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Applying for a US Passport For the First Time 2022 (Get it FAST!) - YouTube
Channel: Maneesha Mukhi
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If you recently became a US citizen, or are
applying for a US passport for the first time,
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this video is for you.
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I became a US citizen in 2019, and got my
passport in 10 days.
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I'm going to explain how to apply for a US
passport step by step, and share two common
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mistakes I see people making that can easily
be avoided if you follow all the steps I'm
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about to share.
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So, let's dive in and get you that passport.
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For more information like this, subscribe
to our channel, and hit the bell to be notified
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when I post a new video every week.
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If this is your first time applying for a
US passport you have to apply in person.
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There are four steps to applying for a US
passport.
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The first is filling out form DS-11, the US
passport application.
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Then, schedule an appointment at the nearest
passport facility.
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Now, you can schedule this appointment before
you fill out your form, just be sure that
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your form is completed before your appointment.
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Next, gather your supporting documents and
payment that you have to submit with your
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application in person.
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And finally, attend your appointment.
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Let's start with step one, filling out form
DS-11.
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If you recently went through the naturalization
process and received a welcome packet at
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your oath ceremony, there is usually a passport
application form inside.
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If you don't have the form, let me show you
exactly how to get to it.
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Okay, so to get to form DS-11 you will go
to the Department of State website, which
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is Travel.State.Gov. Any links mentioned in
this video, I will share in the description
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below.
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On this homepage you're going to go to, get
a US passport.
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Then, you're going to go down a little bit
where you will see, I need a passport, and
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you'll click on the first option which says,
apply in person.
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Now, you'll scroll down a little bit and you'll
see the first thing here says, fill out form
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DS-11.
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Now, if you click on the plus sign it'll bring
you to options.
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The online form filler, which lets you complete
the form online and then you can print it
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out.
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Or, if you prefer to complete the form by
hand, click on the one that says PDF, and
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it will take you to this blank form that you
can print out, and then fill out by pen.
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Now, I just want to point out a few things
in the actual form itself, so let's take a
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look at the form.
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At the very top of the form you will see a
few different options.
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You'll see a passport book, a passport card,
or both.
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Now, the passport card can only be used for
land or sea travel, so unless you live near
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the border and are frequently going back and
forth, you're not going to be able to use
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the passport card for any of the other type
of travel.
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But, if you'd like an extra form of ID, you
can certainly get the passport card.
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But for most people, the US passport book
is more than sufficient, and it's the only
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thing that works for air travel.
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Now, the other thing I want to point out is
you can choose between a regular book, and
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a large book.
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The only difference is a large book just has
more pages.
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It does not cost anything extra to get the
large book, so if you travel a lot I would
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recommend getting the large book so that you
don't run out of pages quickly.
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Now, as for the actual form itself, it is
pretty straight forward.
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It asks for basic information such as your
name, your social security number, your address,
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and things like that.
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I do want to point out that in the middle
of the page it says, stop and continue to
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page two.
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And it says, do not sign the application until
requested to do so.
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So you're not actually going to sign the application
until you're actually at the post office,
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or wherever you're submitting your application,
and the agent tells you it's okay to sign
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it.
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So now, go onto page two where it's more of
the same type of information.
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You'll fill out your parental information,
emergency contact information, and things
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like that.
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And so, that's really it on the actual form,
now let's talk about how to actually schedule
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your appointment.
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Now, passport acceptance facilities are typically
a public library, or a post office.
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Most people actually tend to do it at a post
office, but if you want to see what your options
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are, you're going to go back to the page where
we just got the form from, and if you scroll
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down a little further you'll see number nine
says, submit your completed application.
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If you expand that, you'll see an option to
click on passport acceptance facility.
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So now if you click on this, you can enter
your zip code, and I'll enter mine here in
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Brooklyn New York.
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And as you can see, there are a variety of
options, it's a combination of post office,
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and public libraries.
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So now, if you want to actually schedule your
appointment at the post office, you do it
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directly on the post office website, so let
me show you how you do that.
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You simply go to USPS.com/Scheduler, which
brings you over to this page.
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And here, you'll just choose a service, and
in this situation it's a new passport only.
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If it's just you, you'll select one.
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And then you can search by location.
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So similar to before, we can enter your zip
code, and it'll then bring up the nearest
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locations to you that have appointments.
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I'm going to select the location that's the
closest to me, and then if I click on the
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calendar icon here, it'll bring up a list
of available appointments.
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As you can see, I can schedule an appointment
as soon as tomorrow.
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Let's say I click on tomorrow, and select
the date.
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It then brings up a variety of times, and
as you can see there are a ton of appointments
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available.
