Back in April, the State Department unveiled a limited-edition United States passport featuring President Donald Trump’s face to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary. At the end of July, the agency rolled out an additional 250,000 copies of what it calls the “Patriot Passport” and special “application events” for interested Americans.

Now it seems the administration is taking steps to make its Trump-centric design changes more permanent, along with some other updates to the passport system.

During a launch event for America.gov on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new changes to the U.S. passport design and application process in a presentation many have compared to Steve Jobs’ Apple keynotes.

In keeping with the Trump administration’s emphasis on aesthetics, Rubio showcased a new design for the U.S. passport that features an image of the sitting president on the inside. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the new MAGA-fied cover features a bigger, bolder seal in Trump’s favorite color: gold.

As Rubio noted in his presentation, “The Great Seal is larger, it’s more prominent, it’s more gold.”

“I’ve looked at the proposed cover for a while, and it’s the largest coat of arms I’ve seen on any passport,” Tom Topol, an author and historian who specializes in passport history, told HuffPost. “By my eye the eagle takes up about three quarters of the space, while the word ‘passport’ is set as small as it can go.”

He summed it up as “mostly eagle, barely passport” and pointed to the placement of “United States of America” above the seal in larger letters as well. This shift is consistent with Trump’s commemorative “Patriot Passport,” which also enlarged the country’s name, moved it to the top and shrank the word “passport” at the bottom.

“That reversal aligns with his reputation for extreme nationalism and an ‘America First’ ideology, but arguably detracts from the document’s actual purpose: to be recognized as a passport first and foremost,” travel writer Rocky Trifari told HuffPost when that earlier passport was unveiled earlier this year.

The new passport design Rubio presented includes the same interior cover art as the “Patriot Passport” with a portrait over his signature (marking the first living president featured inside a U.S. passport. The interior pages are decorated with artwork referencing America’s history and an eagle illustration that gives the appearance of flying when you quickly flip through.

“The animated eagle is new for the American passport, but not new for passports,” Topol noted. “Finland put a running moose in the pages back in 2013, and Thailand has a royal white elephant that seems to walk and lift its trunk when you riffle the book quickly. So the ‘Flight of the Eagle’ is a fresh trick for the U.S., not for the genre.”

Having described the “Patriot Passport” design as bearing the “hallmarks of a classic Trump spectacle” back in April, Topol said that this second passport redesign in a short stretch reads “as more of the same impulse” from this administration.

“What I can’t find is any word on new or improved security features,” he added. “A redesign that talks only about the eagle leaves me asking what’s changed under the laminate.”

via Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new passport design this week. The new document will roll out in 2028.

For now, Americans renewing or applying for passports won’t receive this new document.

“The new passport design itself, according to Secretary Rubio, will be available in early 2028,” said Nick Ewen, editor-in-chief at The Points Guy. “Of course, that timeline could shift, since the actual process for printing and delivering the new passports will likely be a complex operational effort, but only time will tell if that’s the case.”

During the presentation, Rubio also announced that future passports will be delivered in a luxurious white-and-gold presentation box.

“And after putting this much thought into the book itself, we figured that the way it arrives at your home ought to matter, too,” he said. “The presentation, how it gets there, should matter ... For something as important and as dignified as the United States passport, it will arrive the way you would expect it to.”

At a time when Americans are struggling to afford groceries, the prioritization of passport delivery packaging aesthetics is certainly baffling to some.

“Passports will no longer arrive in cheap, cost-effective mail. Instead, taxpayers get to fund a pretty little package lined with “gold” accents, because nothing covers the electric bill, groceries, or gas like a fancy envelope,” one X user wrote.

“The U.S passport is now being sold as if it were an iPhone,” another said.

“The packaging is harder for me to judge,” Topol said. “A box in the style of an iPhone package certainly looks more elite than a plain envelope, but is it practical, and is it economical? I’d expect passport fees to rise with all this redesign and packaging, though that’s my expectation, not something I’ve seen announced.”

Rubio also shared some upcoming changes to the passport process.

“Starting next year, Americans will be able to apply for their first passport entirely online,” he said. Then he moved on to “the fun part,” the passport photo.

“You can take a new one of them yourself on the phone,” Rubio joked. “You probably can’t use those filters to make you look 50 years younger, but you can take a picture of yourself on the phone in the comfort of your own home ― or you can upload one directly from your own device. You’re not going any longer to some drugstore to get your picture taken behind a white screen.”

