Passports are documents that are issued to travelers by their
home governments before they can visit other countries. For
international travel, the items are mandatory and must state both the
holder's identity and nationality. Although they date back before
medieval times, passports weren't regulated internationally until the
mid 1980s. Today, a passport from one country can greatly differ from
another with a rough standardization. In the United States, citizens
can't obtain one until they apply at any of the American Passport
Agencies around the country.
Traveling internationally is not
possible unless one is issued a passport in their name. If you're
planning a European trip or have a vacation to the Bahamas planned for
spring break, make sure that you give yourself some time to apply.
Especially since obtaining the documents can take three or more months
often, lately.
Locating a passport agency in your city is the
first step. The post office tends to serve out this function in most
American cities. Check online or call yours ahead to make sure that this
is the case.
You could check the agency's website for outlets that are
around you. While you're there, fill out and print off a DS-11 form and
bring it with you when you apply for your passport.
Two photograph
copies of yourself will be needed to be inserted into the document.
These can often be taken at the very same location as the rest of the
passport process, although sometimes it can't. You may need your picture
taken for a fee at another location and just bring it with you.
You'll
need to bring things with you when you are ready to apply for the
travel document. Before you're approved, you'll first have to prove that
you are a US citizen. Bring your naturalization certificate, previously
obtained passport or certificate of birth with you.
To prove your
identity, bring your current military id or driver's license with you.
Your old passport, as with the citizenship proof, will also work well.
To prove your social security number you may also have to bring your
card with you also. Remember that copies of these documents will not be
accepted. The passport agency will need either originals or notarized
reprints.
Before you can be accepted, you will also be asked to
pay fees when you show up to document's application process. For all US
citizens sixteen and over, it is fifty five dollars for the application
fee and thirty dollars for the passport's execution fee. For security, a
lot of the states charge an extra couple of dollars as well.
Once you have signed all of the appropriate American passport agencies
documents and paid all of the fees completely, the Department of
Security will look over your paperwork and decide whether to approve
you. It generally takes anywhere from eight to four weeks for appliers
to get approved and receive their documents. If you require your
passport sooner, you can pay a charge for expedited passport application service and receive yours in four to two weeks instead.
