Being able to take a journey abroad, worry free, is a hope all
travelers share. There are things one can do to make this wish a
reality. One is to make sure that when someone is about to go abroad,
his travel documents have at least nine months of validity on them. If
this is not the case, he should take steps to have the travel document
renewed. For those who have upcoming plans, a faster way of revalidating
the documents is to apply for an expedited U.S. passport renewal.
The valid life of the document and it's American passport pages
depends on how old the owner was when he got it. If he was less than 16
years old at that time, his passport's validity is five years.
Someone
who got his papers at 16 years and older will have a ten-year validity.
Each of us can apply for a renewal anytime but some conditions need
to be met. The passport must not be damaged significantly. The document
must not be expired for more than five years. If both conditions are
true, the owner is required to apply for a new one. Expired passports
are still accepted as long as the date stamped on it is within five
years.
The good thing about renewing a passport is that it can be done
entirely by mail. All those who are renewing their papers have to send
them to the National Passport Processing Center. This is the only
address that they have to remember.
There is an application form that is required to start the process.
This is Form DS-82. This document is available for free at most public
libraries and post offices. If one has access to the Internet, the form
can be downloaded from the website of the State Department.
The mailing envelope that will hold all the papers has to be large
enough to contain everything without folding any of the documents.
Together with the filled in application form, place the old passport, a
recent picture of the correct format, and the payment inside the
envelope. Mail the envelope to the processing center. Those who had a
name change will have to include proof of the facts related to that
change. This could be a marriage certificate or a court order for those
who got divorced.
To indicate that the transaction is an expedited passport renewal,
the word "EXPEDITE" must be clearly printed on the envelope. Compared to
regular processing of the document, which takes four to six weeks, an
expedited application takes less than three weeks or less. The applicant
should know that this transaction is more expensive than a regular
application for renewing the travel document.
