March 27th Passport Day Helps Citizens Save Before Fee Increases

SILVER SPRING, Md., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, March 27th, all 23 regional passport offices will be open to the public in honor of "Passport Day in the USA." On this Saturday, any citizen in need of a passport can walk into any of these 23 offices without an appointment between 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. A list of these office locations can be found at http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_4312.html.

The timing of this event is particularly beneficial to the American citizen as it occurs before passport fees are likely to increase later this spring. The U.S. State Department formally announced on February 9, 2010 its proposal to increase U.S. passport fees in order to fully recover its costs for producing these travel documents. The State Department said it intends to implement its proposed new fees as soon as practicable after it reviews public comments, but certainly not before April.

A summary of some of the proposed fee increases for both the passport book and card are as follows:

• First-time Passport Book for Adult - Increasing from $100 to $135
• Renewal Passport Book for Adult - Increasing from $75 to $110
• Passport Book for Minors - Increases from $60 to $105
• Passport Card for Adult - From $20 to $30
• Passport Card for Minors - From $10 to $15

NAPVS member companies routinely help employees of the Fortune 1000, federal and state government agencies and national nonprofit organizations who need their passports and visas within 24 hours - 48 hours. Our firms also help individual citizens because they are not located near one of the regional passport offices, have physical disabilities, or simply cannot get off work to make a personal visit to the passport office.

Only NAPVS members abide by a Code of Conduct that can be found on the NAPVS web site at http://www.napvs.org. The NAPVS web site also lists and links (http://napvs.org/passport) to all member company sites to help the traveling consumer compare services and fees. NAPVS members can help citizens living anywhere in the U.S. expedite obtaining their U.S. passport and visas from other countries that require it of American visitors.

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SOURCE National Association of Passport and Visa Services