Applying for a passport is not as easy as it sounds. It’s easy to make mistakes on the paperwork, and even a small mistake can delay your application. Of course, with a private expediting company tracking your order, we can minimize these delays and often catch mistakes before they happen. However, if getting your passport as quickly as possible is important to you, we encourage you to review the top 10 causes of passport processing delays:

 

The Top 10 Reasons For Delays in Getting Your Passport

1. Birth Certificate is not State Issued with a raised seal. If you are unsure if your birth certificate will be accepted, order a certified long form birth certificate from office of vital records in the area where you were born, or visit www.vitalchek.com.

2. Documents were not “sealed”. All applicants for a new passport must appear in person at a post office or county clerks office to have their documents “sealed”.

3. There are no bar codes on the application. Application forms DS-11, and DS-82 require bar codes.

4. DS-82 was not signed. You must sign the second page of the passport renewal application.

5. ID is too recent. If your govt. issued ID was issued less than six months ago, you must submit additional forms of ID.  To assist you, here are some examples of acceptable forms of ID.

6. Incorrect Shipping. All packages must be shipped to our office using FedEx.

7. The check was written for an incorrect amount.  Verify the correct amount with us, and look over these examples of correctly made out checks before you send yours in.

8. Damaged Passport. If your passport was damaged , you must include a brief statement addressed to the U.S. Passport Agency Representative, stating how your passport was damaged. Use form D-64 for this.

9. Name Change. If your name has changed you must include your original proof of name change. Acceptable documents include marriage licenses, divorce decrees, and other court documents referencing the name change.

10. Child Support. If you owe more than $2,500 in child support you will not receive a passport.