If you want this passport, you have to apply at the Washington DC passport office only.
https://apnews.com/article/passport-trump-us-250th-birthday-df2f0f96e4fbcee89ae904a65af398f0
Let's not make this political. And please don't shoot the messenger. Any news regarding US passports should be shared here as any US citizen going to Europe will need a passport.
Ha, I read about that yesterday on Facebook. A friend of mine was freaking out because they have to renew their passport and didn't want to have that photo on it. Several people pointed out that if you renew online, it's not an issue, and it's also not mandatory even if you get your passport at the Washington, DC office. I find it interesting that the office is now all about promoting a brand.
I, for one, will be very interested to know exactly how many of the 25,000-30,000 commemorative passports will be issued.
This is good. I prefer my traditional passport image. I do have to renew my PP toward the end of the year and I was worried from the more limited information previously indicated on a previous RS post. I prefer good karma traveling with me. ;)
Thanks for the more specific info, Frank.
I saw this yesterday. Told my husband I am very glad I renewed my passport a couple months ago.
It doesn't end there. Fortunately we are old enough for a lifetime senior national park pass, sans picture, for the same cost if we want one. https://www.recreation.gov/pass
Well I still checked after reading this as I couldn't believe it!
GOSH - I do learn so much from these Travel Forum posts!
Along the same line (and also travel related) is the current NPS resident America The Beautiful annual pass, and current NPS Military annual pass.
https://www.recreation.gov/pass
Additionally:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/09/nx-s1-5672341/national-park-updates-guidelines-stop-visitors-defacing-trump-picture-pass
So don't be doin' that, doggone it, or no park for YOU.
We bought our lifetime Senior Pass 9 years ago so will never need an 'updated' version, should those be 'updated' too. Oy.
At you, the tax-payers expense, I read yesterday.
This will identify certain people as they travel…..🤦🏻♀️
I imagine it will most popular among those seeking an appointed office/employment with the Federal govt.
Another addition to the "You can't make this stuff up" category.
Original post and replies are informative and entertaining—great way to discuss this.
When I first heard about the new passport, I actually came straight to this board to verify the story, because I honestly thought it was just an internet joke. That I had to go elsewhere because no one had brought it up speaks volumes about the commitment to keeping things civil here.
Edited to add this PS: I wish I knew where to find you on other Internet forums; I would love to chat about Forbidden Topics.
We bought our lifetime Senior Pass 9 years ago so will never need an 'updated' version, should those be 'updated' too. Oy.
Kate, we must be the same age. Mine is nine years old, too—and I'm so happy that I bought it when it was only $10!
I was thinking of international airport locations. Maybe I should’ve phrased that “limited edition lines.”
The passport holder’s face (photo) and signature are needed in a passport, but another face and signature? All that would seem to delay getting thru immigration control.
I wonder if anyone far from D.C. will make a special trip to the office there for their passport? And will the passport actually be used for a trip to Europe?
Thank goodness we don’t need to renew for a couple of more years. Maybe by then, all this nonsense will be over.
I want no ones picture on or in my passport except mine. And I'm not too wild about mine.lol
Gloria, when I applied for my first passport at 22, my slightly more worldly college room mate said "you don't want to look too good in that photo. You want to still be able to match it if you've spent 24 hours stuck in some airport "
Grazie, no
Kate, we must be the same age.
Do you think she's a class of 1973, also, Mardee? We might need to get a Minnesota gathering going!
My passport doesn't expire until 2030, thank goodness!
I didn’t know “commemorative” passports were even a thing. Does that mean every passport issued this year is a trump passport? Why not a classy image of a bald Eagle, liberty bell, 1776 flag, or statute of liberty? Even the St. Louis Arch which marks the Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea expedition. Even some muskets to represent the American Revolution.
As I get older, I desire to “airbrush” my own photo more and more.
Why not a classy image
… Indeed!!! Why not? Why? Not!
For the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, a limited-edition commerative passport was created, for all passports issued that year. I’ve still got mine, with the holes punched in it when it was renewed. The U.S. passport covers had been a very military shade green, and the new design was Navy Blue with a silver eagle and text on the cover, and red-white-and-blue interior pages. No faces of living persons, scowling or otherwise, were pre-printed on any page. The color scheme proved so popular that it’s been continued now for 50 years, with some updates and modifications.
The other night on T.V., Jimmy Kimmel mentioned that the inside back cover of the new design showed Founding Fathers gathered (from a familiar Declaration of independence painting), all complaining about this new passport option. As mentioned earlier upthread, not every passport this year will be the limited edition, just the ones ordered specifically at the Washington, D.C. office.
Do you think she's a class of 1973, also, Mardee?
High school class of '73! My first trip to Europe was in July of that same year. Traveled with a choir of high-school and college-aged singers to locations across 7 countries over a month. 3 buses of us; cheap accommodations and food; HUGE fun.
