Passports

A passport is an internationally recognized travel document that verifies the identity and nationality of the bearer. A valid U.S. passport is required to enter and leave most foreign countries. Only the U.S. Department of State has the authority to grant, issue or verify United States passports.

Click here for information on obtaining a passport.

Five Things to Know About Passports

1. Currently, a passport is not needed for land or sea travel to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada or Mexico.

2. There is a lot of information available on-line at the State Department’s consular affairs web site www.travel.state.gov -- what you need to bring when you apply for a passport, how to check the status of your application after it is submitted and how to send an e-mail to Passport Services if you have additional questions or need to communicate with them about the status of your application.

3. The Department is receiving a very large number of telephone calls from customers right now. To address this, they have dispatched additional temporary staff to our call center. If you are traveling or need your passport in order to get a visa within the next two weeks, call 1-877-487-2778. Representatives are available from 7:00 a.m. to 12 midnight, ET, Monday-Friday, except holidays

4. Routine processing time for a passport is now about ten weeks. Expedited processing is about four weeks. The Department is doing everything we can to bring those times back to our normal six weeks and two weeks respectively.

5. There is an optional question on the passport application asking for departure date and destination - please fill this out. It helps us in our efforts to get the passport to customers in time for their trip.