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

[marfisa]

I'm pretty sure you can get a state non-driver's license I.D. at the Department of Motor Vehicles. At least, that's where I got mine in New York State.

[conuly]

Indeed. The problem here is the catch 22 of IDs. If you're one of the 10% of Americans who doesn't have an ID, gathering the points of identification needed to get an ID can be difficult or impossible.

[franztastisch]

Thank you!

I assumed that a small company wouldn't have an employment ID (lots of large companies in the UK do) but I just wanted to check it wasn't something different to what I imagined.

[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

[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

[belleweather]

Disclaimer: Passport applications are what I do for a living. All information below is my own personal experience and opinion and does not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State or any other organ of the U.S Government

[franztastisch]

And this is why I love the internet; I go "I need to know about this thing" and it doesn't take long for someone to get back saying "I do this thing for a living". :D

[frenchroast]

Non-driver's ID cards ARE the same as state ID cards. It's just that each state has their own process. But since a vast majority of people in the US drive, most people use their driver's license...and since so many people get them, the process for getting a non-driver's ID usually piggybacks onto the process for a getting a driver's license, minus the driving test

[shoaling_souls]

Even if he was living in a rural place, if he had a disability like epilepsy or low vision he would not be able to have a driving licence.

[proudofthefish]

A social security card can also be used as a document to help establish identity. As a side note IDs and drivers licenses in Va take a few weeks to process because they are sent to a secure facility to be made. Something about making them super hard to counterfeit I think.

[franztastisch]

And everyone would have a Social Security Card? I looked it up before posting this and worked out it's a lot like the UK National Insurance number. They're sent out to you when you're 18. It looked to me like you get a SSC when you're born, but decided that if it's like a NI number, it's not useful for ID. Turns out I was wrong. :P

Thanks!

[conuly]

Everybody has a social security card. There are a very few cases of people deciding not to get one for their children (and thus losing out on being able to claim them as dependents on their taxes) because they're anti-government weirdos, often religious extremists, but that's both incredibly outside the norm and crippling if their children ever want to leave home. (Which really means it's abusive as hell.)

Edit: And to be clear, when I say a very few cases, I mean just that. This is a subject tangential to one I'm currently very interested in, that of people leaving religious fundamentalism (there's some overlap there), and I can only name one or two cases off the top of my head, one of which (Alicia Pennington) involves a young woman who did have a SS Card but whose parents wouldn't cede it to her.

[proudofthefish]

Yes everyone would have one, you get a number assigned shortly after birth (I think) and it is required on documents all the time in Dr's offices and such. I'm pretty sure my dad used it often. He used to keep an old business card with my siblings and my number on the back in his wallet for whenever he needed it, usually at the doctor's office.(we saw a lot of specialists for various reasons).

[nighean_isis]

A side note about state issued ID cards:

I had one for *years* because I needed proof of identity but didn't know how to drive. In my state (California) you apply for a ID card the same way you apply for a driver's license - it's even the same form, you just check ID Card instead of Driver's License.

As bellweather said, for a **first time** passport, you'd need to go in person. I'm lucky - I live close to a major passport office (San Francisco) and my mom went with me. I was applying for a passport to travel abroad for college. I used my State-issued ID, my Social Security Card, Birth Certificate and (since I had it) my Military Dependent's ID card as proof of citizenship. Overkill, since any two of the four would have worked.

Check the link bellweather provided for the closest passport office to your character's location and go from there.

[franztastisch]

Thank you! Weirdly, your reason for applying for a passport is the same as my characters. He's applying for the passport before having chosen where he's going yet though and the application form asks for the country your travelling to and the duration of stay. Do you know if you can apply without having a destination in mind? You can in the UK.

[frenchroast]

You can put pretty much anything in there, because you don't *have* to actually go out of the country after you get your passport. Example: my brother got a passport while I was studying abroad in France. He put France and two weeks. He never actually came to visit. I would just have your character put the most likely place they'll go, and a duration that is under 90 days (b/c most places want some kind of visa if you're going to stay there longer than that).

Also, while today you have to apply in person for your first passport (usually at a post office, and it's easy enough to look up where you need to go to do so; it's not a big deal, honestly; my husband had to drive 30 minutes to a nearby town for his, but he said it was super easy), back when I got my first one in 2002, you didn't have to.

As for the passport photo, pretty much every big-chain drugstore (Walgreen's or CVS, for example) has the set up to take passport photos, since they also process film/digital photos. They usually cost between $15-$20.

[franztastisch]

Thanks! Good to know about the country thing. :)