Anyone wishing to leave the United States, or any home country for that matter, will need to know how to get a USA Passport. Today, international travel, even to border countries, requires that passport documentation be used to enter any country from another country. We are going to try and explain the process to make the whole experience easier for first time passport applicants.
It is always recommended that before anyone makes a move, they get online and read all of the rules and laws that the State Department has in place in regards to passports. These laws will sometimes change and it is best to be 100% sure of what is needed. There are other locations on the Internet that will provide this information, but the State Department is the original source and the best one to use.
Prior to applying for a passport a potential applicant must get passport photos. Passport photos can be taken at any local one-hour photo counter. Normally, the photo-counter will be able to crop your photos to passport size right in the store. Passport photos must be a certain size so that the processing center can easily place them on the passport. The process is normally relatively quick and inexpensive.
Before going to the applicant center, each potential applicant will need to present a valid form of identification as well as a valid certificate of naturalization. Valid ID cards are normally a driver’s license, a military ID, or a government ID. Naturalization certificates can be a U.S. birth certificate or a notarized certificate of naturalization. Applicants must also bring photocopies of each form of identification.
In many cases, a local post office will have a passport processing unit. However, some smaller towns do not have this feature and it will be necessary to travel a bit in order to find one that does offer the passport services. This can be checked easily enough online on the USPS site as they have all passport locations listed.
While some things can be handled online or via mail, anyone who is applying for the first time will be required to do so in person. Once they have submitted all of their information and it has been checked and approved, the passport should arrive in about six weeks. This is a huge improvement as before the latest passport rule changes happened, people were known to wait for almost a full year before they received their passport.
If there is the need to get the passport sooner than the standard times, there is an expedited service that is offered for an additional fee. This will generally get the passport back within three weeks. There are also agencies that offered expedited service and while the fees are much higher, they can usually deliver a passport in any time frame that is needed.
Clearly, obtaining a passport for international travel can be time consuming, but not a difficult process. Anybody with additional questions concerning how to get a passport should consult the State Department website. Filling out a pasport application form is a small price to pay for the experience of international travel. What are you waiting for? Get a passport and get out in the world.