Usually, getting passport service is a fairly straightforward process. You fill out a passport application at a passport acceptance facility (often a post office, library, or County Clerk’s office) and provide them with the following documents to send to the Department of State along with your application:
- Proof of US Citizenship (such as a previously issued passport, a birth certificate, a Certificate of Citizenship or a Naturalization Certificate)
- Proof of identity (such as a driver’s license or state-issued ID)
- A photocopy of your proof of identity
- 2 passport photos
- The appropriate fees
However, for 86-year-old Katherine Young, getting passport service wasn’t that easy. When she applied for a passport, she had long ago lost her birth certificate. Usually, this is not a problem-you can simply purchase another copy from the Department of Vital Records in the state you were born in. Or, if you are in a big hurry, you can pay an extra fee to have the Department of State look up your birth record for you. For more information, see How to Get a Passport Quickly Without a Birth Certificate.
Unfortunately for Katherine Young, who needed a passport to go on a Caribbean cruise with her son, the South Carolina Department of Vital Records didn’t have a copy of her birth certificate on file. And, she was the only surviving sibling in her family.
Don’t worry, this story does have a happy ending: Mrs. Young’s congressman’s office was able to help her obtain passport service, tracking down a 103-year-old woman from her hometown in South Carolina who remembered when she was born. The woman signed an affidavit, the State Department accepted it as proof Katherine Young was born in the US, and she was issued a passport in time to go on the cruise.
If you have all of the documents you need to apply and just need to speed up the application process, RushMyPassport.com can help. Our easy-to-use checklist makes it simple to fill out the paperwork and assemble the necessary documents. Then, once you send them to us, we deliver them by hand to the Department of State, to be processed in as little as 24 hours.