Documents Necessary to Have a Passport

Documents Necessary to Have a Passport

First comes the passport, then comes the Excursion.

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Do not begin studying maps for your next, large foreign adventure until you submit an application for a U.S. passport since this travel document, issued by the U.S. State Department, may take a month or longer to arrive at your mailbox. You are going to need to wait even longer if you don't submit the appropriate documents and necessary information. What papers you'll need depends on whether you are applying for your first passport or trying to renew a lost or expiring one. In any case, you'll require a check or other means of paying the hefty fees.

First Time's the Hardest
The first time you do whatever is harder than the third or second, and this truism applies to getting a U.S. passport. For your first passport, then you'll want to fill out more paperwork and create copies of more documentation than for subsequent trips to the passport office.

Application Form
The initial and main document required for an initial passport is Form DS-11,Program for a U.S. Passport. Fill this form out completely by hand or online and present it in person in the passport office with all supporting files.