Question for those who applied for the passport book and card separately

J

Jackolantern

Registered Users (C)
I became a US citizen earlier this month, and now I'm waiting on my passport application to be processed.

I only applied for the passport book, but I intend to apply for the passport card at a later date, sometime after I have the passport book in my hand. Do they tie the expiration date of the passport card to the expiration of the passport book, or do they both get independent 10-year validity periods when they are applied for on separate dates?

I don't want both of them to expire at the same time. If they expire a few months apart, that makes it more convenient to have one or the other valid in my hand at all times. When I send in the recently-expired passport book for renewal, I'd still have a valid passport card, and vice versa. But if they expire at the same time, I would have to apply for renewal a bit prematurely (like 2-3 months before expiration, maybe more depending on travel plans) in order to ensure that I always have at least one of them valid in my possession.
 
Congratulations Jackolantern on your newly minted citizenship! I had always assumed you were a USC.

To answer your question, the passport card has a separate 10 year validity period from your passport book. When I became a USC, I applied for both together and my American wife who already had a passport book, got sufficiently inspired to get a passport card herself. For the actual application process for the passport card, if you already have a passport book, they ask you to send that in with your application. When you get the passport card, it will have a full 10 year validity period from the moment they issued it and separate from that of the passport book. We saw this play out with my wife's passport card application. So yes, you can stagger the 10 year periods for the passport book and passport card.
 
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Congratulations Jackolantern,

I have interacted with you over few years. Was wondering if you ever applied for USC since your signature always says I-485.

Anyway, I just checked my passport card and it's valid for exactly 10 years from the date it was issued.
I had applied for both card and booklet together so both of them have same issue and expiry date.

But since expiry is exactly 10 years, to the exact day, from the date of issue, my guess is the two documents are not tied to each other and they would be valid for 10 years from the date of issue. But that's just a guess.
 
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SEA400 said:
But since expiry is exactly 10 years, to the exact day, from the date of issue, my guess is the two documents are not tied to each other and they would be valid for 10 years from the date of issue. But that's just a guess.
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Your reasoning is correct.
 
JPBoston said:
For the actual application process for the passport card, if you already have a passport book, they ask you to send that in with your application.
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But I will have the option to apply for the passport card in person with DS-11 and send in the naturalization certificate, just like when I applied for the first-time passport book, correct? That way I can keep the passport book while waiting for the card, albeit at the additional expense of $25.
 
Jackolantern said:
But I will have the option to apply for the passport card in person with DS-11 and send in the naturalization certificate, just like when I applied for the first-time passport book, correct? That way I can keep the passport book while waiting for the card, albeit at the additional expense of $25.
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True, you should have that option also if you choose to apply in person. It does indeed give you the advantage of keeping your passport book with you. My wife went the convenient route of mailing in her passport card application and that called for her to submit her passport book with it. It wasn't a big deal for us at that time because we had no international trips planned for that one month that it took to get her passport card.
 
For those who have gone through the process, when you received that Passport Application Status Email from the State Department, does that mean your passport has been issued? Even if the email contained no information that is of value.


I applied for both Card and booklet on July 18th and received the notification email yesterday July 25th.
 
schynam said:
For those who have gone through the process, when you received that Passport Application Status Email from the State Department, does that mean your passport has been issued? Even if the email contained no information that is of value.


I applied for both Card and booklet on July 18th and received the notification email yesterday July 25th.
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We recently got our son his new passport book and card when his old passport expired. I had signed up for email notifications but only received one email saying it was in process or something. Your best status check is to use the Application Status page on the State Dept website. Once they have completed processing your passport book and card, you will see the status on that page say something like "your passport application is in the final stages of processing and you can expect it by xxxxx date." The email notification system never sent me anything beyond the first email so use the website instead. Over all, it took exactly one month for us to receive both passport book and card (they arrive separately) and we used regular processing service (versus expedited service).
 
I too applied on July 18th, regular and received it today Aug 3rd - San Jose Acceptance center to LA Lockbox facility to SF PP Agency to my home!

The day you see online "...is in the final processing stages" is the day they have actually mailed it Priority Mail with $100 insurance. To find out where they are mailing from could be decoded from the cancelled check/ACH notation on your banking activity (if you paid using personal check). For example, "Passport SANFRAN.." = San Francisco PP Agency, "Passport CHARLTN" = Charleston, SC PP Center. This is where your passport is printed and mailed from.

Your application could be sent by the lockbox centers (where the acceptance centers send to for first time passports) to any of the several passport agencies/center in order for them to balance their loads.

Even though they state Routine processing takes 4-6 weeks. It is usually taking 2 weeks, while Expedited is taking 8-10 days. No point paying $60 for a week's worth of patience!
 
Congratulation Jackolantern!

Would be nice if you wanted to share some experience from your interview. Good luck and I hope you continue to be one the of the best members of this forum.
 
non_linear said:
Even though they state Routine processing takes 4-6 weeks. It is usually taking 2 weeks, while Expedited is taking 8-10 days. No point paying $60 for a week's worth of patience!
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It depends on when you apply also. My son's passport book/card took a month when we applied in May, probably because more people applying in time for summer travel. The guy at the PO did say that it usually takes less time than what the processing dates say ... he said 4-6 weeks for regular processing was more like 3-4 weeks.
 
JPBoston said:
It depends on when you apply also. My son's passport book/card took a month when we applied in May, probably because more people applying in time for summer travel.
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If your son didn't have a US birth certificate or citizenship certificate when you applied for his passport, that may also have caused his application to take a bit long, as the application would have to be evaluated by somebody who fully understood the Child Citizenship Act and knew how to relate it to the submitted evidence and applicable court precedents. Whereas routine applications with a certificate could quickly be processed by less experienced staff.

The guy at the PO did say that it usually takes less time than what the processing dates say ... he said 4-6 weeks for regular processing was more like 3-4 weeks.
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Yes, they probably give a bigger time frame than what actually happens, so they'll have fewer people complaining if it takes longer than the stated estimate.
 
Jackolantern said:
If your son didn't have a US birth certificate or citizenship certificate when you applied for his passport, that may also have caused his application to take a bit long, as the application would have to be evaluated by somebody who fully understood the Child Citizenship Act and knew how to relate it to the submitted evidence and applicable court precedents. Whereas routine applications with a certificate could quickly be processed by less experienced staff.
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In my son's case, we were applying for his new US passport (and a passport card for the first time) because his old passport had expired. We had to submit his old expired passport and original birth certificate with his application.
 
JPBoston said:
In my son's case, we were applying for his new US passport (and a passport card for the first time) because his old passport had expired. We had to submit his old expired passport and original birth certificate with his application.
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That is interesting because I recently applied for my minor son's second US passport (and second passport card) and I had to only submit the old passport book, not his birth certificate. he got his new passport without any delay.
 
nkm-oct23 said:
That is interesting because I recently applied for my minor son's second US passport (and second passport card) and I had to only submit the old passport book, not his birth certificate. he got his new passport without any delay.
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For evidence of our relationship to our son, we needed to submit his birth certificate along with the application because it has both our names listed as being his parents. I'm surprised you did not need this for your own son's application because it is a clear requirement on the State Dept website for minor children's new passports.
 
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If nkm's son is 16 or older, and JPB's son is under 16, that would explain why JPB had to submit the birth certificate and nkm didn't.
 
Jackolantern said:
If nkm's son is 16 or older, and JPB's son is under 16, that would explain why JPB had to submit the birth certificate and nkm didn't.
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My son is very young and under 16. I sort of concluded NKM's son was also under 16 because it was only his son's second passport (but of course, that doesn't necessarily mean he would be under 16).
 
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