Are Australian passports expensive in comparison to other western / developed countries?

10/29/2018 12:19:49 PM

1/27/2015 4:15:00 PM

Comparing with the Italian Passport

Both ordinary and frequent traveller Australian passports do indeed seem to cost more than the Italian passport.

As of the 19th May 2010 the Italian government issues one single passport format for ordinary citizens. This is an electronic passport, with biometrics, consisting of 48 pages with a 10-year validity. As of the 24th June 2014 it costs 116EUR, (73.50EUR of processing fee + 42.50EUR for the actual cost of the booklet). This gives the following cost breakdown:

  • 11.6EUR per year of validity
  • 2.42EUR per page

We can now compare these values with the ones resulting from the Australian passport cost breakdown:

  • Ordinary: 238AUD – ca. 166EUR
    • 16.6EUR per year of validity
    • 4.74EUR per year of validity
  • Frequent traveller: 358AUD – ca 250EUR
    • 25.0EUR per year of validity
    • 3.73EUR per page

So yes the Australian passport wins on all criteria.

3/24/2014 12:50:35 AM

The passports in Sweden are only 350kr, that equates to approximately 60 AUD. Even with the 5 year validity coming into question, doubling the cost it is still half the price. I couldn’t believe how cheap the Swedish passports were when I checked – having recently paid for a new Australian one, I feel somewhat ripped off!

9/2/2013 7:01:24 AM

First, consider the value – it’s a biometric, secure, popular passport. It requires fewer visas than some other countries, and so the price isn’t the only consideration here.

However, let’s look at other countries using biometric passports, and their costs, using some of your list from the comments:

  • USA – $110 (According to LessPop_MoreFizz) (EUR 83)
  • NZ – $144 and up, depending on urgency. (USD 112; EUR 85)
  • South Korea – US$55.00. (EUR 41)
  • Switzerland – CHF140. (USD 150; EUR 114)
  • Netherlands – 49.33 Euros. (USD 65)
  • UK – 77.50 quid. (USD 120.50; EUR 91)
  • France – 89 Euros. (USD 117.50)

so comparatively, much of a muchness, although EU ones do seem to be a bit less.

As a New Zealander, a bigger issue is the length of validity – ours are only 5 years, which in some places means 4.5 years as you need 6 months left on your passport to enter certain countries. We used to have 10 years, and there is quite a public drive to bring back the 10 year validity period.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

Search Posts

Latest posts

Popular posts