If you need to get or renew a passport, now is the time to act. The State Department will raise the fees effective July 13. After that date, a traditional passport book for an adult will cost $135, up from $100; the charge for children under age 16 will rise to $105, up from $85. Those amounts include a $25 execution fee retained by the agency where the paperwork is filed. The fee for renewing a passport will be $110, up from $75. Passport cards, used by Americans traveling by land or sea to Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean, will also cost more: $55 for an adult, up from $45, and $40 for a child, up from $35. According to the State Department, the higher fees more closely reflect what it costs to provide services to Americans overseas and to run domestic passport agencies. For more information on how to obtain a passport, go to www.travel.state.gov.
