The US passport is a highly valuable document because it guarantees the protection and assistance of the United States government anywhere in the world. It can also function as a handy identification document for a variety of purposes.
However, the US passport is only available for citizens of the United States. If you are interested in becoming a citizen, you must first apply for, and receive, a Permanent Resident Card. These documents are colloquially known as Green Cards. Here you can find some useful information about US passports.
Passport Fees
Like most other immigration and government documents in the United States and elsewhere, a certain nominal fee is required for certain services.
Passport fees vary depending upon which services you request and your age. Here is a list of things that may affect the total cost of the passport fees.
- Application for the passport book
- The new passport card.
- Additional pages for your passport.
- Whether or not you are older or younger than 16.
- Renewals or replacements have their own fees.
It should be noted that these fees do not include the fees involved in becoming a Permanent Resident or a citizen. Those are separate processes with separate fees.
Get a Passport
How does one get a passport? Well, after you have received your citizenship you can then apply for a passport. There are many places where you may apply for a passport such as online, through a post office or other designated passport service location.
There are some items that you will need in order to get a passport:
- Appropriate identification documents such as proof of citizenship.
- A social security card.
- An appropriately taken photo to be included in the application.
- Other biographic information to be included in the biographical section of the passport.
Passport Application Status
Passports take a while to be confirmed and issued and you may end up having to wait for a period of time before you receive your passport through the mail. However, you can expedite your passport application in some cases.
Checking the progress of your passport involves simply entering some of your personal information into the State Department’s passport progress tracker.
Typical passport applications will arrive in about six weeks; however, expedited applications will result in a passport being issued in three weeks. Keep in mind that expedited applications require an additional fee.
Passport Renewal
Periodically, everyone has to get their passport renewed. Form DS-82 is the government document used to request a passport renewal. Passports typically expire ten years after their issuance.
Replacements of passports can also be done with this process.
Passport Services
As mentioned above, there are many different places where you can apply for a passport aside from mailing in all of the information. It really makes more practical sense to use one of these services anyway, because you can be sure that the form will not be rejected because of missing information or an improperly formatted photograph.