PASSPORTS
Often, when many individuals are making travel plans abroad, they realize at the last minute that they have to obtain passports.  Senator DeMint's office is prepared to assist you in requesting help with a passport.  Below is a quick overview of the process for obtaining a passport.  
  
New Passports: 
To obtain a passport for the first time, you need to go in person to one of  7,000 passport acceptance facilities located throughout the United States (you can locate a local facility through the U.S. Department of State Passport Acceptance Facility Search Page) with two photographs of yourself – most facilities can do this for you as well for a fee, proof of U.S. citizenship – usually a certified birth certificate, and a valid form of photo identification such as a driver’s license.

If you do not need the passport to be expedited, the passport acceptance agent (generally located at a post office) will assist in mailing the application at that time.  General turnaround time is 6 weeks but this is by no means a guarantee.  A person can pay to expedite a passport through the post office and they will guarantee the passport back in 2 weeks.  If you need the passport faster than this, you can bring a sealed passport application packet from the acceptance facility to one of state offices in Charleston, Columbia or Greenville.  Senator DeMint's office will Federal Express mail to our contact in DC who will work the case and have it Federal Expressed back to the you.  Senator DeMint's office still needs generally at least 3 business days to do this and we cannot guarantee any results.

Renewal Passports:
You can renew by mail if: Your most recent passport is available to submit and it is not damaged; you received the passport within the past 15 years; you were over age 16 when it was issued; you still have the same name, or can legally document your name change.  You can get a passport renewal application form by downloading it from the U.S. Department of State Passports Home Page.  If your passport has been altered or damaged, you cannot apply by mail and must apply in person.  For a renewal, a person will need 2 new passport photos to submit.

A person can expedite the renewal themselves by mail and have the two week guaranteed time frame.  If they need their passport expedited, they can also bring their renewal application and materials to us, and we will follow the same process – Fed Ex’ing to DC, etc.

Passport Fees:
For a person over 16, a passport costs $97.
For a person under 16, a passport costs $82.
A renewal costs $67.
Expediting is an additional $60 per passport plus overnight fees.

Obviously, there are exceptions and many details and intricacies of the system.  The U.S. Department of State - http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html - has a wealth of information and if that doesn’t answer your question, feel free to call one of my 3 state offices - Charleston: 843-727-4525, Columbia: 803-771-6112, or Greenville: 864-233-5366 - and ask to speak with the staffer who handles passports.