Jul 7, 2010
With the ever tightening of the United States borders, having a passport for international travel is not only valuable, it is essential. The United States State Department issues passports to U.S. Citizens with advance notice (usually six to eight weeks) and you will not be able to enter another country or return to the U.S. without it. Here are important State department links to apply for a passport:
If you have never applied for a passport before:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html
Applying for a minor (under 16) passport:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/minors/minors_834.html
Renewing a passport:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/renew/renew_833.html
Passport fees, as of July 13, 2010:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/fees/fees_5079.html
U.S. State department Travel alerts: (for various reasons, weather, political, military)
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1766.html
Q: Candy Cain Travel, I google “Quick Passport renewal and I see a lot of businesses who specialize in that kind of thing. Would you recommend utilizing their services?
A: Do so at your own risk. While we haven’t ever used one successfully, we also haven’t had clients get taken by one either, but when you’re traveling internationally, and the only way to get into and leave a foreign country is with proper documentation, isn’t it a good idea to go directly to the source? We recommend planning ahead and dealing with the State department. It will save you money, and we tell our clients when we start planning to start the process at that time.
