Can I get a refund for canceled application?
A: When you lose your passport, you have to report it as lost or stolen to the State Department. You can’t just apply for a new one. When you do that, the State Department checks to see if you have an active passport. If you do, it sends your application back.
But the government also cashes your check and gets to keep your money.
Why? According to federal code, passport execution fees are nonrefundable.
But something about your case wasn’t right. No, it’s not that the government can take your money and give you nothing in return. It’s that someone told you that you could get a refund but was wrong.
I run into this issue all
Q: I lost my passport recently. I sent an application for a passport renewal to the State Department and paid $116. Yesterday, I got a letter back saying that I already had a passport (which I found in the meantime) but that it had already cashed my check.
When I contacted its office, a representative told me the department would refund the money. Now it is saying it won’t refund me. How can it keep my money if I didn’t need to renew?
— Wendy Taylor, Park Ridge, Illinois
the time. Travel companies and government agencies expect consumers to have read every contract and regulation, which is unreasonable. The burden should be on the State Department to clearly state the need to first report your passport as lost or stolen before applying for a replacement.
Still, if you want to be an informed consumer, you should read the fine print carefully. That’s especially true when you’re dealing with a large bureaucracy like the federal government. You rushed through the process of applying for a replacement passport before ensuring that your passport was indeed lost.
I checked with the State Department. I’m afraid you won’t be getting a refund. But the State Department did extend your passport by three years. It’s not the solution you wanted, but at least you’ll get something for your money. My advice? Keep that passport in a safe place.
If you need help with a coronavirus-related refund, please contact me. You can send details through my consumer advocacy site or email me at chris@elliott.org.