HARRISBURG — If you’re planning to help with disaster relief efforts in the coming months and don’t have a current passport – the Post Office is making it more convenient to apply for one. Increased demand for passport application services for relief efforts and summer travel has led the USPS to expand passport acceptance hours during the next month. Passport applications will be accepted on Saturdays at select Post Offices with no appointment necessary during the special hours. An appointment is recommended if you need a large number processed at the same time.

Normally, it costs $100 for adults (16 years and older), with separate payments of $75 paid to the Department of State for the passport application fee and $25 to the Postal Service for its processing fee. For persons under 16, the cost is $85, with separate payments of $60 and $25 respectively. Two identical photos of each applicant are required. For expedited passport service, add $60 for each application.

Other tips include:

• Bring in 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. Workplace IDs and regular photos are generally not acceptable. You’ll need to provide a photo copy of both sides of the ID to send with the application.
• The passport application requires two recent identical photographs. The photos must meet specific passport requirements.
• If you don’t have a current photo, most Post Offices will provide photo service for a 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.

Customers can go to http://www.usps.com/ or call 1-800-ASK-USPS to find the Post Office location(s) with Passport Application Services nearest them along with their regular passport customer service hours.

All applications are sent to the U.S. Department of State for final processing and approval. For more Passport details, go to http://www.travel.state.gov.

Provided everything goes smoothly, you can have your official passport mailed back to you, with plenty of time to prepare for your trip. Normally, it takes about six to eight weeks to obtain a passport.

Editor’s note: A list of Post Offices extending passport acceptance hours is attached.

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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. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.