Travelers in a hurry to get a passport will soon have more options.
The US State Department will open six new passport offices to help people with “urgent travel needs,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday. The new facilities will be located in the following cities:
Passport agencies and centers serve “customers by appointment only who urgently need to travel abroad in the next 14 calendar days, or who need a foreign visa in the next 28 calendar days,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. The new agencies will bring the total number to 35.
“While we are taking steps to establish these new agencies, we are issuing more passports than ever before while maintaining our passport processing times at pre-pandemic levels,” Blinken said in a press release. “We thank Congress for its partnership and support, and we look forward to working with our congressional partners and other stakeholders to open these new facilities.”
The State Department has not shared addresses or opening dates for the new facilities. “We are in the early stages of planning for these additional facilities and will provide updates on specific locations and timelines for these new agencies in the future,” a spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.
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Travelers can find a map of passport offices and centers online. There are also more than 7,000 acceptance facilities – such as post offices – where people who do not need urgent service can register.
The news comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened a trial for online passport renewal earlier this month.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New passport agencies are coming to these six U.S. cities
