Using an app to renew your passport

TravelPulse

Renewing your passport is a pain. It ranks right up there with visiting the DMV and going in for a root canal as things you wouldn’t want to do with your free time.

In an era of automation, however, this doesn’t have to be the case. This year, I tried and fell in love with ItsEasy’s app and its promise of a simple and efficient way to renew my passport.

ItsEasy has a nice website as well as a service that has been around for nearly four decades.

However, when it came time to re-up on the ol’ passport, I decided it was time to get with the times and do everything in-app, which I was able to accomplish in what had to be one of the easier travel chores I ever had to deal with.

The app, which allows you to take a passport photo from the comfort of your home, is available in iOS and Android flavors.

Instead of going the usual route for my renewal, I decided it was time to stay home, throw money at an inapp purchase and let my passport experience come to me.

In total, I paid just under $200, $199.95 to be exact, for a renewed passport book and expedited processing ($29.95).

Compare this with the regular cost of about $110, which doesn’t include the cost (time or money) of heading out to procure a new photo. As you see from the app, you can take an image, which is then sent to ItsEasy for verification to make sure it’s usable. The entire process is a breeze.

Once you decide to renew in this manner, you print out the necessary documents sent to you by email. A shipping label is also included, so all you need is an envelope and some tape.

With passport photograph and documentation accepted it was just a matter of a few weeks, about three, for me to get everything back in the mail, and I didn’t once have to set foot outside of the house.

For someone who already has a passport and wants to pay a little bit of a premium for comfort and ease, there is hardly a better solution than ItsEasy.