The 2028 passport redesign: what is confirmed, and what the State Department has not said

A redesigned United States passport is coming, and two different changes keep getting blended together: how you will apply for a passport, and what the book itself looks like. The first is covered in our companion guide, Your First Passport Is Going Online. This piece is about the second.

Separating them matters, because one half of the story is written down and the other half is a presentation. A reader deciding whether to renew now — or to wait — needs to know which is which.

What part is in writing — the 38-page book?

The redesign’s most concrete change has been published, not merely announced. A State Department notice in the Federal Register of April 20, 2026 — Public Notice 12997, docket DOS-2026-0496 — states that the department “made a determination” to shift the U.S. passport book to **a single-sized, 38-page passport book, with the release of the next redesign.”

The notice carries the sizes, the reasoning and the trade-off, in the department’s own numbers:

Book	Pages	Status in the notice
Next Generation Passport (the current book)	26 or 50	Current options; replaced by the redesign
Legacy ePassport (the earlier generation)	28 or 52	Already superseded
U.S. passport Series B (the redesign)	38, single size	Redesigned for an “anticipated rollout in 2028”
Emergency Passport	12	Unchanged — the one book the notice exempts

Two figures matter for a reader choosing today. On average, 92 percent of customers applying for a passport book request the 26-page version — so most people would end up with more visa pages, not fewer. The remaining 8 percent who receive the 50-page book do so mostly under a policy of issuing the larger book to special-issuance and overseas applicants, the department says. Those are exactly the people who lose something: the notice states that some “frequent international travelers, U.S. citizens residing abroad, and special-issuance passport holders will need to renew more frequently once the 50-page option becomes unavailable,” and points to planned enhancements to its Online Passport Renewal platform for overseas applicants as a possible mitigation.

The notice also declines to do one thing people might expect. It is a notice, not a rulemaking, and it says the department “does not plan to respond to the comments” it receives in the Federal Register. The comment window it opened closed on June 22, 2026.

What was shown but not specified?

On September 29, 2026, at the launch of the America.gov portal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio previewed the design itself. As HuffPost described the presentation, the new cover keeps its blue but moves “United States of America” to the top above a larger and, in Rubio’s phrase, “more gold” Great Seal. Inside, the pages carry artwork drawn from 250 years of American history, and an eagle illustration shifts position from page to page so that flipping the book quickly creates the animation of a bird in flight. Rubio also said finished books would arrive in a white-and-gold presentation box rather than today’s plain envelope.

Two caveats belong with that. The Federal Register notice describes page counts and says nothing about the artwork, so the design exists today as a preview rather than a published specification. And the date is prospective: “anticipated rollout in 2028” is the department’s own phrase for a plan. Nick Ewen, editor-in-chief of The Points Guy, told HuffPost he understands the design “will be available in early 2028,” and added that the timeline “could shift, since the actual process for printing and delivering the new passports will likely be a complex operational effort.”

What element is genuinely unsettled?

The feature that drew the most attention is also the one with the least documentation behind it. The inside cover art in the preview included a portrait of the president — the same artwork used on the limited-edition commemorative “Patriot Passport” issued for the country’s 250th anniversary, which HuffPost describes as the first U.S. passport to feature a living president’s likeness inside.

Whether that artwork appears on the standard book when it enters circulation has not been stated. What can be said precisely: the department has not published a final design for the standard 2028 book, and the written notice addresses page count and not artwork. People who follow the document professionally disagree about what the preview implies.

• David Alwadish, founder and CEO of the passport-and-visa service ItsEasy.com, told HuffPost that unlike the optional commemorative edition, “the permanent standard roll-out expected by 2028, or potentially earlier, won’t leave room for preference. Applicants simply won’t have a choice.”
• Nick Ewen of The Points Guy frames it as a likelihood rather than a certainty: “We don’t know whether this new design will become the only version available then, though it’s reasonable to assume it will.”

