(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. State Department is preparing to release a limited-edition passport design featuring President Donald Trump’s portrait and signature on the inside cover to mark America’s 250th anniversary in July 2026.

Mock-ups released by the department and shared on social media show Trump’s portrait set over a stylized image of the Declaration of Independence. The next page shows the founding fathers signing the document, tying the booklet’s opening pages directly to the country’s founding imagery.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced on social media that the department will release a “limited number” of the specially designed passports. A State Department spokesperson said, “As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. passports to commemorate this historic occasion”.

The passports will be available to any U.S. citizen who applies when the design launches. The department said the special version will be offered at the Washington Passport Agency.

A White House spokesperson cast the release as part of the administration’s broader messaging around the anniversary. “President Trump’s new patriotic passport design provides yet another great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America’s 250th birthday” the spokesperson said.

The White House spokesperson added: “President Trump continues to proudly lead a renewal of national pride and patriotism during our historic semiquincentennial celebration”.

The announcement places an ordinary government document inside a ceremonial national moment. Passports usually function as proof of citizenship and identity for travel abroad; this version, at least in the pages shown publicly, also serves as a commemorative object built around presidential imagery and founding-era symbolism.

In the mock-ups, the design centers on a pairing that appears carefully chosen. Trump’s image and signature sit with the visual language of the nation’s founding charter, while the facing page moves from portraiture to scene, showing the framers in the act of signing. The result is a passport interior that treats the opening spread less as administrative design than as anniversary presentation.

Pigott’s announcement did not describe a new application track, a special filing category, or separate eligibility rules tied to the release. The practical detail the department provided was narrower: a U.S. citizen who applies when the design launches can receive it, and the place identified for the rollout is the Washington Passport Agency.

That makes timing and location the central facts for applicants. Citizens seeking the commemorative booklet will need to apply after the launch and do so through the agency named by the department, rather than expect the design to appear automatically in every passport office at once.

The State Department has framed the project as an anniversary issue rather than a permanent redesign. Its use of the phrase “limited number” points to a finite release connected to the July 2026 observance, not a standing replacement for the standard passport book.

The release also aligns with President Trump’s planned “Great American State Fair,” scheduled for June 25 to July 10, 2026. The timing places the passport announcement alongside a larger calendar of events tied to the country’s 250th birthday and the administration’s push to turn the semiquincentennial into a broad public celebration.

That schedule matters because the passport’s imagery, language and rollout all fit the same commemorative frame. The design invokes the Declaration of Independence, the White House describes “America’s 250th birthday,” and the State Department has tied the release directly to the anniversary in July 2026.

The public release of the mock-ups has already given Americans a clear view of what the government plans to issue. Inside the cover, the visual emphasis falls first on Trump’s portrait and signature. Turning the page shifts attention to the founding fathers, presenting the booklet as a piece of anniversary memorabilia as much as an official travel document.

No pricing change accompanied the announcement, and the department did not pair the design reveal with a separate set of passport instructions. The message from both the State Department and the White House focused instead on symbolism, availability and celebration.

That symbolism is unusually direct for a passport design. Rather than rely on abstract patriotic motifs alone, the limited release places a sitting president’s likeness in the booklet and pairs it with one of the country’s most recognizable founding texts. In the material made public so far, that combination defines the project.

The decision also gives the semiquincentennial a tangible government-issued marker. Anniversary merchandise often comes from museums, nonprofits or private retailers. Here, the commemorative item is the U.S. passport itself, issued by the State Department and available to citizens who apply once the launch begins.

Whether demand quickly outstrips supply will turn on how many booklets the department ultimately makes available, but the official wording points to scarcity from the outset. Pigott said the release will involve a “limited number” of specially designed passports, language that suggests the edition is meant to be collected as well as carried.

For now, the public outline remains tightly drawn. The State Department is preparing the release, the Washington Passport Agency is the named distribution point, the design features Trump over the Declaration of Independence, and the schedule ties the passport to the country’s 250th anniversary in July 2026 and the “Great American State Fair” running from June 25 to July 10, 2026.

The White House has already placed the booklet inside a larger patriotic message, calling it “yet another great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America’s 250th birthday.”