Marble Falls Post Office hosts U.S. Passport Fair for kids
The fair is 8 a.m. -1 p.m. Dec. 6 at the post office, 1212 U.S. 281 North next to Mission Hills Drive.
Postmaster Alan Smith said he chose a Saturday to help parents get passports for their children so they wouldn’t have to be taken out of school.
However, people of any age are welcome to apply for a passport that day.
“It’s just an opportunity for people who are traveling over the holidays to get a jump on the holiday rush,” sales and service associate Mary May said. “As of June 1, 2009, there is a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that will go into effect which will require travelers to have a passport any time they cross a U. S. border, and that includes Canada and Mexico.”
May added anyone who wants to take a cruise or fly will soon be required to have a passport.
Smith said the initial idea for the fair came from some of the clerks at the post office who notified him the passport applications were steadily increasing.
“I just felt like we could do a lot of good for a lot of people in this area,” he said. “Some residents in the Hill Country were having to make appointments in Austin to get a passport, and the appointments alone took several weeks to get. The turnaround time is also fairly quick as the processing office is in Houston and customers should receive their passports in two to three weeks.”
In the Highland Lakes, only the Marble Falls and Kingsland post offices process passports. The U.S. State Department is in charge of approving offices around the country that handle passport services.
On the day of the fair, postal workers will assist customers in filling out their passport applications and someone will be on hand to take passport photos. Employees will also show customers some of the conveniences available when using the post office Web site at www.usps.com.
“We are asking people to call and sign up in advance in order to have an idea as to what our workload will look like. We will have staff members pulled from other offices, so it would be nice to know how many people we need to have on hand,” Smith said.
Though advance notice is appreciated, Smith said walk-ins are also welcome.
“The upswing in our business really came from people preparing for the new laws going into effect next year. From September 2007 to June 2008, our office was so busy processing passports during that time, we had to have people sign up for an appointment,” Smith said. “Travelers will be required to show their passport for places such as Canada and Mexico where they never had to show a passport before.”
There are basically two types of passports available. A Passport Card is for someone who wishes to walk or drive across the border, and the fee for that is $60 for adults and $10 for children. A Passport Book covers the widest range of travel, including a cruise or flying overseas, and it’s available for $75 for adults and $20 for children. All passports are good for 10 years for adults and five years for children.
The post office will also charge a processing fee of $25 for each passport, and that fee must be paid separately from the passport money at the time the application is processed.
“If someone already has their passport photo and their application filled out, the process might only take 15 minutes,” Smith said.
There are certain documents required to fill out a request for a passport.
Everyone must have a certified copy of their birth certificate, at least one form of picture identification such as a driver’s license and children younger than 16 must also be accompanied by both parents. A form is available for children who have only one parent, but it must be completed and notarized by the absent parent and returned with the application.
The passport photos must be 2 inches by 2 inches and show the applicant’s head and shoulders against a white background. Postal employees will be on hand to take the pictures, if necessary, for a fee of $15 per picture.
Additional information is available on the government’s Web site at www.travel.state.gov.
To call to make arrangements to attend the Passport Fair, can contact the Marble Falls Post Office at (830) 693-3531.
byoung@thepicayune.com