I recently renewed my 10-Year U.S. passport in France & this was possibly the easiest administrative thing I have done in my six years living here.
Not only was it simple, it was actually much faster than I expected. Even with a small photo issue, I had my passport back in a little over a month.
The application is done via the U.S. Embassy in Paris’s dedicated Passport Unit and information can be found on their website here: https://fr.usembassy.gov/passports/
Please note: renewal of a 10-Year ADULT (16 and older) passport is available to those whose passport was issued in the last 15 years (e.g. expired less than 5 years ago) AND was issued when you were age 16 or older.
This is one of ONLY two circumstances in which a passport application can be mailed in. Please see the U.S. Passport Services website for more information.
Issues I had
I had only one issue in the process, that being the ID photograph. For identification and biometric purposes, the photograph must follow all rules listed here on their website. This includes the format of the photograph which should measure 51 x 51 mm. Unfortunately, you cannot use a French photobooth for this, so I tried to print out a digital photograph on matte photo paper taken with my phone and resized using the online photo cropping tool.
Evidently, the photo that I sent was not of good quality and I ended up receiving the following email from the U.S. Embassy in Paris on 31 January.
After this, I went to a professional photographer. Surprisingly, they were perfect and knew what was necessary for U.S. Passport photographs.
The U.S. Passport Renewal Mail-In Application
The Basics (you will need these BEFORE applying):
- A U.S. Social Security Number (if you never had one, fill out and submit this form. If you forgot it, email the Federal Benefits Unit before applying).
- Additional proof of ID and citizenship (if applicable)
Send In Via Mail:
- Completed DS-82 Form (can be filled out online here or downloaded here)
MUST be printed out single-sided then SIGNED & DATED by hand; if you notice an error after printing, do not make handwritten changes, you must start the form over again - Old passport and a copy of the biographic page
- 1 Photograph following these guidelines (51 x 51 mm with the head centered and sized between 25 and 35 mm on a plain white or off-white background)
Remember, photos with glasses are no longer accepted. For head coverings and other information, please see Instruction Page 2 on the DS-82 Form - Proof of payment of $130 application fee paid via the Pay.gov portal in the form of the printed confirmation email
- Prepaid self-addressed COLISSIMO 1kg envelope (keep a copy of your tracking number)
Send these items to:
US Embassy, Attn: Passport Unit
4 Avenue Gabriel
75008 Paris
Have you Changed your Name?
The application process may not be the same for you. For more information, please see the government’s website.
U.S. Passport Application Status
Check the Status of your Application Online
You can check your passport application status online here. You will need to enter your last name, date of birth, and last four digits of your Social Security Number.
Email Updates
Using the online status checker, you can subscribe to receive email notifications each time the status of your passport application changes.
Unfortunately, the checker only tells you what is happening on the U.S. end; therefore, the last notification you receive is that your passport is in the mail back to the Embassy.
Receiving your U.S. Passport by Mail
In order to keep an eye on your passport once it reaches the Embassy, keep your Colissimo tracking number handy! Unfortunately, sending and receiving from the Embassy in Paris is slightly in blind faith as the online status checker only works when your passport is in the U.S. Therefore you can really only follow its progress in France using your tracking information.
After taking a trip down memory lane and saying “goodbye” to my old passport, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they sent back the old one along with the new one. The old one (pictured left) returned with holes punched throughout the entire book.
Final Thoughts
This is the first time I have renewed my passport; I thought that by applying for a new one, I would be surrendering my old one. Imagine my surprise when I opened my return package to find that they had, indeed, sent the old one back!
As well, I felt like it came faster than expected. I imagined it would take much longer to receive the new passport as the processing time (without transport) is 4 to 6 weeks.
Overall, it was a simple and quick process unlike most other ones I’ve gone through here in France.