Large Passport Book: Go for Extended or Regular Version

We often underestimate the number of things we need to take care of when we travel abroad. It may be your itinerary, passport validity, passport expiration date, enough pages in your passport to fit new visas, entry and departure stamps, etc.

The good news is you can ensure you have plenty of room in your passport for official marks as early as when you apply for it. Simply choose a large passport book vs a standard one.

If you have a few questions on the topic, let’s delve into the details of the large and standard passport books available with the passport office.

Large passport book: which type to get?

It might be sensible to apply for a larger passport book when you are in the process of getting your US passport. This way you can travel away and don’t worry about the possibility of running out of pages in your document.

If you want to be certain about your choice between large passport books vs. standard ones, let’s specify the difference between the two with attention to their physical appearance and other factors.

The 52-page large passport book (vs standard) for frequent travelers

The large and standard passport books have every bit in common, apart from the number of pages they count. As you can envision, a larger passport book vs standard accommodates more space for its holder to travel away and explore foreign countries.

A few years ago, a large passport book had 48 pages while the standard one had 28 pages. Introduced by the US Department of State, the recent next-generation passport has slightly changed. Now, the document has 52 and 30 pages, respectively.

Now, frequent travelers can embrace the world without a need to reapply for a passport renewal because they merely run out of passport pages for visas and stamps.

If your passport expiration date is turning red, you can apply for a larger passport book. To save a good deal on your passport photos, use the following actionable tip.

Get a digital copy of your passport photo here with PhotoBooth Online. It’ll be compliant with passport photo rules and checked by an expert. Print it easily for cents as a 4×6 photo at any store. That’s it. You’re all set for your application process without spending a fortune.

Large passport books vs standard ones: easy calculations

It’s better to visualize your travel plans for the future in advance. It’ll allow you to be on top of things and avoid the situation when you run out of pages in your passport for visas and stamps. You can’t buy extension pages for your passport as you can do, for example, for a National Park passport book. You need some planning in advance.

You can do simple calculations to choose between a large and standard passport book. The passport book is usually issued by the US State Department for a ten-year validity. That means you can travel the world for as long as ten years.

To be precise, it’s nine years and a half. It’s all because aircraft carriers and governments worldwide have more or less a unified passport rule of 6 months. It means your passport book must be valid when you leave the country of visit and have a six-month passport validity still to go.

Now, you might want to lean on objective points to calculate whether you need a large vs standard passport book. And it goes without saying it’s a ballpark figure.

Large passport book for international travel: points to consider

Here are the key elements you should keep in mind while making your choice between the large vs standard passport book.

Frequency of your travel

How often do you plan your international travel within the next 9 and a half years? Typically, it comes down to once or three times a year. That means 10 or 28 trips abroad per passport book validity. It’s likely to be a large passport book vs a standard one if you plan to travel several times a year.

Visa size for your destination

It’s handy to know whether your destination will require a full-page visa with a 2×2 passport photo or it’ll be a simple visa-on-arrival stamp kind of thing. It’s hard to predict and count the pages you might need in a passport book. It’s a ballpark estimate.

On the other hand, you might guess the territories you aim for in your future travel and see if they need a full-page visa. Please note entry and departure stamps may be biggish and take up one-third of a single page. You can get some hints of how visas and stamps in different countries look like by the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallery_of_passport_stamps_by_country_or_territory

You can also visit the website of the US State Department and search for the countries you plan to go to. The official resource will inform you about the passport requirements for each country.

Itinerary 

If you like a good cruise journey with stops in different foreign ports, your passport can be well-marked with visas and stamps by the time you come back home. If you plan a long transit trip through a few foreign states, it is another reason to think about a larger passport book vs a standard one.

Travelers can run out of pages even before the passport expires. They may have multiple full-page visas for their voyage. For instance, if you’re doing a tour around some territory or plan a backpacking trip through a couple of countries.

Larger passport book vs standard: what’s the punch line?

We left the most exciting part till the end to make you mostly pleased. It’s like this. If you’re hesitant, you might prefer to skip all the heavy calculations and apply for a larger passport book for the same fee. You can find the latest fee information by the link https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/fees.html

At the moment, it’s the $35 fee for passport execution and $130 for passport application, regardless of the size you select in your application form: a large passport book or a standard one for frequent travel.

FAQ

Can I get an extended passport card?

No, unfortunately, you can’t. You can only get a large new passport with extra visa pages for entry and exit stamps in the form of a US passport book. A passport card only comes in one standard form and accommodates domestic travel. It doesn’t fit in passport stamps or suit for travel internationally.

What is the difference between a large passport book and a regular one?

There isn’t much difference between the large and regular passport books. Both passports have a blue cover, a square passport photo in color, and a ten-year validity. On passport renewal, you can apply for one or the other with the same renewal form and at the same cost.