Education
Passports Party Photos- You can take your own, but unless you have a passport face measure guide thing, I definitely suggest going and getting it done professionally. If it doesn’t fit, they WILL TURN YOU AWAY. Costco > Walgreens Costco charges $5 Walgreen charges $15 You can download the Walgreens passport photo app for self shoots. Paperwork- I highly suggest printing the correct paperwork for yourself and your kids and filling it out at home! They do have computers at most passport offices, but you have to fill the paperwork out on the computer first, and then you can take a ticket to be seen- which if there is a lot of people there and/or coming in, that could be a LONG wait. Online it will tell you all the supporting documents to bring, so read carefully! Adults, it’s your birth certificate that will be mailed in with your application! (That surprised me at first!) It will be mailed back to you in a separate envelope than your actual passport! Paperwork & supporting docs for kids- DS-11 form, birth certificate, both parents ID’s and a photocopy of both ID’s. Both parents have to be present. There are some additional forms that can be filled out if that’s not possible, or if you have sole custody, but they sound complicated and not worth the hassle IMO. Fees: Don’t procrastinate and you’ll save money. Refer to website: https://travel.state.gov They quote 2-4 weeks for the passport to arrive at standard rate. Expedited is 1-2weeks. We bought the additional amount for Indie to get it expidited cause we were in a time crunch. In our case, it came just in time so it was well worth the extra. That expidited amount is different in each state, so they will let you know there what that will cost you! Our cousins got theirs like the next week, so you just never know. If the 2-4 week time frame is cutting it close, I feel like it’s worth the extra amount. Be sure to read the info about passport books vs passport cards. Passport books are required for air-travel. Passport cards can be used for land and sea travel.