Trump’s Portrait Will Be Featured Inside Some U.S. Passports — Here’s How To Get One Or Avoid One

The U.S. State Department will issue special commemorative passports with President Donald Trump’s portrait and his signature in gold on the interior. This is tied to the nation’s 250th birthday and will be released around the 4th of July.

• Donald Trump will appear opposite an image of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

• 25,000 – 30,000 of them will be produced and they will be distributed via the Washington, D.C. passport office.

Credit: U.S. Department of State

Federal law authorizes the Secretary of State to issue passports under rules designated by the President. Within that framework most anything becomes permissible, unless otherwise forbidden by law. Design choice is largely at their discretion.

This is not a “special issuance passport” it is simply a commemorative artwork variant of the standard passport. It’s unclear whether this passport will be on request only or the default for the D.C. Passport Office.

This will be the first time that a living or sitting U.S. President has appeared on a passport. However Presidents have appeared on passports – because Mount Rushmore is shown.

It also is not common abroad. Turkmenistan has never displayed its dictator on a passport. China does not use the image of its Premier.

The closest thing I can come up with is that British passports are issued in the name of the monarch. King Charles III is currently in the United States but does not have a passport. The sovereign is deemed not to need one because passports are issued in his name, and the first page contains a formal request from “His Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State.” But it doesn’t have his picture! And Queen Camilla does have to travel with a passport.

The White House used the visit (and perhaps this passport) for trolling today:

TWO KINGS. 👑 pic.twitter.com/iPVUxc4i4H

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 28, 2026

King Charles did his own trolling as well.

If you want one of these:

• Use the Washington Passport Agency, do not mail in or request renewal online.
  
• Time your in-person appointment shortly before or around July 4, 2026
  
• Ask explicitly for the America250 commemorative Trump design passport
  
• Bear in mind that agency appointments are generally for urgent travel within 14 days, or a foreign visa needed within 28 days. So you’ll need to book something eligible.

If you want to avoid one when renewing:

• Just renew online, by mail, or with an appointment at a different agency.
  
• If you have to use the Washington Passport Agency during the rollout, state at check-in and with the passport specialist that you want the standard passport book, not the America250 commemorative design.

There’s no need to renew early to avoid one, and once the limited-run is out there are no currently-announced plans to make this the standard format for passports.

The Latin phrase civis romanus sum or “I am a Roman citizen” was enough to travel across the vast Roman Empire unaccosted, because the retribution of Rome was known to be both fierce and certain if one of their citizens was harmed. That was the Roman passport. Modern passports weren’t needed to travel much of the world before World War I. The most modern ones, it seems, will have Donald Trump’s portrait on them.