Are you considering going on a family vacation overseas, but are unsure of what passports cost, or even what the procedure of getting one involves? While there are still some countries that do not require you to have a passport in order to enter, most will all demand one for entry. Mexico and Canada are two that don't require a passport and will allow you to enter with a birth certificate, but having a passport will definitely make things much easier. All in all, a passports cost is worth your peace of mind alone. If you've ever had the misfortune of being held up do to legal identification papers, you know what I mean.

OK, so what are we looking at for costs here? A passport will actually have two different fees associated with it. The first fee is the passport processing fee that the U.S. State Department charges. Currently, passports cost $97.00 for adults, and $82.00 for any child under 16 years old. They have recently went up due to adding a security surcharge.

The second fee is called the execution fee and it covers the cost of making the passport. The processing fee and the security surcharge are paid to the U.S. State Department. The execution fee is paid to the facility you are purchasing your passport from. You can pay with cash, checks, money orders, or credit cards.

It's easy to apply for a passport. You can download the required forms from the official State Department website. Fill them out, and then go have 2 photo id pictures taken at any authorized merchant. Walgreens, or Eckerd Drugs are just two places that come to mind immediately. The cost will generally be less than $10. Once you have your pictures, forms, and payment funds, you can go to any passport payment processor and get everything completed. In fact, you can go to your local post office and make the payment to them and then mail everything off. Don't forget to bring your birth certificate to show proof of citizenship.

Once you have submitted everything to the State Department it will usually take from 4-6 weeks to get your passport sent to you. More or less time depending on the time of the year. If you are in need of getting your passport quicker than that, there are services available that will expedite the process for a fee. Many times you can get your passport within a week for a fee of between $60-$100. This fee is added to your passports cost.

Once you get a passport, it's good for 10 years. As you can see, getting a passport is not that difficult and a passports cost is certainly not prohibitive.