Let’s be honest, many of us have enjoyed an adult getaway that has literally been too much fun. The return to the real world is painful enough and then discovering that using your passport as a drink coaster for a solid week was not the great idea it seemed at the time. If the damage is severe, the passport will need to be replaced before it is time to vacation again. Hopefully, other personal identification items survived the journey in better shape as you will likely need some additional proof of identity to replace an illegible damaged American passport.

The first step is to go online and find the closest acceptance agent to you. You will need to provide documents to then in person and they will then witness these and put all of the needed paperwork in a sealed envelope. Naturally, one of the requirements is to complete an attractively named federal form (DS-11,) which is the official US application for a passport. You can find this form online, along with federal document two, DS-64, the nitty gritty document where the damaged USA passport owner explains the circumstances of the document ended up in its damaged condition at the State Department’s website.

While these forms may be printed out and filled in before visiting the issuing office, there are two things to keep in mind. One is that they only need to be signed in front of an authorized agent and secondly is that they must be dated less than five days before the actual office visit. If either of these occurs before reaching the office, the forms will need to be completely re-done.

Proof of citizenship will be necessary and this is in the form of the applicant’s birth certificate with a city, county or state seal affixed to it. There is yet another item that must be procured before visiting the passport office. This is the new photos that will accompany the paperwork when it is shipped and there will need to be two of them.

Even if the photo was not included in the passport mutilation that led you to this place, identical new full face photos are required and they are not to be more than six months old. Many people opt to do the photos themselves if they are adept at photo shop type software. Many built in laptop cameras can take an adequate picture as long as the background is white. Getting passport photos taken at a passport expediting firm or local copy shop is also relatively inexpensive and quick.

The applicant, with all the proper forms and pictures in hand, can then make the trip to the acceptance office. There they can sign the forms in front of an authorized witness and the entire package can be shipped in for processing. The fee for this entire transaction will be $135.00 in the form of a money order or check made out to the Department of State.

Since the majority of the issuing agencies are located within a postal facility, the easiest method for shipping may be to use either Priority or Express mail service through the Post Office. Both of the services include the ability to trace the package along its entire trip. There is also the option to pre-pay for a return envelope that will come directly back to the holder’s home address.

Because of the somewhat minor but annoying mailing requirements, many people opt to leave their damaged pasport processing to professionals with the additional bonus of being able to choose expedited processing times. Naturally, there are fees for these services, but many find the time and aggravation factor reduction to be well worth the costs. This is especially true for those prone to procrastination. There are numerous passport businesses online serving all areas of the country.

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