Department says you need a color photo taken within the last six months. You should face the camera directly with your head centered and fully visible, both eyes open and a neutral expression. Remove your eyeglasses and use a plain white or off-white background with no shadows, textures or objects.
For a printed application, the photo needs to be 2 x 2 inches and your head should measure between 1 and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of your chin to the top of your head. Most importantly, don’t use filters, AI or photo-editing software to alter the image.
If you can handle all of that yourself, you can save quite a bit of money. Walmart currently advertises 2 x 2 passport photos for $7.64, with the photo taken and printed at a Walmart Photo Center. No appointment is needed.
Why we usually pay a professional
My wife prefers to play it safe and have a professional take the photo. I can’t really blame her. The last thing we want is to have a passport application delayed because I tried to save a few bucks on the photo.
I used to go to Costco for passport photos and was disappointed when they discontinued the service. So yesterday, we took our son to our local CVS. CVS currently charges $17.99 for two 2 x 2 passport photos. But I accidentally discovered a simple trick that saved us $4.
The CVS passport photo trick
While my son was getting his picture taken with the photo clerk and my wife, I figured I would save time and prepay for the photos.
The cashier told me I couldn’t pay for them yet because I needed the QR code that prints out when the passport photos are ready.
Since I was standing at the register and had already grabbed a small travel-size shaving cream that was on a shelf nearby. It cost just $1.74 which was a great price. But here’s where it gets even better.
I asked for a printed receipt.
For years, I’ve joked and complained about CVS’s ridiculously long receipts. But an employee once told me to pay attention to them because there can be some serious savings buried among all that paper.
Sure enough, my receipt had a coupon for $4 off my next purchase like it often does.
A few minutes later, my son’s passport photos were ready. I brought the QR code to the register, used my brand-new $4 coupon and the $17.99 passport photos dropped to $13.99.
So ironically, it was a good thing the cashier wouldn’t let me prepay for the passport photos. And it was an even better thing that I asked for the paper receipt.
Obviously, coupons can vary by customer, store and purchase, so there’s no guarantee you’ll get the same $4 coupon I did. But if you’re going to CVS for a passport photo anyway, consider buying something inexpensive that you actually need first, ask for the printed receipt and check it carefully before paying for the passport photos.
You might get lucky like I did.
And after years of making fun of those absurdly long CVS receipts, I may finally have to stop complaining about them.
Well, maybe.
