The US State Department has proposed allowing eligible American citizens residing overseas to renew their passports entirely online, potentially eliminating the need for two in-person visits to an Embassy or Consulate. The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on Friday, 28 August, would extend the department's existing Online Passport Renewal platform — currently restricted to applicants within the United States — to qualified Americans living abroad.

How the Programme Would Work

Under the proposal, eligible applicants would be able to submit their renewal applications, pay the required fee, and upload passport photographs entirely through an online portal. The State Department said the digital system would also remove the existing requirement to physically transfer applications from overseas diplomatic missions to a passport agency in the United States for adjudication.

The programme would be rolled out in phases, with the department maintaining a list of participating countries on its travel website as implementation progresses. The department has not yet identified which countries will be included in the first phase, though the proposal could eventually benefit American citizens living in India once the service is authorised there.

Who Qualifies — and Who Does Not

To be eligible, an applicant's previous passport must have been valid for 10 years and issued when they were at least 16 years old. The online application must ordinarily be submitted no more than 15 years after the previous passport was issued. Applicants must also have their most recent passport available for verification and cancellation through the online system.

Passports reported lost or stolen would not qualify, as the department said adding such cases would require significant changes to the adjudication process. Applicants whose passports were issued more than 15 years earlier would also remain ineligible; the department acknowledged it currently lacks the technology to process those applications, but said it could consider a separate rule in the future.

Notably, the proposal would also remove the existing rule requiring an applicant's most recently issued passport to have one year or less of remaining validity to qualify for online renewal. Instead, the department would publish the applicable remaining-validity requirement on its website, citing improvements to its computer systems that make the current restriction unnecessary.

Scale and Savings

The State Department estimates that expanding online renewal overseas could add approximately 220,000 eligible applicants to the platform during fiscal year 2027. It expects nearly 10.51 million people to submit passport renewal applications using Form DS-82 during that fiscal year, with about 6.28 million — or 60 per cent — projected to apply online.

The expanded programme, combined with existing domestic online renewals, could generate estimated annual savings of nearly $148.7 million. That figure accounts for reduced spending on professional photographs, postage, travel to consular facilities, and wages lost while attending in-person appointments. Americans living abroad could avoid an estimated four hours away from work per consular visit; the department calculated the potential avoided wage loss for 220,000 overseas applicants at approximately $18.8 million annually.

Online applicants would pay the same passport fee as those using paper applications, though they could save on photographs, postage, and travel costs.

Data Security and Next Steps

The department said passport information submitted electronically would be encrypted and processed on controlled workstations accessible only to authorised employees. Online processing is also expected to free consular staff to focus on complex citizenship cases and emergency services for Americans overseas.

The proposed rule is not yet final. The State Department will accept public comments for 60 days before deciding whether to adopt or modify it. If finalised, the change would mark a significant expansion of a platform first introduced in 2022 with limited eligibility while its technology was being developed.