If you recently became a US citizen, or are applying for a US passport for the first time, this guide is for you. I became a US citizen in 2019, and got my passport in 10 days. I’m going to explain how to apply for a US passport step by step, and share two common mistakes I see people making that can easily be avoided if you follow all the steps I’m about to share. So, let’s dive in and get you that passport.
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Step-by-Step Process for Applying for a US Passport
If this is your first time applying for a US passport you have to apply in person. There are four steps to applying for a US passport. The first is filling out form DS-11, the US passport application. Then, schedule an appointment at the nearest passport facility. Now, you can schedule this appointment before you fill out your form, just be sure that your form is completed before your appointment.
Next, gather your supporting documents and payment that you have to submit with your application in person. And finally, attend your appointment.
Step 1: Filling Out Form DS-11
If you recently went through the naturalization process and received a welcome packet at your oath ceremony, there is usually a passport application form inside. If you don’t have the form, let me show you exactly how to get to it. Okay, so to get to form DS-11 you will go to the Department of State website, which is Travel.
State.Gov. Any links mentioned in this video, I will share in the description below.
On this homepage you’re going to go to, get a US passport. Then, you’re going to go down a little bit where you will see, I need a passport, and you’ll click on the first option which says, apply in person.
Now, you’ll scroll down a little bit and you’ll see the first thing here says, fill out form DS-11. Now, if you click on the plus sign it’ll bring you to options. The online form filler, which lets you complete the form online and then you can print it out. Or, if you prefer to complete the form by hand, click on the one that says PDF, and it will take you to this blank form that you can print out, and then fill out by pen.
At the very top of the form you will see a few different options.
You’ll see a passport book, a passport card, or both. Now, the passport card can only be used for land or sea travel, so unless you live near the border and are frequently going back and forth, you’re not going to be able to use the passport card for any of the other type of travel. But, if you’d like an extra form of ID, you can certainly get the passport card. But for most people, the US passport book is more than sufficient, and it’s the only thing that works for air travel.
The other thing I want to point out is you can choose between a regular book, and a large book.
The only difference is a large book just has more pages. It does not cost anything extra to get the large book, so if you travel a lot I would recommend getting the large book so that you don’t run out of pages quickly.
As for the actual form itself, it is pretty straightforward. It asks for basic information such as your name, your social security number, your address, and things like that. I do want to point out that in the middle of the page it says, stop and continue to page two.
And it says, do not sign the application until requested to do so. So you’re not actually going to sign the application until you’re actually at the post office, or wherever you’re submitting your application, and the agent tells you it’s okay to sign it.
So now, go onto page two where it’s more of the same type of information. You’ll fill out your parental information, emergency contact information, and things like that. And so, that’s really it on the actual form, now let’s talk about how to actually schedule your appointment.
Step 2: Scheduling Your Appointment
Now, passport acceptance facilities are typically a public library, or a post office. Most people actually tend to do it at a post office, but if you want to see what your options are, you’re going to go back to the page where we just got the form from, and if you scroll down a little further you’ll see number nine says, submit your completed application. If you expand that, you’ll see an option to click on passport acceptance facility.
So now if you click on this, you can enter your zip code, and I’ll enter mine here in Brooklyn New York. And as you can see, there are a variety of options, it’s a combination of post office, and public libraries.
So now, if you want to actually schedule your appointment at the post office, you do it directly on the post office website, so let me show you how you do that. You simply go to USPS.com/Scheduler, which brings you over to this page. And here, you’ll just choose a service, and in this situation it’s a new passport only. If it’s just you, you’ll select one.
And then you can search by location.
So similar to before, we can enter your zip code, and it’ll then bring up the nearest locations to you that have appointments. I’m going to select the location that’s the closest to me, and then if I click on the calendar icon here, it’ll bring up a list of available appointments. As you can see, I can schedule an appointment as soon as tomorrow. Let’s say I click on tomorrow, and select the date.
It then brings up a variety of times, and as you can see there are a ton of appointments available. Now, I’m not going to go ahead and actually book it, but you just provide your contact information, review your appointment, and then go ahead and confirm it, and then you’ll get a confirmation email. If for some reason you need to change your appointment, you can easily do that online as well.
