US State Dept. raises cost of a passport abroad by US$10

Santo Domingo.- As of April 2, the US State Dept. will raise the price of a passport for its citizens abroad by ten dollars, and will go from 105 to 115 dollars for people under 16 and from 135 to 145 for those over that age.

Immigration expert Roque Leonel Rodríguez said there are some 250,000 Americans and Dominican-Americans in the Dominican Republic, many of whom have to renew their passport.

He said another document used as an American passport is the so-called “passport card,” similar to a credit card, whose cost will climb from US$35 to US$65 for adults and to US$50 for minors.

“But this (the card) is used to cross the borders of North America, that is, between Mexico, the United States, Canada and also to travel to the Caribbean islands, including Bermuda and the traditional islands of the Caribbean,” he said, quoted by Listin Diario.

Rodriguez said the State Dept. applies an increase “every so often,” to cover the cost of processing the document.

He specified that the increase doesn’t apply to people who request their passport renewed within US territory.