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Now, I'm not going to go ahead and actually
book it, but you just provide your contact
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information, review your appointment, and
then go ahead and confirm it, and then you'll
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get a confirmation email.
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If for some reason you need to change your
appointment, you can easily do that online
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as well.
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Okay, so now you've completed your application
and scheduled your appointment, so here's
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what you need to take with you to your appointment.
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The first is proof of US citizenship.
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This can be your naturalization certificate,
or a US birth certificate if you were born
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here.
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Now, this is where I see the first mistake
people make, you need to take the original
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and a photo copy.
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I saw a lot of people coming into the post
office without photo copies, and they had
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to leave, and come back, and that's just a
waste of your time.
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Be sure to take a photo copy of this.
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Next, you need proof of identity.
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Now, the easiest thing to do is take your
license or state ID.
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But remember, it must be an in state ID.
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If it's not, then you need another form of
identity as well.
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If you have an out of state ID you can take
something like your valid foreign passport,
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or your global entry ID.
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You can find a full list of acceptable ID's
on the Department of State site, and I will
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link to that in the description below.
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Again, be sure to take a photo copy of the
front and back of your license or state ID.
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The next thing you'll need is one colored
passport photo.
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The easiest thing to do is go to a CVS, Walgreens,
Walmart, Duane Reade, whatever the closest
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facility is near you that does passport photos.
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And remember if you wear glasses to take them
off, no glasses in passport photos, and that's
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it on the photos.
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Now, whether you use a birth certificate or
a naturalization certificate as citizenship
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evidence, the post office is going to keep
it.
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Now, don't be alarmed, it will be mailed back
to you, and don't be alarmed if your new passport
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comes to you without it.
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It usually comes in two separate mailings.
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Mine came a few days apart in two separate
mailings, and I was really nervous about giving
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up my original, thinking it would get lost.
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But, I got it back, no issues, and tons of
people do it all the time without any issues.
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Now, let's talk money and timelines.
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This is where I see the second mistake people
make in the process.
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As of today the Department of State website
states that the standard processing time for
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a new passport is six to eight weeks.
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If you choose to expedite it and pay extra,
it is two to three weeks.
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Now, I paid to have mine expedited and got
it in 10 days, which is even faster than the
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two to three weeks stated on the website.
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If you need it even faster than that because
you have an emergency, there is a way to do
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that.
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Just let me know in the comments, and I'll
share that process with you.
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A passport book currently costs $110, and
then the passport facility charges a $35 execution
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fee.
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If you choose not to expedite your passport
this is all you pay.
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I chose to have my passport expedited because
I had travel coming up, and I needed my passport
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sooner.
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I'm going to share with you what I paid in
total, but I also want to show you where you
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can go on the Department of State website,
and use their fee calculator to make sure
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that the fees you are going to be paying are
the most current and up to date.
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Okay, so we're going to go back to this page
one more time where we got the form, and we're
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going to scroll down below to number eight
where it says, calculate fees.
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You're going to expand that, and at the very
bottom you'll see a link for passport fees.
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We're going to click on that, and it'll bring
us to this page where at the very top you
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will see something that says, fee calculator.
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We're now going to click on this and follow
the prompts.
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It asks me where do I reside, United States.
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What is your date of birth, I'm going to pick
an arbitrary date of birth.
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Have you ever had a US passport, no.
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Then we're going to click next.
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Now, I chose to just get a passport book,
which you can see is $110.
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Then I chose to expedite it, which is an additional
$60.
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And then for even speedier delivery, I checked
one to two day delivery.
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Now you can see exactly what I paid, which
was $222.13.
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Now again, if you chose not to expedite it
you would simply pay the $110, plus the $35
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fee, and none of these other costs.
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Now I want to talk a little bit about payment
methods because it's important, so let's do
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that.
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Whether you choose to expedite it or not,
your payment is broken into two parts, paid
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with different methods.
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For the $110 passport book, expedited fee,
and speedy delivery, you pay by check or money
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order.
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For the $35 execution fee, you pay directly
to the post office, and I was able to pay
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it with credit card, but this does vary by
location.
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So to be safe, I would recommend that you
take $35 in cash, as well as your debit and
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credit cards.
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If you aren't sure of the total amount that
needs to go on the check, then just leave
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it blank and fill it out at the counter when
you're actually at the post office.
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I saw people leaving because they had filled
out their checks with the wrong amounts, and
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they didn't bring their check books, and didn't
have any more blank checks.
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I would just recommend taking your check book
with you, or not filling out the amount at
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all, so you just want to avoid having to come
back a second time.
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If you have any other questions about the
passport process, leave me a comment and I'll
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be sure to respond.
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If you found this video helpful, hit the like
button below, subscribe to our channel, and
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share it with your fellow citizens.
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Happy traveling.
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