NEW YORK, NY – On Wednesday, December 28, 2011, the James A. Farley Main Post Office located at 481 8th Avenue, will offer customers exclusive attention for obtaining a passport.

A task some often put off is made easier by Manhattan Postmaster Robert Brown.  “We listened to our customers when they told us they wanted easy access to apply for a passport,” said the Postmaster.  “Please join us and apply for yours during our Passport Fair”.

Passport Fairs occur regularly at post offices throughout Manhattan and the Bronx – providing a relaxed atmosphere with postal professionals ready to make the transaction quick and easy.

Brown recommends that customers apply for a passport at least two months or more before travelling – to avoid any extra costs involved in expediting your application and offers these helpful tips:

• Bring proper proof of American citizenship or naturalization. This must be either: a state-issued certified birth certificate; a previous official passport; or a naturalization certificate, if you are foreign-born. (Please note: a hospital-issued birth certificate is not acceptable.)
• Bring in one officially-acceptable state or government photo ID. This can be either a driver's license, a military photo ID, or a state-issued photo ID.
• The passport application requires one recent photograph. The photo must meet specific passport requirements which are explained at http://travel.state.gov/passport. (Photos may be taken at the Passport Fair for an additional fee.)
• To save time, download passport application documents at www.usps.com/passport and fill out beforehand. However, don't sign the application form, as the passport acceptance clerk must witness the signing.
• For children under age 16, both parents' consent and proof of parental relationship are required. See Special Requirements for children under age 16 at http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/minors/minors_834.html for details.

More information is available on the Postal Service website at www.usps.com/passport or the Department of State website at http://travel.state.gov/index.html.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.