Post Office Hosts Passport Fair

LAS VEGAS, NV — To make world travel easier and more convenient, the Postal Service will host a “Passport Fair” on Sunday, November 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Henderson Convention Center, located at 200 Water Street. The most critical item international travelers must pack is a U.S. passport. The Post Office will have trained personnel at the Passport Fair to process passport applications and take passport photos, with no appointment necessary.

“The Postal Service is taking the worry out of travel and making it much more convenient for world travelers by increasing the number of offices that process passport applications,” said Henderson Postmaster Craig Colton.

Since December 31, 2006, passports are required for American citizens traveling by air and sea to/from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

Colton offers the following recommendations to make the application process efficient:

Customers should apply for passports as early as possible — at least two months or earlier before making travel plans. This will avoid possible additional costs involved in expediting applications.
Bring in proper proof of American citizenship in the form of a previous U.S. passport, a certified birth certificate, a certificate of citizenship, or naturalization certificate. A hospital-issued birth certificate alone is not acceptable.
Bring in proof of identity with a current valid driver’s license, government ID or military photo ID.

Passport applications require two recent identical photographs. Photos can be taken at the Passport Fair for $15 (in addition to application fees).

The fee for first-time applicants is $97 (photo not included). Two payment transactions are required:
1) Payable only with money order, check or cash, $67 to the Department of State and 2) payable only by a credit card, check or cash at this event, $30 to the United States Postal Service. The fee for a passport renewal is $67. Passports will be mailed to the customer four to six weeks after application.

Customers can call 1-800-ASK-USPS to get the location of nearby passport Post Offices or visit the United States Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com/passport to get additional passport information.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.