Applying for a US Passport

[franztastisch]

Setting: present day Virginia

I am looking into applying for a US passport (obviously not for myself, but for a character). I found this which is super useful. My character has never had a passport before and needs a photo ID to get one but my character also has none of the things listed as valid photo ID. The above website goes on to say:

If you

Comments

[justhuman]

We looked online to find out what it would take to get my sister's NJ birth certificate. Online it would have taken about $100 and a couple of months. Or B, my Mom drove down to the town where my sister was born, paid about $15 and got a copy of the birth certificate. That being said, each state works completely different, so it might be easier easier in other states. Also, the fee varies from town to town, but it's never a lot of money. Here's the link to order a birth certificate from Virginia

https://www.vitalchek.com/birth-certificates/virginia/virginia-department-of-health

And since, this was so my sister could get her first passport, I give you another detail. The birth certificate must list parent's name. My sister her her original, but the originals in the era she was born didn't list parent's names.

I work for a super large company that has photo IDs with all sorts of embedded security for door locks and electronic signatures, etc. It does not have my signature on it. I think that signatures may be very common on ID cards issued by government agencies to employees, but I don't think it's very common with corporate employers.

And about the originals -- it freaked me the hell out when I got my first passport. I needed to send my proof of ID. It was sent back to me in a few weeks later, but I didn't think I'd really have to hand over my birth certificate and my original social security card. So yeah, if you have to send in a student ID or employment ID, it might be a big hassle. Although, I think that a lot of employers might issue a temporary card until the original is returned.

Some post offices can process passport information, but it's a little hit or miss. Usually people go to a county clerk's office. I see that you're from outside the US, so let me give you a little more detail. US states are divided into counties (or parishes if you're in Louisiana). Each county has a county seat (capital). Usually it's associated with the County Courthouse. The structure of county governments varies a lot, but any one of them should be able to process a passport. You could go to any county seat - it wouldn't have to be the one in the county you live in. In fact, you could do it anywhere in the country.

I happen to live and work an hour or so from New York City. I've had co-workers go to the city to get an expedited passport. It costs a lot more money, but you can get it in 24-48 hours. It looks like they went to the offices of the State Department, but there's also private firms that will do that (for a fee).

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/where-to-apply/agencies/new-york.html

But this also means that there would have to be an office in Washington DC that could do the same.

[franztastisch]

The state county business sounds a lot like town/county councils in UK counties that's relatively straight forward to me. I was going to ask about county clerk offices (thank you US TV for the phrase) but I wasn't 100% sure what it was and, to be perfectly honest, assumed that pot offices would do it for you, as that's were you go in the UK to get this stuff processed. I mean, it has to be a relatively large one - a village post office probably wouldn't do it, but still, you're never more than about 20mins from somewhere that can, in my experience.

Looking down at the other answers here, it looks like my character would have to go to DC anyway - I'm assuming that means that he'll not be without his ID for all that long though.

Thank you so much for this info! :D