It’s worth noting that Americans have long been able to take their own passport photos at home. The State Department website provides a list of guidelines the photo must meet for approval, along with examples of best practices and non-compliant images. So those wishing to avoid what Rubio called the “drug store hostage photo” fortunately already had that option.

Additionally, the option to renew your passport entirely online ― including a digital photo upload ― has been available since 2024. What is genuinely new with this announcement is that first-time applicants will be able to use a fully online process as well.

Previously, adults applying for a passport for the very first time had to fill out and print various forms, gather evidence of U.S. citizenship and go to an authorized passport acceptance facility to present the documents ― plus a printed photo and a check or money order for the State Department fee. (There’s also an acceptance facility fee that you can typically pay with a credit card or cash.)

Now, with this latest announcement, that process will reportedly be replaced by a more streamlined online system. The application portal Rubio presented walks the user through a step-by-step process to verify their identity, provide the required information and submit everything for review.

And while the current system already includes a U.S. Passport Application Status tool, it can take weeks for your application to show up in the system. Rubio noted that the new portal will include real-time updates and an estimated delivery date.

“By the end of 2027, our goal is for the vast majority of Americans to be able to apply for a passport or a passport card on America.gov,” he said.

Although the presentation didn’t specify, presumably those who need to apply for a new passport due to a name change, lost document or other reason will be able to use the online application portal as well. As of now, those processes may require in-person appointments or at the very least, printed and mailed components depending on the situation.

“The online application is the part I’d call real progress,” Topol said. “The world is digital, and applying for a passport should be too, with as little effort as possible. If the 2028 booklet ends up being remembered for its eagle, I suspect the application portal will matter more to the people who actually use it.”

David Alwadish, founder and CEO of the passport and visa concierge service ItsEasy.com, noted another dimension to the shift.

“At a time when privacy is top-of-mind for many Americans, a seamless online system highlights just how much verified data the government already holds,” he said.

Rubio’s presentation also did not go into specifics about another passport photo application feature he previewed back in July when hinting at this September announcement.

“You’ll be able to take your picture from that device and be able to have it in real time, through our security system, verify the facial ID,” the secretary of state said at the time.

While Americans already had the option to take their own passport photos, many still opted to go to drugstores and other facilities to ensure their image had a better chance of meeting the agency’s list of specific requirements. Real-time verification and photo approval in the online application process could thus be a real game changer as well.

“Assuming the State Department can deliver on what was demonstrated, this would represent a meaningful improvement for Americans who travel abroad,” Ewen said.

As many international commenters have pointed out, these updates to the passport process mark another way the U.S. might finally be catching up to the rest of the world, as more online-centered systems have been in place in countries like New Zealand and the U.K. for years.

“One other note is that the new passport will be standardized at 38 pages ―currently you can opt for a 26- or 50-page version,” Ewen noted. “This was already announced earlier in the year. For very frequent international travelers, you may wind up needing to renew more frequently to ensure you have enough room for stamps and/or visas.”

“As far as the new design, some will undoubtedly be thrilled with it, while others will likely be more ambivalent,” Ewen said. “For a lot of travelers, a passport is a simple necessity, a document that enables international travel rather than a symbol of our country. That viewpoint will likely extend to the new delivery packaging as well. It’s always nice getting a fancy box in the mail, but for those who view a passport as a practicality above all else, they’ll likely view this development with ambivalence as well.”

Those with strongly negative feelings toward the redesign may have options before the projected 2028 rollout.

“We don’t know whether this new design will become the only version available then, though it’s reasonable to assume it will,” Ewen said. “If someone is adamantly opposed to the new design, my recommendation would be to apply for ― or renew ― your passport now to ensure you receive the current version.”

Alwadish agreed that the window is probably closing.

“Unlike the limited-edition optional design available this past summer, the permanent standard roll-out expected by 2028, or potentially earlier, won’t leave room for preference. Applicants simply won’t have a choice,” he said,

Once the State Department sets an official cutoff date, Alwadish expects everyone who applies will get the new design, even if the agency still has the current version in stock.

“As for how long this new version lasts, that will likely come down to politics,” he added. “History tells us that a shift in presidential administration or party power could mean another design mandate down the road.”