I’m thinking that a passport lasts about 10 years. (I don’t remember how long.). I would prefer an image that goes beyond the current president’s term of office. National Park scene? Images from history of stages of transportation like stage coach, train, car, boat, airplane. I’m glad travelers have a choice for passport. Passports should be apolitical.
My National Parks pass has a boring picture of reddish-orange cactus flowers in Utah, not much to look at but, boy, have I saved hundreds of $$$ over the years. I was disappointed a couple years ago when visited national parks in Illinois - they were free to all, so I didn't save any money. LOL
The US passport has pictures on every page. I guess most of us never paid attention. My Israeli passport has only the official seal of the state on each page. I'd be interested to hear about other passports.
Did everyone miss the US Treasury announcement on a change in paper currency?
So...U.S. passports are printed in a building near my office, and the GPO has displayed two classy America 250 banners on the building announcing they've been proudly printing the documents for 100 years. This goes well with other 250 banners I've seen around town. However, there are certain other banners hanging from federal buildings that, well...visit DC and see for yourself!
Passports issued in 2026 should have photos of the first five Presidents, who weren't citizens of the US when they were born(and all but one of whom were from Virginia).
...visit DC and see for yourself!
No thank you. We purposely - just in case - spent nearly two weeks there 3 years ago to take in all the museums, monuments, etc. Had a great time, and are very happy to have viewed the Smithsonian's many wonderful historical displays before those histories undergo 'revisions'.
Even though it was going to be a long time before there was equal "liberty and justice" for all Americans (in fact, there's still work to be done there) and our "union" isn't exactly "perfect" these days (!!), seeing "We The People..." and "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." on their original parchments almost took my breath away. And I'm not usually particularly sentimental. Maybe getting a little squishy in my advancing age but the words of the Declaration were nothing short of highly treasonous, written and/or signed by individuals willing to face the ultimate punishment. In fact, while ultimately none of them were executed, some were captured and brutally tortured, died in the war, or had their properties pillaged and burned.
(Editing to add: The above is meant to related to travel as exploring historical background, and Frank II below, that's kind of how it works! )
Declaration were nothing short of highly treasonous, written and/or signed by individuals willing to face the ultimate punishment.
Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.
--attributed to Benjamin Franklin in the musical "1776." (No proof he actually said it.)
After reading this thread, I pulled out my passport and looked at it. (From 2019). It’s actually quite nice with light colored images and quotes throughout the whole book. Nowadays, I think passports are all swiped. I don’t know if stamping still happens anymore, anywhere. Could probably be slimmed down.
Chani mentions plans for signatures on Greenback currency. At least there aren’t announcements of replacements for the faces on any bills … yet.
It was interesting to see U.S. money circulating in foreign countries on some of our recent trips. Four years ago this month, on safari in Zimbabwe and at the airport entry desk in Zambia, U.S. dollars were the preferred currency. Inflation in Zimbabwe had rendered their old currency ineffective, and locals were trying to sell old Zimbabwean dollar $100,000 notes as curiosity souvenirs. In Vietnam and Cambodia a year-and-a-half ago, U.S. dollars were also surprisingly accepted. So we’ve stopped producing Cent coins (“penny” was never a modern coin in the U.S.A.) because they’re too expensive to produce. But we’re still printing dollars, many of which wind up in, and serve other countries, far away. Hmmmm.
Sun Baked, thats the trend, but it still depends on where you go i guess. My passport is 6 years old and I have only 6 pages left out of 17. I will lose not less than one of them this year, maybe two.
But we’re still printing dollars, many of which wind up in, and serve other countries, far away. Hmmmm.
Usually, these are $100 bills. In the past most in circulation were overseas, but recently, when I get money from an ATM here, there is one $100 included.
Did everyone miss the US Treasury announcement on a change in paper currency? ( https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0425 )
I suspect we have become ' numbed' to such things.
It reminds me of this line from the movie Up in the Air
Natalie: Men get such hardons from putting their names on things. You guys don't grow up. It's like you need to pee on everything.
Sam, in Zimbabwe, single $1 bills were all around. Over there, a dollar still goes a long way.
Currency - Off Topic
Currency is complicated. Exchange rates, exports vs. imports, needs to be backed with something of value (i.e. gold, metals, oil, whatever). Some countries use the US dollar to stabilize and back their own currency.
Back to passports - pretty simple design, not too complicated. Ensure that the passport holder is accurately identified, with photo and vital information (name, nationality, important dates). I really doubt that any other country will want to use the new, limited edition U.S. passport as a backing model for their own.
Maybe for a few Americans, that passport will be a curious keepsake souvenir, just like the discontinued (and now gag) Zimbabwean dollars. At least those Zim-dollars looked like proper currency and not like a newly announced, tacky passport design. You can (probably) travel either way, but quality travel is better with a quality passport.
I happened to see that the limited-edition passports won’t be available until just before July 4, 2026, so anyone inclined to get one will still have to wait awhile.
