--- title: Passports: State Department Won't Allow New Pages Added description: The safety measure will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. canonical: https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-20T14:57:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:48:08.197Z article:section: U.S. og:title: State Department Won't Let You Add Pages to Your Passport Anymore og:description: The safety measure will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016 og:url: https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe808834ecc76702/6988721f0a4a220c899c7279/passport.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 75651166 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: State Department Won't Let You Add Pages to Your Passport Anymore twitter:description: The safety measure will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe808834ecc76702/6988721f0a4a220c899c7279/passport.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # State Department Won't Let You Add Pages to Your Passport Anymore  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 20, 2015 2:57 PM CUT  Man holding passport Man holding passportGetty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 20, 2015 2:57 PM CUT U.S. passport holders can no longer add more visa pages to their passports for security reasons, the State Department announced. Currently, travelers who run out of pages for stamps in their passport can pay for a 24-page insert to be stitched in. But the State Department will stop offering the additional pages on Jan. 1, 2016, and anyone who runs out of space will have to purchase a separate 28- or 52-page passport, [according to a press release](http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/11/249675.htm "undefined"). Authorities made the decision to stop bulking up passports to “enhance the security of the passport and to abide by international passport standards,” the release said. William Cocks, Bureau of Consular Affairs spokesperson, [told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/19/a-big-passport-change-is-coming-that-could-affect-frequent-travelers/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined") that as a passport grows in size, it is difficult to maintain the same security levels. Last fall, the State Department began issuing 52-page passports to people around the world who requested the larger size, and travelers applying in the U.S. can choose between the two sizes for the standard price. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/"},"headline":"State Department Won't Let You Add Pages to Your Passport Anymore","datePublished":"2015-11-20T14:57:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:48:08.197Z","description":"The safety measure will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016","url":"https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/","keywords":["National Security"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe808834ecc76702/6988721f0a4a220c899c7279/passport.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe808834ecc76702/6988721f0a4a220c899c7279/passport.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"75651166","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/national-security/","name":"National Security"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4121886/passport-pages-state-department/","name":"State Department Won't Let You Add Pages to Your Passport Anymore"}}]}] ```