Spanish passport in the United States: renewal and first passport

A Spanish passport is renewed at the consulate of your district, always in person and always by appointment. It costs 35 dollars in a USPS money order and takes about three weeks to arrive from Spain, where it is printed.

Before looking at the calendar, check one requirement that stops many people: you must be registered as a resident on the consular register. Without that there is no username or password for the booking system.

How long it lasts and when you can renew

Validity depends on your age when it is issued: two years under five, five years under thirty and ten years from thirty. It cannot be extended: when it expires a new one is issued.

You can renew when less than a year of validity is left. Not before, unless the book is full or damaged.

What to bring

Your previous passport and your DNI if you have one. If both expired three or more years ago, you need a full birth certificate issued within the last six months, unless the birth is registered at that same consular office.

Also a recent 32 × 26 mm photograph on a white background —2 × 2 inch photos are accepted too—, proof of US residence status (Green Card, US visa in your passport or entry stamp) and the 35-dollar money order, brought on the day and never posted to the consulate.

The appointment, which is the hard part

Passport slots open every day at no fixed time, releasing a batch for the next available date until the calendar fills. The consulate suggests checking at different times and not repeating searches back to back, because the system locks you out for security.

You need one appointment per applicant and procedure, minors included, and only the person doing the procedure gets in: no companions.

And the part worth being clear about: the appointment is free. The New York consulate states explicitly that it authorizes no appointment-booking service outside its own website.

Minors and people under guardianship

The child must attend in person at any age, accompanied by all parents or guardians, who sign the authorization. If one cannot come, their authorization works if granted before a consulate, before the Spanish police or before a local notary with an apostille, and it expires after three months.

Watch one detail that gets applications sent back: a custody ruling is not enough. You need one granting sole parental authority, or the other parent's authorization.

Fingerprints are taken from age 12 and signatures digitized from age 14.

If you have lost it

You must declare the loss or theft at the consulate as well as reporting it to local police. The document is canceled in international police databases: if it turns up later it cannot be used to cross a border, even in date.

The duplicate inherits the lost passport's validity, unless less than twelve months remained. And if travel is imminent there is the provisional passport, valid up to twelve months, which some countries do not recognize or require a visa for.

Collection

You collect it without an appointment, during the hours each office publishes, handing in the receipt and the old passport, which is canceled and can be kept. You may authorize someone else in writing to pick it up.

Details verified on 8 September 2026.

We are not an official body. consuladosespana.us collects and checks information on Spanish consulates in the United States, with no link to the Government of Spain.

No appointments are booked here and nothing is charged for. Always confirm the detail with the office that covers you.