Traveling overseas and obtaining immigration visas are about to
get pricier.
Traveling overseas and obtaining immigration visas are about to get pricier.
As part of the U.S. government’s efforts to strengthen border security, people seeking new passports beginning March 8 will have to pay a $12 surcharge, and those seeking immigration visas will have to pay an additional $45.
The U.S. State Department is imposing the fees to pay for improvements to various forms of identification used to cross U.S. borders.
“We’re moving toward a biometrics passport,” said Kelly Shannon, spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
Morgan Hill City Clerk Irma Torrez described the new biometric function as “an identification chip.”
While the fee will go into effect March 8, not all passports issued after that date will have the chip; full implementation will occur by the end of 2005.
The new fee will bring passport charges for citizens, age 16 and older, to $97, which includes a $30 processing fee for the initial paperwork, that the processing city keeps. The adult passport is valid for 10 years.
The total cost for a five-year passport for an under 16 child will be $82.
Since April 2003, when Morgan Hill starting processing passport applications, and Feb. 25, 2005, the city handled 836 applications, or about 25 a week, according to Torrez, whose staff administers the program.
“We brought in almost $30,000 since the program began,” Torrez said.
City Hall staff checks over the paperwork and has citizens attest, or swear, that they are who they are and the information is correct, before sending the applications on to the U.S. State Department to issue the passport.
“Citizens just enjoy coming to City Hall,” Torrez said, “and not having to stand in the long lines in San Jose. It’s a wonderful new revenue source and a win-win for the community and the city.”
The process can be started weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at City Hall, 17555 Peak Ave. To obtain a passport, residents must fill out an application, bring two passport photos, and a certified birth certificate or naturalization certificate, and one other piece of currently valid identification.
To obtain a passport application online, visit www.travel.state.gov or call Morgan Hill City Clerk’s Office at 779-7259.
