Passports are obtained through the Passport Services Division of the Department of State. Through your local passport acceptance agent (usually the Post Office or county courthouse) you can apply for a new passport, renew your old one, replace
a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, or add new pages to your existing book.

To locate your nearest Passport Agency, please click HERE.

What You Will Need:

• Certified birth certificate (must have a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar's signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth)
• Photo Identification (Driver's license, Government ID: city, state or federal or Military ID: military and dependents )
• 2 identical photographs (2 x 2 in. taken within the last 6 months must be of your full face and taken on a white or off-white background - color or black and white acceptable)
• Social Security Number
• Passport Application (also available at a Passport agency or online)

Fees:

• $55 - Processing Fee
• $30 - Application Fee
• $60 - Expedite Fee

Traveling Overseas
Once you have your passport, you still have to check with the country or countries you'll be visiting to determine whether or not you'll need a visa. A visa is permission from a country to cross their borders and comes in the form of a page inserted in your U.S. Passport. You usually have to mail your passport to the Embassy or Consulate of the country you'll be visiting, so allow plenty of time to accomplish this.

Also, check the State Department Web site for travel warnings and consular information sheets that provide very helpful information about the country you plan on visiting. The State Department Web site also contains very comprehensive information on all the services it provides both stateside and abroad. This includes crisis assistance for U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad, and various travel publications available online.

American Embassies and Consulates General
Many U.S. Diplomatic Missions abroad have information online. For those that don't, check the State Department's Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts for addresses, and phone and fax numbers for U.S. Embassies and Consulates throughout the world.

Passports in a Hurry
Passports usually take from 30 to 40 days to issue. For a $60.00 fee -- plus the cost of 2-way overnight mail -- you can "expedite" this process and receive your passport in 7 to 10 working days.

Please contact our DC office at 202-225-4311 if you need your passport sooner than 7 to 10 days.

Privacy Release Form
When requesting information it is sometimes necessary to provide a privacy release form to give us access to retrieve your information. Please download this form, fill it out, sign and mail to the appropriate location.