The REAL Requirements for a US Passport

[Tyler Durden]

Well, it's interesting to consider how coordinated the Feds are these days.
Someone I know recently went to a one-day Passport processing center, where 
you can take your documentation in the morning, pay a lot of extra $, and 
get the passport in the evening. You can even do this across state lines. So 
I'd suggest gathering up the documentation and taking a trip to a busy 
similar center across state lines and see if they can get a passport.

It should be noted that this behavior may not be the result of hyper-fascist 
feds, but incompetant ones: There's a apparently a huge backlog of 
applications because of the new laws requiring a passport to 
travel...everywhere outside the US, so they may be looking to push off as 
much as they can. (I hear stories of the break rooms and hallways being 
stacked floor-to-ceiling with applications). As for the lost documentation, 
it's possible it's actually lost...

-TD


>From: "Eric Cordian" <emc at wolf359.net>
>To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks at jfet.org>
>Subject: The REAL Requirements for a US Passport
>Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:20:15 -0700
>
>A friend of mine recently applied for a US Passport, having never had one
>before.  On the application form it stated that the requirements for 
>getting
>a US Passport were to fill out the form, and present it in person to an
>"acceptance agent" with a certified copy of ones birth certificate, and
>state ID over 6 months old, and raise your hand and swear to some stuff.
>
>That having been done, my friend was surprised to get a letter from the
>Feebs a few weeks later, saying that "The Identification You Provided is 
>Not
>Sufficient for Passport Purposes" and stating that the application would be
>denied unless he submitted AT LEAST 5 additional documents containing a
>photo and/or signature and an issue date, "issued over a period of time", 
>as
>well as identification, and filled out a Feeb-provided form demanding
>contact information for all his relatives, and contact information for all
>his employers in the last ten years, as well as a list of all the schools
>he's attended with dates, and all the places he's resided.
>
>The letter also warned, "Failure to comply with this request will result in
>a delay for any future requests."
>
>They also kept his birth certificate.
>
>Which raises the following questions.
>
>1. Why does the Department of State fail to disclose the real documentation
>requirements on the passport application?
>
>2. Can the government refuse to issue a passport to a US citizen,
>effectively making them a political prisoner, unable to travel, by 
>demanding
>unreasonable documentation, and then filing their passport application in
>limbo if they refuse to provide it or it doesn't exist?
>
>3. Is there a way to get a passport without being forced to give the
>government information that is none of their business?
>
>--
>Eric Michael Cordian 0+
>O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
>"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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