The United States Postal Service will hold a passport fair at the North Palm Springs Post Office from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14. The fair is for first-time passport applicants.
No appointments are necessary. Customers have the option of applying for a passport book (good for all international travel) or a passport card (good only for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda).
The above fees must be paid with a personal check or money order. (No exceptions, according to Post Office officials.)
In addition to the above costs, there also is a $25 processing/acceptance fee plus a $15 fee for photos, which can be paid for by cash, personal check, debit/credit cards or money order. Passport photo services will be available.
Travelers are encouraged to apply for a passport several months before they are scheduled to travel overseas. Again, the average time for passport applications and renewals is six weeks. However, for an additional fee, the State Department will expedite the application and process it within three weeks.
To apply for a passport, travelers need to complete Passport Application Form DS-11 (unsigned) and provide one of the following: a U.S. birth certificate from the Department of Vital Statistics (not a certificate of birth) or naturalization papers. Applicants must also show either a valid driver’s license, a previous or current U.S. passport book or card, Certificate of Naturalization, Certificate of Citizenship, military I.D. or a federal, state or municipal government employee I.D. card.
Applicants ages 15 and under must be present with both parents unless consent is given. For those ages 16 or 17, only one parent needs to be present.
The passport fair will be at the Moreno Valley Post Office from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Sundays of Oct. 14, 21 and 28.
For more information about passport application requirements and to download forms, visit the State Department’s travel website at www.travel.state.gov.
