What Is Required for a Passport Card?
A passport card is a travel document specifically designed for U.S. citizens who travel frequently between the United States and Bermuda, Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean. Immigration scans, rather than stamps, the wallet-sized card. A passport card cannot be used for any type of air travel between the U.S. and countries it serves; rather, it specifically functions for entry back into the United States at sea ports and land border crossings.
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U.S. Citizenship
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The first eligibility requirement for a passport card is U.S. citizenship. As with the traditional passport book, applicants must provide evidence of their citizenship, including any one of the following: a certified birth certificate issued by a city, county, or state, an old or current undamaged passport, a naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship, or a certified birth report from a U.S. consulate abroad. Citizens who don't possess primary proof of citizenship can submit evidence from a secondary list, which includes baptismal, census, or postnatal doctor's records or a hospital birth certificate.
Identification
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When applying for a passport card through the mail, petitioners must send in the original copy of proof of citizenship, which is returned to them with the passport card. Those who apply in person are required to present photo identification to the person handling the application. Identification must be current and includes any of the following: an undamaged passport, a driver's license or state ID, a city or federal government ID, a military ID, or a naturalization certificate. If an applicant's primary form of identification is an out-of-state driver's license, he must also present a secondary ID. Secondary documents include Social Security, credit, and library cards, as well as employee IDs.
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Photos
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As with traditional passport books, applicants are required to submit two photos, measuring two inches square. The government requires full-face color photographs with a white backdrop, where the size of the applicant's head measures between 1 and 1 3/8 inches from the chin to the top of the head. Traditional passport photos are printed in color, but passport card photos are printed in black and white. For this reason it's important to make sure photos aren't overexposed, which is the most frequent reason they're rejected. Equally, the government will reject unfocused, shadowy, dark, and low-quality photos.
Application and Photocopies
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Form DS-11 is used to submit an application for a passport card in person. By mail, applicants must use Form DS-82. The same forms are used when applying for a traditional passport. Whether in-person or via mail, applicants are required to attach a photocopy of their current identification. The photocopy must be one-sided, black-and-white, on standard paper, and include both sides of the ID. Those who apply in person and present their IDs must still attach a photocopy of an ID to their applications.
Fees
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The government currently offers the passport card to adults for a total of $45. The price includes a $20 application fee and a $25 execution fee. Cards for minors 16 and under cost $35. Expediting the process costs additional $60. Passport agencies accept checks, money orders, and major credit cards. Acceptance facilities such as the U.S. Post Office accept personal checks, money orders, and exact cash for application fees; they accept the same plus credit cards for the execution fee. By mail, the government accepts checks or money orders.
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References
- Photo Credit us passport image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
