Can I hold on to my (older) passport once I renew it?

I don’t ever remember turning in any of my old passports. I thought you could keep them because you get them all stamped up, but now lots of places don’t even stamp and give you a weird look if you ask them too. Why would you need to turn it in? I don’t ever turn in my drivers license when I get a new one. Is it the same as that, if it’s expired, it’s expired, right?

What country are you in? In the UK, you can continue to hold on to your passport but if try to use it as a form of ID after it’s expired it can be confiscated. If you’re renewing your passport for another reason and your original is still in date, you need to send in your current passport so that an ear can be cut off it. Other than that, it’s all yours.

I’m in the US. If I do it by mail, do I need to send in my old one? I’ve just heard they confiscate it…. :(

you do mail it in, but it says on their website that they do return it to you under the FAQ page

What is the FAQ link – great stuff!!! :)

I don’t know how to link things, but if you go to the us passport page and click on the left under FAQ it will give you your answer.

miasmom is correct – Yes! You can keep it!

I renewed my passport a couple months ago by going to the post office. I had to give them my passport at the time, but she told me they would send it back to me with my new one, and they did. The had punched a couple holes in it, but other than that it was just the same as before.

Yeah, they return in with a hole punched through the cover and the first page. I just renewed mine last year.

I have passports from my great Aunt and Uncle that go back to the 40’s for the family “archives”. So, yes, you can keep it. They used to punch holes in it to show it was no longer valid, but I don’t know what they do now.