Step 3: Gathering Your Supporting Documents
Okay, so now you’ve completed your application and scheduled your appointment, so here’s what you need to take with you to your appointment. The first is proof of US citizenship.
This can be your naturalization certificate, or a US birth certificate if you were born here. Now, this is where I see the first mistake people make, you need to take the original and a photo copy. I saw a lot of people coming into the post office without photo copies, and they had to leave, and come back, and that’s just a waste of your time. Be sure to take a photo copy of this.
Next, you need proof of identity.
Now, the easiest thing to do is take your license or state ID. But remember, it must be an in state ID. If it’s not, then you need another form of identity as well. If you have an out of state ID you can take something like your valid foreign passport, or your global entry ID. You can find a full list of acceptable ID’s on the Department of State site, and I will link to that in the description below.
Again, be sure to take a photo copy of the front and back of your license or state ID.
The next thing you’ll need is one colored passport photo. The easiest thing to do is go to a CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Duane Reade, whatever the closest facility is near you that does passport photos. And remember if you wear glasses to take them off, no glasses in passport photos, and that’s it on the photos.
Step 4: Attending Your Appointment
Now, whether you use a birth certificate or a naturalization certificate as citizenship evidence, the post office is going to keep it.
Now, don’t be alarmed, it will be mailed back to you, and don’t be alarmed if your new passport comes to you without it. It usually comes in two separate mailings. Mine came a few days apart in two separate mailings, and I was really nervous about giving up my original, thinking it would get lost. But, I got it back, no issues, and tons of people do it all the time without any issues.
Payment and Timelines
Now, let’s talk money and timelines.
This is where I see the second mistake people make in the process. As of today the Department of State website states that the standard processing time for a new passport is six to eight weeks. If you choose to expedite it and pay extra, it is two to three weeks. Now, I paid to have mine expedited and got it in 10 days, which is even faster than the two to three weeks stated on the website. If you need it even faster than that because you have an emergency, there is a way to do that.
Just let me know in the comments, and I’ll share that process with you.
A passport book currently costs $110, and then the passport facility charges a $35 execution fee. If you choose not to expedite your passport this is all you pay. I chose to have my passport expedited because I had travel coming up, and I needed my passport sooner. I’m going to share with you what I paid in total, but I also want to show you where you can go on the Department of State website, and use their fee calculator to make sure that the fees you are going to be paying are the most current and up to date.
Okay, so we’re going to go back to this page one more time where we got the form, and we’re going to scroll down below to number eight where it says, calculate fees. You’re going to expand that, and at the very bottom you’ll see a link for passport fees. We’re going to click on that, and it’ll bring us to this page where at the very top you will see something that says, fee calculator. We’re now going to click on this and follow the prompts. It asks me where do I reside, United States.
What is your date of birth, I’m going to pick an arbitrary date of birth. Have you ever had a US passport, no. Then we’re going to click next.
Now, I chose to just get a passport book, which you can see is $110. Then I chose to expedite it, which is an additional $60.
And then for even speedier delivery, I checked one to two day delivery. Now you can see exactly what I paid, which was $222.13. Now again, if you chose not to expedite it you would simply pay the $110, plus the $35 fee, and none of these other costs.
Payment Methods
Whether you choose to expedite it or not, your payment is broken into two parts, paid with different methods.
For the $110 passport book, expedited fee, and speedy delivery, you pay by check or money order. For the $35 execution fee, you pay directly to the post office, and I was able to pay it with credit card, but this does vary by location. So to be safe, I would recommend that you take $35 in cash, as well as your debit and credit cards.
If you aren’t sure of the total amount that needs to go on the check, then just leave it blank and fill it out at the counter when you’re actually at the post office. I saw people leaving because they had filled out their checks with the wrong amounts, and they didn’t bring their check books, and didn’t have any more blank checks.
I would just recommend taking your check book with you, or not filling out the amount at all, so you just want to avoid having to come back a second time.
If you have any other questions about the passport process, leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to respond. If you found this video helpful, hit the like button below, subscribe to our channel, and share it with your fellow citizens. Happy traveling.
