Post office to apply for passport near me

Are you looking to find a walk-in passport office near your location?  There are many important things considered when looking for a U.S. passport office, such as do you need routine or expedited passport services? What type of passport services do you need? Are you traveling within 14 days of travel? These are questions to ask yourself as post office passport centers would not get your passport on time if you travel within 14 days.  It is recommended to apply for a passport in such a case with a regional passport agency.

Before going to passport offices, you should call and verify that the post office passport location accepts walk-in customers.  Before visiting the passport center, you should download the passport application forms and fill out the appropriate form. It is recommended that you call ahead and set an appointment with the passport location before visiting the passport office.

How to Find a Passport Office Near Your Location?

There are two different types of passport offices; the first is called a  Passport Offices. Passport offices have Passport Acceptance Agent authorized to witness the signature required on your passport application form DS-11 (or whichever format you have to fill out, depending on the circumstances). Some examples of finding an acceptance agent are post offices, county clerk’s offices, and traffic courts. These agents would witness your application signature and submit your application to be processed.  The second passport type is the Regional Passport Agencies. These regional agencies, you can get your passport processed the same day. Some of these passport agencies require appointment and proof of international travel. These agencies are located in major cities around the United States.

How Does the Post Office Passport Center Process Your Application?

These passport locations do not process your application on-site.  Your application is filled out and sent out to the National Passport Center to be processed. Your documents are then shipped back to your address via the postal service.

Regional Passport Agency – For Expedited U.S. Passport Applications

The second type of passport office is called a Regional Passport Agency. These locations allow you to submit your passport application in person, through an expedited passport fee is usually required. You will need to pay the expedited fee and the standard passport processing fees that you will pay at the same time. Some (though not all) Passport Agencies will also require that you prove that your international trip will be happening within two weeks of your submission. Others may also require you to obtain a foreign visa within four weeks of the date that you apply. Always check to see what documents are needed before visiting a Passport Agency in your area.

How Does the Regional Passport Agency Process Your Application?

If you are going to the regional passport agencies, these agencies will witness your signature, verify all of your documents and process your passport application on the spot. This is recommended if you have expedited travel plans.

Private Passport Expeditors

Suppose you have a trip coming up and find that you cannot wait the average amount of time to submit your passport application and have it processed. In that case, another viable option is to enlist the services of a private passport expeditor service in your area. Under the best of conditions, the average wait time for a passport to be processed is several weeks – to say nothing of the extended wait times that people can experience during the warm summer months when people are traveling, and vacations abroad are most popular.

A private passport expediter service will collect all of the documents that you’ve prepared and submit them to the nearest passport office on your behalf. They can then have your passport in hand in as little as 24 to 48 hours after your original submission, ensuring that you have more than enough time to make your flight without worrying about any types of travel delays due to insufficient documents.

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Important Due to Covid-19, processing times for passports are taking longer than normal for both standard and expedited services.

Of the more than 7,000 passport application acceptance facilities located in the United States and its territories, the vast majority can be found in local post offices. The U.S. Postal Service began offering this service a few decades ago, due to the significant increase in American citizens who were applying for passports. County clerks and other state and municipal government offices alone could not handle the demand.

Just a few years ago, another significant increase in the number of applications submitted occurred when the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was instituted.

In 2015 alone, there were 15,556,216 passport books issued. That is a 1,468,875 difference from the 2014 figures. This year-over-year increase did not let up. There were over 20 million passports issued in each of the years from 2017-2019.

As of 2020, there were a total of more than 143 million valid passports in circulation. If you plan to join this group and get your passport for the first time (or you need a new passport because your last one was issued more than 15 years ago) there is a good chance that you will be applying at a post office. Below are a few tips to guarantee that you get it done without a hitch.

Tip #1: Schedule an Appointment at the Post Office

We frequently receive correspondence from individuals who have visited a post office to submit a new passport application only to discover that an appointment was required. Post offices often change their hours of operation or close their passport services. So, the first step is to schedule an appointment online.

Passport Services more than 20 million passport applications are processed every year. Add to that the fact that the number of facilities has significantly decreased from 8,400, just a few years ago, to a little over 7,000 today. Given this situation, the growing demand has made it almost impossible for acceptance facilities to keep up. Therefore, we recommend that you look for a walk-in passport office near you.

Tip #2: Choose Your Appointment Time Wisely

This tip is especially important for applicants who live in large cities and plan to visit a high-traffic post office. Having an appointment does not guarantee that you will be attended to at that exact time. You still may have to wait in line. Be sure to schedule sufficient time in your day for this task. If possible, choose a time when there is less traffic. Contact the local facility for recommendations.

Tip #3: Double Check Your Documents

It can be frustrating to arrive at the post office and wait your turn only to be told that there is a problem with the application form, one of your supporting documents, or the passport photo. Be sure to verify the current passport requirements and make certain that your passport photo meets the required specifications. An unacceptable photo is one of the principal reasons why passport applications are delayed.

Bonus Tip: Get Your Photo Taken at the Passport Office

Not every post office offers photo service, but there are a lot of them that do. Ask if the post office where you plan to apply offers on-site passport photo service. If they do, you can save yourself a lot of time.

Processing Time at Post Offices

Standard passport processing is estimated to take 4 to 6 weeks. Expect to wait 6 weeks or possibly more during peak travel periods. Starting in January and going through the summer months, demand is very high and the total time to get a passport can increase significantly, especially if there are any problems with your application form or supporting documents.

To ensure speedy processing of your passport application, you can request expedited service at the post office where you apply. While there is an additional fee of $60, it will decrease the processing time to only 2 to 3 weeks. You can even add an optional fee to your payment for overnight delivery of your new passport.

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