Passport Card vs. Book – What Should You Choose?

There are two different international travel documents that the U.S. Department of State can issue: a passport book or a passport card. Although both of them enable you to travel, they are completely different documents.

Knowing the difference between them will allow you to figure out whether you should get a passport card or a passport book. So, what are passport cards and passport books, and what is the difference between the two? Keep reading to find out.

Passport Card vs. Book: What’s the Difference?

Now that countries are slowly starting to reopen their borders for visitors as long as they meet their vaccination requirements, people are looking forward to traveling internationally. In order to travel, you will need a passport. But should you get a passport card or book?

What Is a Passport Card?

A passport card is a type of travel document that has been offered by the U.S. Department of State since 2008. With the card, you will be able to travel by sea or land to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and more than a dozen Caribbean Island nations.

Passport cards are only suitable for travel by land and sea – therefore, they cannot be used to travel by air. Moreover, they won’t allow you to travel to any foreign destination. As a result, a passport card cannot be used to enter most countries.

The card is pretty small. It can be kept in a standard wallet card slot. The travel document will have your full name, date of birth, issue and expiration dates, place of birth, photo, and your passport card number.

The cards are usually valid for the same amount of time as passport books.

What Is a Passport Book?

A passport book comes in a booklet form, and it can be issued to someone who wants to travel internationally by sea, air, or land. The book is available for people who are U.S. citizens and non-citizens.

Passport books will be valid for a certain amount of time, depending on the type of document. For instance, an adult passport issued to an individual who is 16 or older will be valid for 10 years, whereas a child passport will be valid for 5 years.

Passport books will have multiple pages. The first one will contain personal information that belongs to you, like your full name, place of birth, date of birth, sex, nationality, passport issue date, and expiration date, as well as your photo.

Then, the rest of the pages are blank, because they are meant to be used for visas and immigration stamps. Some countries will require 2-4 blank visa pages available.

Electronic passports are the only ones that have been issued since 2007. They have an electronic chip inside that stores the data on the first page. On top of that, they have a digital signature, chip identification, biometric identifier, and passport photo.

The passport book generally has 28 pages, but if you are someone who travels internationally on a regular basis, you can request a 52-page version.

What’s the Difference?

The main difference between a passport card and a passport book is the fact that the former cannot be used to travel by air, nor to travel to every country of the world. You can only use a card for sea border crossings and land travel if you go to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. So, it is quite limiting, as it doesn’t let you fly to another continent and visit new countries.

Moreover, the card cannot be used on a cruise from international homeports, except for roundtrip cruises from Puerto Rico and San Juan.

Meanwhile, a passport book will allow you to travel by air and visit more countries. It is a better option for people looking to travel to more locations.

The two documents also come in different forms. While the card will come in the form of a small card that you can store in your wallet, the passport book will come as a booklet, with multiple pages available for stamps and visas.

Key Differences Between Passport Cards and Passport Books

Here are some key differences between passport books and passport cards:

Price

Passport books and cards have different costs. Usually, all first-time applicants will have to pay an acceptance fee of $35 regardless of the document type. This fee will be included in the price.

Passport books are the more expensive documents. First-time applicants will have to pay $135 for a child passport and $165 for an adult passport. At the same time, a passport card will cost $50 for children and $65 for adults.

Both the card and the book passport will decrease the acceptance fees for renewals. To renew an adult passport card, you have to pay $30, whereas to renew an adult passport book, you must pay $130.

Size and Format

Passport cards and books come in different forms. Cards are the size of a driver’s license or a credit card, and they are very easy to store for this reason.

Passport books are bulkier in comparison, and they come in 3.5-by-5-inch booklet form. They have the personal information of the owner on the first page, whereas the rest of the pages are blank.

Travel Destinations

The passport book doesn’t have any travel limitations when it comes to the destinations you can go to. You can use it to travel anywhere.

However, passport cards are only available for the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico, and Canada. They are also only meant to be used through a seaport or land border.

Border Entry Method

Passport cards only work for travel through land and sea borders, while passport books work for all types of international country entry. So, booklets will allow you to enter countries by land, air, and sea.

How to Choose Between a Passport Card and a Passport Book

It can be difficult to choose between a passport card and a passport book – particularly when you think about their features and the price difference, but also the duration of the application process.

When you’re trying to decide which one to apply for, you should think about your travel needs and where you are most likely to go during the next several years.

When You Should Get Both

In some cases, having both the card and the book version of the passport can be very beneficial. What’s even better is that you can go for both of them in a single application.

You should consider both if you travel by air and land equally. It can help a lot if you are visiting Mexico and Canada by car and want a more compact document.

Also, the two can help you when you do not have a real ID that is necessary for domestic air travel. U.S. passports can replace a real ID. So, if you fly without a Real ID, the passport card can be an alternative, whereas the book can be used to travel internationally.

Bear in mind that applying for both in one application will save you $35, as you only deal with one acceptance fee instead of two.

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Final Thoughts

Passport cards and books have different features and benefits – so analyze them carefully to see if you should apply for a book, card, or both. Hopefully, this post helped you make your decision.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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