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What Happens at a Passport Office?

Cindy Quarters
Cindy Quarters

A passport office is a government office that accepts and processes passport applications. The process differs slightly between countries, but in general the rules and how they are applied are the same. In a passport office the application, identification and fees are accepted, and then everything is later verified. In about six weeks a passport is mailed to the applicant’s home.

The main purpose of a passport office is to accept applications, documents and fees for processing. Procedures may vary between countries and even between different types of offices in the same country. In the United States there are two kinds of passport offices, including regional offices and passport acceptance offices.

A passport.
A passport.

Regional offices are large centers located in a limited number of locations throughout the U.S. and are designed to provide complete passport services. This includes the actual processing of paperwork. People who need a passport in less than two weeks, who have unusual situations or paperwork irregularities should go to one of these offices. There, the staff has special training and resources that enable them to deal with complicated situations.

US passports.
US passports.

There are also thousands of passport acceptance offices throughout the country. These facilities are combined with other government offices such as libraries and post offices to expedite the passport application process. In these shared offices, the typicall procedure is for the applicant to submit all paperwork to a person in the office who has been trained in receiving passport application documents. This type of passport office normally does little more than accept documents, check them against a list of required documents, and issue a receipt to the applicant. Processing is performed at the regional office.

A passport photo.
A passport photo.

In a regional passport office, documents are taken in, application and fees are accepted, and all paperwork is checked for completeness. People who have problems with paperwork can schedule an appointment with a worker who is able to help resolve a variety of issues, including missing documents or atypical documentation. During the appointment at the passport office, the applicant is assisted in resolving any errors or omissions that could potentially prevent a passport from being issued. Sometimes this requires the applicant to leave and return with specific documents, but often the problem can be handled on the spot by the passport agent.

After the initial part of the process is complete, personnel in the regional passport office will review the documents to ensure they are complete and valid. Once everything is determined to be in order, a passport will be issued and mailed to the applicant. Some regional offices can also provide a passport card immediately to allow travel in certain countries and can be used instead of a passport.

Discussion Comments

Drentel

I got my passport at the county courthouse. They have an office there where you fill out all the paperwork. You have to take a birth certificate and another form of I.D. And you have to take pictures that will pass as official passport shots. When you have the the pictures for the passport taken you need to make sure they will meet the requirements for passport pictures.

Feryll

When my brother and I were going to Europe right after college, that was the first time we were going to another country where we needed to have passports. We spent so much time working and making sure we were going to have enough money that we forgot to take care of getting our passports early. I'm not absolutely sure about the lengths of time, but I think we were told it would take a month to get our passports back and our trip was three weeks away.

We went to a local passport office in the city library and filled out the paperwork, but when were told it could take as long as four weeks to get the passports back we were worried. The clerk told us we could take the paperwork to one of the regional passport offices and get the work done there the same day.

We went back home and made plans to drive eight hours to the closest regional passport office in Washington, D.C. However, we decided to call the regional office first just to make sure we would be able to get the passports quickly. It was good we decided to call ahead. We were told that if we went ahead and sent the paperwork and passport pictures then the passports should be back in time for our trip.

This saved us from having to drive a total of 16 hours, and we got our passports on time. I'm not sure what the average wait time is now. This was several years ago when I got my first passport.

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      By: Hugh O'Neill
      A passport.
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      By: mangostock
      A passport photo.