What to do with expired passports?

I just got a new shredder and that's where my old passport and drivers licenses are going. I may be an outlier, but I never thought of a passport book as attractive or worthy enough to tempt me to display it anywhere. I suppose you can hang it on your Christmas tree if it has a hole in it (but again, I have much nicer/ more colorful ornaments than a passport book)

Keeping expired passports never even entered my mind until my last renewal, when I remembered I still had an unexpired visa in the old one. As for displaying them? Sorry, can't think of a reason why I would want to. I suppose you could cut out the more interesting passport stamps and make some kind of collage.

I suppose you could cut out the more interesting passport stamps and
make some kind of collage.

That's a great idea! (although I won't be doing more than maybe scanning a cool stamp I have from Turkey in my passport - most of the other stamps aren't clear/ sharp or have enough ink on them to make them readable)

I have kept all my passports since I first had one, and occasionally wondered why.
Then, when I applied for Old Age Security (terrible name for something paid monthly as well as Canada Pension to all Canadians after aged 65, young in my book) payments , I had to produce them for Service Canada, our government organization that
administers such things and more.
I have lived in different countries, and they wanted proof of when, in order to get the right amount to give me every month, as I had not lived and worked in Canada my whole life, and was not entitled to the full payment.
The man's face fell when he saw all the stamps in Arabic...…..
So, perhaps don't throw away old passports if you have lived in different countries; certainly if you are a Canadian approaching 65 , and perhaps in America too?
You might one day need proof of residency years before.
Meanwhile, look back in them and remember past trips!

This gets asked and answered periodically. Here's one of the other threads:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/what-should-you-do-with-your-old-out-dated-passport

If you make photo books using companies like Shutterfly or Snapfish, take a photo of your chosen page(s), upload them and use it as a page background. Years ago, I gave mine to our children to play "let's go on a trip" with. While no longer valid for travel, expired passports are still proof of citizenship, should have any reason for to use it. If you are disposing of your passport, shred it. The number is no longer valid with a damaged or expired passport, but the bits of info included in the passport pages can be used to the bad guys steal your identity.

Totally off topic.......@SJ, can you tell me when you had to go through that proof of habitation thing? I dread that and I thought they had fixed that requirement. Particularly as they are the government and have all my tax records.
Word to the wise, never follow the retention guidelines of 7 years for tax returns.

Back on topic, why not keep them with any travel journals you may have? At least scan some pages for memoirs. Kids may like to see them later in life and photo alone should provide some entertainment value.
Or use them with family to start reminisces, either as travel stories with kids or family history and geography jumping off with grandkids.
It's not like they are taking up a lot of room.

A small section of my Christmas tree displays the (few) ornaments that I've bought during my travels. One of my old passports, strung by a ribbon through the punched hole, hangs among them. The passport may look scruffy compared to the rest of the tree, but the travel section is one of my favorites - and one that I hope will continue to grow.

I have all of my old passports. They have really cool memories, things like the visa to go to Russia, orthe work visa I got for Singapore for business, or my first trip to Europe. I can’t imagine giving up the memories, and honestly if somebody steals your passport what are they going to do? This is not one of you’re high-risk items with a lot of personal information on it. I’ll take the chances I’m keeping mine

Ohmygod CW, I love the idea of old passports as Christmas ornaments. I was just thinking about my first passport: 1968, Finland, Soviet Union, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. I have no idea where it is.

But I'm willing to bet my husband has it. There's an interview with Paul McCartney in this past Sunday's New York Times magazine. When he mentions all the things he has held on to, the interviewer says, "So you're a hoarder?" No, said Sir Paul: "I'm a keeper!"

And so is my guy. He's a keeper. :- )

I have kept all my old passports and as I am a dual citizen UK/USA and this has come in handy. When my adult children just recently decided to apply for a British passport (they had never had one before) it was quite handy being able to prove I was a British Citizen at the time of their birth. So, yes, if you have lived in other countries and have more than one citizenship - I would just hang on to them.

I am storing my one old passport in a dresser drawer. I feel like I have to keep it. Maybe it is another record of my past travel. Which reminds me that the authorities in Windsor never stamped my passport the times I drove to Canada. They took my passport and gave it back without stamping it.

They took my passport and gave it back without stamping it.

That's not unusual with the newer passports. And it's not limited to the US/Canada border. Your passport is scanned and the info on entry/exit goes straight into their data base.

Thanks everyone, Happy Holidays!

My Mother traveled to Europe after her college graduation. Her passport is one of our family's most treasured items. It also has an absolutely fantastic photo of her-what a knockout!

Maria: I have sent you a pm.

Mine are currently stuffed in the “Travel Drawer,” but my first thought for an answer was also to string it up thru the punched hole and hang it as an ornament. I see now that I was beaten to that as an answer, but it still seems like an ideal solution, if displaying it is the goal. Until passports become another thing that’s totally electronic . . .

Yes, I just keep them for sentiment. I'm with Maria F, always keep your tax returns, though that was a summer covid project that I got the last 10 yrs moved into plastic shoeboxes, one more tote for older ones, and I recycled the receipts, etc, for the older ones.

Don't throw it away or destroy it, especially if it's the most recently expired one. If your current one should happen to be lost or stolen, having an expired one as evidence of citizenship will make replacing it easier.

Wanderlust58 makes a good point: an expired US passport is still proof of US citizenship.

Although I keep my current passport on my person at all times while traveling — in my money belt, or in a front pants pocket if the passport is serving as the identity document for a rail pass — I leave an expired US passport in my luggage, back at the hotel.

If my current passport were ever lost or stolen, the expired passport would, at worst, serve as proof of citizenship to accompany an application for a replacement passport.

At best, the expired passport might be accepted, combined with a valid identity document, to board a flight home. I have flown multiple times a year between the US and Canada since the 1990s, and observed Air Canada adjust to a ever stricter US entry rules over the decades. (Some will remember when a state or provincial driver's license was commonly accepted for travel between the two countries.) "Expired US Passport" is one of the citizenship document choices in Air Canada's Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS). That said, rules become stricter all the time, and even if the letter of some regulation is that an expired US passport plus a valid identity document is acceptable, airline staff, security staff, or even a US border control agent might not be aware, and there could be a disagreement, a delay, extra scrutiny, or outright refusal.

I save mine. I suppose I could take photos of the visas and entry/exit stamps but I like them as a memory jogger. An expired passport is still considered proof of identity and citizenship in most cases. I used one to get my mom a state ID when she moved in with me. They're just no longer good for travel.

What to do with expired passports? Expired passports can be used as decoration. They are no longer valid anyway. You probably won't need them anywhere else. Personally, it seems to me that expired passports are best left just in case. Any opportunity for identification will come in handy. If you get tired of an expired passport, you can always get rid of it. Also the other day I saw a site about passports and their receipt. Perhaps this site will explain to you the importance of expired passports. All this is still worth consulting with those who understand this.

Call USCIS and let them advise you directly.