How to Get a Trump Passport

This is a real, functional US passport. It’s the commemorative version of the standard blue booklet, issued as part of the Trump administration’s broader America250 anniversary programming, which also includes events like a Grand Prix race on the National Mall and a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The design features Trump’s image over the Declaration of Independence and a Founding Fathers painting on another page.

The State Department confirmed the passports will be the default option at the Washington Passport Agency in Washington, D.C. while supplies last. Apply online or at any other passport acceptance facility and you’ll get the regular design. A State Department spokesperson explicitly denied earlier reports that only 25,000 were being produced, so the exact quantity is unknown. Additionally, we don’t exactly when these will be released, current verbiage is mostly some variation of “soon.”

The Washington Passport Agency only accepts appointments for urgent international travel (14 days or fewer from your appointment date). You will need to provide proof of an imminent international trip; a hotel reservation in Mexico or Canada will qualify.

We want to be upfront here: reselling a US passport is a federal crime. US passports are government property, and selling, purchasing, or transferring them is illegal under 18 U.S.C. § 1543 and related statutes. Beyond the legal issue, you’d be handing a legal document containing your photo, personal information, and biometric data to a random stranger. That should give most people pause regardless of the money.

There is one narrow exception worth knowing about: obsolete passports. A passport that is well and truly expired (ideally issued 20 or more years ago) and carries zero functional value as a travel document occupies a gray area that collectors have navigated for years. eBay does not officially permit the sale of government documents, but generally turns a blind eye to listings for expired passports that clearly predate any reasonable use. These trade as historical paper collectibles, similar to old currency or vintage government ephemera.

So here’s the long play: if someone applies for one of these passports, uses it for the decade-plus it takes to expire, and then holds the expired document until it crosses the obsolete threshold, it could theoretically have collector value.

There’s no question that this period of American history will be historically defining, and these passports will serve as a physical representation of the current administration, i.e: a sitting president’s face emblazoned on an official government document.

This is obviously highly speculative. We can’t state with any certainty that grabbing one of these will be worth the time or effort, especially considering you’ll need to wait a decade and change for your chance to cash in. Still, there’s a chance these will resell for considerably more than the application fees further down the line. We’ve already seen plenty of Trump-related items resell for huge profits, from his line of official sneakers to newspapers featuring his mugshot.

If you were already planning to renew your passport and live near or can get to the Washington Passport Agency in D.C. this summer, applying there costs you nothing extra and you get an unusual piece of American political history. That’s a reasonable call.

If you’re thinking about applying for a passport you don’t need, paying $200+ in fees specifically to obtain a collectible you can’t legally sell for 15+ years, you’re speculating on a very long and uncertain timeline.

This is not a short-term resell play. It’s a decade-long hold with unclear upside and real legal risk if you don’t follow the rules around obsolete documents carefully. Proceed accordingly.