1. You can download an application from the State Department website (click link). Or pick one up from your local Post Office (in Lawrence at 7th & Vermont).
2. Get your photos. This service is available on campus at FedExKinko's in the Kansas Union.
3. Turn in your completed application, photos, and fee at the nearest Passport Agency (in Lawrence, located at the Post Office at 7th & Vermont).
The Department has restored passport service to the standard six to eight week processing time for routine passport applications, and no more than three weeks for expedited service.
To date, we have issued over 16 million passports in fiscal year 2007, which ends on September 30, compared to 12.1 million issued in fiscal year 2006. Throughout the summer, dedicated Department staff in Washington and at the nation’s 18 passport agencies have worked tirelessly to eliminate the delays in processing that had developed earlier in the year.
The Department plans to expand passport facilities and continue to hire more passport specialists in order to increase production capacity and meet rising passport demand expected in coming years, as passport requirements are extended to land and sea borders. By January 2008, we will have hired hundreds of new employees, and production capacity at the National Passport Center in New Hampshire, the largest passport facility, will have doubled. Longer-term expansion plans include new passport facilities strategically located to enhance customer service around the country.
If you have applied for, but not yet received your passport: You may check the status of your passport application online at http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/get/status/status_2567.html. Information will be generated automatically on the status of your application. If your program will be departing in the next few weeks, you may call the National Passport Information Center to request expedited service on your passport. The number for the National Passport Information Center is 1-877-487-2778. You will likely have to call many times to get through the automated system and into the queue. You'll know when you've reached the phone queue by the music playing.
More information on the passport application process and processing times is available on the U.S. Department of State website at www.travel.state.gov
Please contact your Office of Study Abroad Program Coordinator by email or at 785-864-3742 if you are concerned that your passport will not arrive in time for your participation on your Study Abroad program, or if you have any questions about the information above.