Which passport form do I need?
Pick the option that matches your current passport.
The Three Forms, Side by Side
There is no "passport name change form." There are three passport application forms, and a name change can run through any of them. Which one is yours depends almost entirely on your current passport, not on your wedding, your travel plans, or how urgent it feels.
| DS-5504 | DS-82 | DS-11 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use it when | Your passport was issued less than a year ago and your name changed inside that year | Your passport was issued 1–15 years ago, when you were 16 or older, and it is undamaged | Anything else, including lost, damaged, 15+ years old, or issued to you as a child |
| Cost | Free | Renewal fee only | Renewal fee plus a $35 execution fee |
| How you file | By mail | By mail | In person |
| Old passport | Send it with the form | Send it with the form | Not needed if it is lost or stolen |
| Execution fee | None | None | $35 |
On fees: the forms themselves stopped printing dollar amounts and now point to the State Department's passport fee page, which is the only number worth trusting on the day you file. At the time of this review an adult book renewal runs $130, and the DS-11 execution fee adds $35 on top. Expedited service and 1–2 day return delivery each cost extra and are separate from the application fee.
The DS-82 Test: Six Statements, All Must Be Yes
DS-82 is the one most people want, because it is the mail-in renewal and it carries no execution fee. The form opens with six eligibility statements, and the instructions are blunt about what happens if any one of them is a no: stop, you cannot use this form.
- You can send your most recent passport book or card in with the application.
- You were at least 16 years old when that passport was issued.
- That passport was issued less than 15 years ago.
- It has not been mutilated, damaged, or reported lost or stolen.
- It was not limited to less than the normal ten-year validity because of damage, repeated losses, or non-compliance.
- Either your name has not changed, or it changed by marriage or court order and you can send certified documentation proving it.
That sixth statement is the one that matters here, and it is good news: a name change does not disqualify you from DS-82. You are doing a normal renewal that happens to carry new-name evidence with it. There is no separate name-change fee and no separate name-change form for this path.
The trap is the word certified. If you cannot document the change with a certified marriage certificate, divorce decree, or court order, the DS-82 instructions send you to DS-11 and an in-person appointment instead.
DS-5504: Free, But the Clock Runs on Your Passport
DS-5504 is the free one, and it is worth checking carefully because getting it right saves you the entire renewal fee. The form's own wording sets a two-part test, and people routinely check only half of it:
Your name changed less than one year after your passport was issued, and your passport was issued less than one year ago.
Read that twice. The window is measured from your passport's issue date, not from your wedding date. Getting married three months after your passport arrived does not give you a year from the wedding. It gives you whatever is left of the year from the passport.
Here is the version that costs people money. Your passport is issued in March. You marry in June. You are busy, the passport still works, and you finally get to the paperwork the following July. The name change happened well inside the first year, so part one passes. But the passport is now sixteen months old, so part two fails, and a filing that would have been free in April is a paid renewal in July.
If you are anywhere near that window, treat the passport as the urgent item rather than the one you get to last. It is the only step in the whole name change where waiting has a price tag attached.
DS-5504 also covers two situations that have nothing to do with marriage: a passport where the State Department printed your details wrong, and a limited-validity passport issued at the full fee. Both are corrected at no cost.
When DS-11 Is Your Only Option
DS-11 is the in-person application, and it is the fallback whenever the mail-in routes are closed to you. You are on this path if any of the following is true:
- Your most recent passport was issued before you turned 16. This one surprises adults in their twenties: a childhood passport never qualifies for mail-in renewal, no matter how old you are now.
- It was issued 15 or more years ago.
- It has been lost, stolen, mutilated, or damaged beyond normal wear.
- You cannot produce certified documentation of your name change.
DS-11 means an appointment at a passport acceptance facility, often a post office or a clerk of court, where someone verifies your identity and watches you sign. Budget for the $35 execution fee on top of the renewal fee, and do not sign the form before you arrive: the whole point of the appointment is that the signature happens in front of the acceptance agent.
Because DS-11 needs an appointment and appointments book out, this is the path where the passport step genuinely can hold up your travel plans. If you already know you are a DS-11 case, book before you have all your paperwork rather than after.
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Proving the Name Change (And Getting Your Documents Back)
All three forms want the same thing: an official document that connects your old name to your new one. In practice that is a certified copy of your marriage certificate, a divorce decree that grants the name change, or a court order, showing the seal and the signature of the officiant, clerk, or judge.
The reassuring part, and the question people ask most: you get it back. The instructions on both forms say original documents are returned to you by mail, usually in a separate mailing from the passport itself. Photocopies are not returned, and anything damaged, altered, or forged is not returned either.
Even so, order more than one certified copy of your marriage certificate. Social Security wants to see one, your state DMV may want its own, and the passport office will be holding a copy for several weeks while it processes. One copy circulating between three agencies is how a name change turns into a three-month project. Our state-by-state pages link the vital records office that issues yours.
One more detail that catches people off guard: your new passport gets a new passport number. If you have stored your passport number with a trusted traveler program, an airline profile, or a visa application, those need updating too.
Where Each Form Gets Mailed
The two mail-in forms do not go to the same place, and DS-82 does not even go to the same place for everyone. This is worth thirty seconds of checking, because a misrouted application is weeks of silence.
DS-82, routine service. If you live in California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, or Texas, your application goes to the processing center in Irving, Texas. From every other state it goes to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Same form, same fee, different box.
DS-5504, routine service. One national address in Philadelphia, no state split, and no fee unless you are paying for expedited handling or faster return delivery.
Expedited service has its own separate address for both forms, and the instructions ask you to write "Expedite" on the outside of the envelope. The State Department recommends a trackable mailing service, which is sound advice when the envelope contains your passport and your only certified marriage certificate. Your state page shows the exact address for where you live, and the kit prints it on the cover sheet so it is already right.
The Mistakes That Send Applications Back
Most rejected passport name changes fail on process, not eligibility.
- Sending a photocopy of the marriage certificate. It has to be the certified copy with the seal. A scan, a keepsake certificate, or a notarized photocopy is not the same thing.
- Correcting a mistake on the form. Both forms say to print in black ink and to start a fresh form if you make an error. Do not cross out and do not use correction fluid.
- Signing DS-11 in advance. That signature belongs in front of the acceptance agent.
- Assuming DS-5504 applies because the wedding was recent. The clock is on the passport. See the two-part test above.
- Filing the passport before Social Security. Nothing formally blocks it, but the SSA record is the one every other agency reconciles against, so updating it first keeps your records consistent. Our SS-5 guide covers that step, and it is free.
- Forgetting the passport card. If you hold both a book and a card, the name change does not propagate. Each has to be handled.
Not sure which form is yours? The picker at the top of this page answers it in one question, and the free name change checklist puts the passport step in sequence with everything else you owe.