A Few Different Passport Replacement Methods

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:41:54 EST

People may need to replace a passportfor a variety of reasons. The most common reasons people need toreplace a passport are that the passport has been lost, it has beenstolen, damaged, or the passport has expired. The method of passportreplacement is unique to the specific reason for passport replacement.

A lost or stolen passport can be a disaster, especially if it islost or stolen outside of the country. For domestic passportreplacement of a lost or stolen passport, the applicant first needs tocontact the State Department to inform them about the missing passport.This can be accomplished by calling the relevant number listed on theState Department website.

Once the passport has been officially reported missing, theapplicant must fill out an official missing passport form, in person,at an application center. A new passport application must be filled inaddition to this form. Once these two documents have been sent out forprocessing the applicant can expect their replacement passport in fourto six weeks.

If a passport is lost abroad it is a different situation. In orderto get a new passport overseas the applicant must report the passportmissing at an embassy or consulate office. Staff members at the embassywill be able to guide a citizen through the necessary steps to get anew passport.

Damaged passports and expired passports require similar protocol.An expired passport is any passport that is over ten years old, aspassports are only valid for ten years. The expiration date should bevisible on the bottom portion of a passport’s photo page.

To replace an expired passport simply fill out the relevantpassport renewal paperwork and mail the paperwork, old passport, andcopies of relevant identification to the passport-processing agency.The State Department recommends that all packages be sent by atraceable delivery service in a sturdy weatherproof envelope.

Applicants must follow a similar process to replace a damagedpassport. They must fill out a damaged passport replacement form andthen mail the damaged passport, copies of ID’s, and the replacementform to the passport-processing agency.

The U.S. government requiresthat all damaged and expired passports be returned. This is necessaryto prevent counterfeit passports. It is possible to have the stamp bookportion of old passports returned after the sensitive information hasbeen removed.

In most situations where a passport is damaged abroad, it is notnecessary to replace it. As long as the passport number is stillvisible it should be valid. However, passport trouble abroad due topassport damage can be taken care of at a U.S. embassy.

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A Few Different Passport Replacement Methods