That is where the record stands. A commercial passport service’s expectation is an informed prediction, not an official statement, and we are not choosing between the two readings. The question is exactly the kind of thing the department’s own passport pages will answer first — and they have not yet.

One further criticism is technical rather than political, and worth recording. Passport historian Tom Topol told HuffPost he could find no mention of improved security features: “A redesign that talks only about the eagle leaves me asking what’s changed under the laminate.” Whether a sitting president’s likeness belongs inside an American passport at all is a contested question that the department has not addressed in writing; we report the disagreement and take no position on it.

What separate thing already exists — the commemorative passport?

Do not confuse the 2028 book with the commemorative edition that is available now. The State Department released a limited-edition “Patriot Passport” in April 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary, and, per HuffPost, added 250,000 more copies at the end of July alongside special application events for people who wanted one.

The distinction that matters is the channel. The commemorative book is not the default: the department issues it through its own appointment-based routes — in person at a passport agency or center, or at one of the special acceptance events its passport pages list — and it is there for applicants who ask for it. So there is no way to receive it by accident, and equally no reason to pay anyone a premium to “reserve” one.

What does not change?

• Existing passports stay valid. A book issued with an older design remains usable for international travel until its printed expiration date, provided it is undamaged. You do not need to replace a passport because a new design exists.
• Nothing about eligibility or evidence changes. Who qualifies, what proves citizenship, and how a minor’s application works are set by statute and regulation, not by the cover artwork.
• Fees are not changed by the redesign. Passport fees are set by the department and published at travel.state.gov; the Federal Register notice is about book size, and it alters no fee.
• This is a uniform federal process. Unlike most of what we cover on this site, passports do not vary by state — citizenship documents are federal law, and the same rules apply nationwide.

Should you renew early or wait?

There is no official cutoff date for the design change, so any answer here is a judgment about odds rather than a rule. What can be said fairly:

• If you want the current standard design, the window is closing without a published date. Ewen’s own advice to HuffPost was blunt: “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.”
• If you fly often enough to fill a 50-page book, plan for more renewals. The notice changes no fee, and an adult passport book is issued for ten years — but a book that fills up with stamps and visas has to be replaced when it fills, not when it expires. Thirty-eight pages is about a quarter fewer than the 50-page book some travelers use today.
• If your passport is valid and your travel is planned, the redesign is not a reason to spend money today. A passport issued now is good for its full validity regardless of what the 2028 book looks like.
• If you are applying for the first time, do not wait for the online portal either. The department’s own timeline for first-time online applications has been a moving target — as recently as October 11, 2026, Edward Coristine, the engineer the President introduced as the project’s lead, said only that first-time applications would go fully digital, without naming a date. Your current process works; a promised one does not yet.

What is the scam angle?

Every federal redesign produces a wave of paid middlemen selling access to something that is free. The durable rules: the only official place to apply, renew or check the status of a passport is travel.state.gov; the department does not sell appointments, “priority slots” or commemorative books through third parties; nobody legitimate needs your payment to release an application you have not filed; and no government message asks for your Login.gov password or your Social Security number by text.

Expect offers to “secure the new 2028 passport early,” listings selling “limited-edition Trump passports,” and services promising to obtain the commemorative edition for a fee. None of that is a thing the department offers. Our network’s scam checklist, Is That Really America.gov?, covers the verification steps in detail, and America.gov: Reading the Fine Print covers what the portal’s own terms actually promise.

What should you do now?

Check your passport’s expiration date and the entry requirement for where you are going: many countries require validity beyond your travel dates — often six months — and the State Department publishes the requirement by destination. If you are renewing, use the department’s own process, online or by mail as your circumstances allow. If you specifically want the current standard design or the larger 50-page book, act before the redesign ships, understanding that the department has not published a switchover date. And if the design question matters to you, check travel.state.gov before you buy anything from anyone.

More background on the portal this announcement came through is in What Is America.gov?, and related guides are collected at the network’s resources page (omc.center/resources).