How to Renew a Trinidad and Tobago Passport in the USA

To renew a Trinidad and Tobago passport in the USA, you send your application, original documents, two photos, and a U.S. dollar money order to the diplomatic mission that covers your state: the Embassy in Washington, D.C., or the Consulate General in New York or Miami. A standard 32-page adult renewal costs $126 in 2026, and the passport itself is produced in Port of Spain, so plan on roughly four weeks of production plus shipping in each direction.¹

Find the Mission That Serves Your State

Your state of residence decides where you apply. Sending paperwork to the wrong office causes rejection or delay.

The Consulate General in New York covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.²

The Consulate General in Miami covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.³

The Embassy in Washington, D.C. handles every other state and U.S. territory, including the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, the Midwest, and the western half of the country.⁴

Who Qualifies to Renew

Renewal is for people who already hold a machine-readable passport, meaning the series with prefixes such as TA, TB, TC, or BA.⁵ You can apply whether the current book is still valid or has already expired.⁶

If you still hold an older handwritten passport, you do not qualify to renew. You apply instead for a first-issue machine-readable passport, which carries more documentation and an in-person appointment.¹ A passport that has been lost, stolen, or damaged also falls outside the renewal track and goes through a separate notification process, covered further down.

Documents You Need to Gather

Each mission posts its own checklist and application on the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs website. The D.C. Embassy labels its renewal form “Document 5”; the New York consulate publishes a separate renewal instruction packet.⁴ The core requirements are the same across missions:

The completed renewal form, printed in color on double-sided legal-size paper (8½ by 14 inches). Do not fill it out with gel pen.
Your original current or most recent Trinidad and Tobago MRP, plus a color photocopy of the bio-data page.
Your original computer-generated birth certificate showing the national PIN.
Your valid Trinidad and Tobago national ID card.
Two passport photographs meeting the specs below.
A U.S. dollar money order for the fee, made payable to the specific mission processing your application.

If your name has changed since your birth certificate was issued, include the original supporting document such as a marriage certificate or registered deed poll.⁵ Applicants aged 16 and 17 must add a valid picture ID, or, if they have none, a notarized Verification of Identity Form together with a parent’s notarized ID and any relevant custody paperwork.

Photo Specifications

Both photos must be taken within the last six months and measure 31mm wide by 41mm high.⁷ Full front view, eyes open, forehead and ears visible, mouth closed with a neutral expression, and a plain white background.⁸ No sunglasses. No headwear unless you have a documented religious or medical reason.

Fees for 2026

Fees are payable in U.S. dollars by money order only, made out to the specific consulate or embassy handling your application. Personal checks and cash are not accepted.⁵ Current rates:

Ages 2 to 59, regular 32-page passport: $126.00
Ages 2 to 59, business 48-page passport: $156.00
Under age 2 or age 60 and older, regular 32-page passport: $50.00

Each fee already includes a $20 Document Security Charge covering the electronic chip and biometric features in the book.⁹ There is no 64-page option; 48 pages is the largest available. Replacement fees for a lost or damaged passport are higher and set during processing.

How to Submit Your Application

Submission procedure differs by mission, and this is where applicants often stumble by assuming the process is uniform.

Washington, D.C. Embassy

Adult renewals (age 16 and up) are accepted by mail only. Email the completed form and copies of your supporting documents to the Embassy’s immigration department, and staff will get back to you within 10 to 14 business days with instructions for mailing in the originals.⁴ In-person appointments at D.C. are reserved for first-issue MRPs, children’s passports, and emergency travel documents.

New York Consulate General

You can either book an in-person appointment or mail your application in. To request an appointment, email the consulate using the address in the renewal instructions with your full name, date of birth, passport number, and phone number, and staff will follow up to set a date. For mail-in submissions, put your completed form and all documents in a 15-by-10-inch envelope and send them through a trackable service such as USPS registered mail, FedEx, UPS, or DHL.⁵

Miami Consulate General

Miami posts its own checklist and application form on the Ministry site.³ Contact the office directly to confirm current appointment and mail-in procedures, since they may differ from the other two missions.

How Long It Takes and How You Get the Passport Back

Once your mission accepts the application, it is forwarded to the Immigration Division in Port of Spain, where production runs about four weeks under normal conditions.¹ Add shipping in both directions and any consular review, and total turnaround runs longer. None of the U.S. missions guarantee a timeline; the New York consulate calls you when the passport is ready.⁵

Finished passports from New York are delivered by FedEx and cannot go to a P.O. box. Your old passport is canceled and returned to you, so any valid U.S. or other visas inside it are preserved. If you have travel booked, do not cut it close. Build in a buffer well beyond the four-week production estimate.

How Long the New Passport Is Valid

A renewed passport for anyone aged 16 or older is valid for five years from the date of issue.⁷ Passports for children under 16 are also valid for five years.¹ Many countries require at least six months of remaining validity to admit you, so the effective usable window is closer to four and a half years.

Renewing for a Child Under 16

Children use the same renewal form (there is no separate children’s version), but at least one parent listed on the child’s birth certificate, or a legal guardian named in a court order, must attend the appointment.¹ That adult brings their own valid national ID or passport.

At the D.C. Embassy, a child’s passport specifically requires an in-person appointment rather than the mail-in route used for adults.⁴ One useful shortcut: the recommender section of the form (Section 5) does not need to be completed for a child’s renewal, so you do not have to line up a qualifying professional signer.¹ Children under two pay $50 rather than the standard $126.⁹

If Your Passport Was Lost, Stolen, or Damaged

A missing or damaged book cannot be renewed. You first complete a Notification Form for a Lost, Stolen, or Mutilated Trinidad and Tobago Passport, signed in front of a U.S. notary public or the Consul Immigration officer at your assigned mission.¹⁰ You also report the loss or theft to local police and include a copy of the police report with your submission.

Once reported, the passport is deactivated immediately. It cannot be used for travel even if you find it later, and if you do recover it you must hand it in at the nearest Immigration Division office, embassy, or consulate. After the notification is filed, you submit a fresh passport application with a photo, identity documents, and the applicable replacement fee, which is set during the processing interview and is higher than a standard renewal.

If you need to fly home to Trinidad and Tobago before a replacement can be produced, ask your mission about an Emergency Certificate, which is a single-use, one-way document tied to your specific itinerary.¹¹

1
Ministry of Homeland Security. Passport FAQs
2
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Consulate General in New York, U.S.A.
3
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Consulate General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Miami
4
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Embassy in Washington D.C., U.S.A.
5
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. CGNY MRP Renewal Instructions – January 2026
6
ttconnect. Passport
7
Ministry of National Security, Trinidad and Tobago. Adult Passport Instructions
8
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago in Brussels – Machine Readable Passport Renewal Instructions
9
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Fees Chart – Immigration Services Effective January 2026
10
Ministry of National Security, Trinidad and Tobago. Notification Form for a Lost, Stolen or Mutilated Trinidad and Tobago Passport
11
Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs. Emergency Certificate Application Guidelines