Visa Network - New U.S. Passport Amendment Policy

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No Amendment Policy
Effective September 26, 2005

As an additional security measure, Passport Services is eliminating the amendment of currently valid passports. The new September, 2005 Passport Agent's Reference Guide on CD (PARG), which all non-Postal Acceptance Facilities will receive, and which will be posted on USPS' Intranet, on or about September 12, addresses this change. However, it does not mention the September 26 effective date.

Because unfortunately you will not have the new forms on the effective date of the policy change, we ask that you please follow this guidance:

If you previously erroneously received supplies of DS-5504 U.S. Passport Re-Application Forms and DS-4085 Application for Additional Visa Pages, both having a 6/30/2005 expiration date, please destroy all of them. (If your Facility was designated after March 1, 2005, you probably did not receive any, but if you did, they need to be destroyed.)
On or about September 26, the new DS-5504 and DS-4085 will be available but only on the Internet at travel.state.gov. Please direct all customers seeking to "amend" their currently valid passports to that site for instructions and forms.
If a customer is notably, in your judgment, distressed about being directed to the Internet, as a last choice, please provide him/her with a DS-19 Passport Amendment Validation Application, which has a 12/31/05 expiration date. After September 26, this form will no longer be available on our website.
Initial supplies of the new DS-5504 and DS-4085 will be sent to you as soon as they are available. At that time, guidance will be provided on what to do with your remaining DS-19s.

Very briefly, instead of amending passports, the DS-5504 may be used within one year of a passport's issuance to make a data page change, such as a name-change, without cost for routine service. (However, new photos will be required. Instead of amending the passport, a new one will be issued with new issue and expirations dates. (This form may always be used for corrections due to printing errors by Passport Services.) If the change is more than a year from the issuance date, the customer will have to reapply using a DS-82 and pay accordingly. The DS-4085 will only be used for the addition of visa pages, which remain without charge for routing service. If expedited service is required, the additional EF cost is required, with the exception of correcting printing errors by Passport services.

* Passport pictures should not contain glasses! Passport pictures with glasses will not be accepted by the government.