Securing American Passports by T. E. BOWEN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 14, 1915

Securing American Passports

By T. E. BOWEN

T. E. BOWEN

RECENT changes have been made in the laws governing the issuance of passports to citizens of the United States. We give below the most important of these revisions, for the benefit of missionaries abroad who may wish to renew their passports, as well as for those who may be contemplating going to some field outside the jurisdiction of the United States:—

APPLICATIONS.—A person who is entitled to receive a passport, if within the United States, must make a written application, in the form of an affidavit, to the Secretary of State. The application must be made by the person to whom the passport is to be issued and signed by him, as it is not competent for one person to apply for another.

The affidavit must be made before a clerk of a federal or State court within the jurisdiction of which the applicant or his witness resides, and the seal of the court must be affixed.

If the applicant signs by mark, two attesting witnesses to his signature are required. The applicant is required to state the date and place of his birth, his occupation, the place of his permanent residence, and within what length of time he will return to the United States with the purpose of residing and performing the duties of citizenship. He is also required to state the names of the foreign countries which he expects to visit, and, if any such country is at war, he must state the object of his visit thereto. The latter statement should be brief and general in form, thus: “commercial business;” “to attend to the settlement of an estate;” “to bring wife and children to this country.”

Each application for a passport must be accompanied by duplicate unmounted photographs of the applicant, not larger than three by three inches in size, one to be affixed to the passport by the department and the other filed with the application. Photographs on cardboard will not be accepted.

The application must be accompanied by an affidavit from at least one credible witness that the applicant is the person he represents himself to be, and that the facts stated in the application are true to the best of the witness’s knowledge and belief. This affidavit must be made before the clerk of the court before whom the application is executed, and the witness must be an American citizen, who resides within the jurisdiction of the court. The applicant or his witness must be known to the clerk of the court before whom the application is executed, or must be able to satisfy such officer as to his identity and the bona fides of the application.

Passports are not issued by American diplomatic and consular officers abroad, except in cases of emergency; and a citizen who is abroad and desires to procure a passport must apply therefor through the nearest diplomatic or consular officer to the Secretary of State.

Applications for passports by persons in Porto Rico or the Philippines should be made to the chief executives of those islands. The evidence required of such applicants is similar to that required of applicants in the United States.

NOTE.—An applicant who expects to go to Russia, accompanied by wife and children, should inform the department to that effect, and state the names of the wife and children so that they may be inserted in the passport, to conform with the Russian regulations.

EXPIRATION OF PASSPORT.—A passport expires two years from the date of its issuance. A new one will be issued upon a new application, and, if the applicant be a naturalized citizen, the old passport will be accepted in lieu of a certificate of naturalization, if the application upon which it was issued is found to contain sufficient information as to the naturalization of the applicant. Passports are not renewed by the department, but a person abroad holding a passport issued by the department, may have it renewed for a period of two years upon presenting it to a diplomatic or principal consular officer of the United States when it is about to expire.

The application properly filled out, accompanied by one dollar and two unmounted photographs of applicant (also naturalization certificate, if a naturalized citizen), may be mailed to the Department of State, U. S. A., Bureau of Citizenship, Washington, D. C., giving the address to which the passport should be mailed, and the passport will be promptly forwarded. What is the charge of the clerk of the federal or State court for making out application we are not informed. Missionaries passing through Washington may secure their passports here by going in person to the State Department with witness, but it is desirable that application be made through courts in the vicinity of the applicant.

There are three forms of application blanks: one form for “native citizen;” one for “naturalized citizen,” one for “person claiming citizenship through naturalization of husband or parent.” An application blank and complete rules governing issuance of passports may be obtained at clerk’s office of courts mentioned above, or by addressing the writer, at Mission Board office.

Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.