With demand for new passports on track to surpass pre-pandemic numbers, the St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller will hold a special “Passport Saturday” event from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Aug. 6 to make applying for a passport more convenient for St. Johns County residents.
“We are excited to hold this special Saturday event to give residents an opportunity to complete an application before school resumes or to get a jump on the upcoming winter holiday travel season,” said Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Brandon J. Patty. “We are anticipating a busy day and will have a great team of deputy clerks ready to facilitate the applications as quickly as possible.”
Typically, the St. Johns County courthouse location accepts passports from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the Clerk of Court’s annexes in Ponte Vedra and Julington Creek process passports by appointment on specific days of the week.
Anyone who is traveling overseas is required to have a passport, including infants, and every applicant for a new passport must appear in person, regardless of age. Minors must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians.
The special passport event offers greater convenience to residents who may have delayed applying and could ultimately find themselves in a time crunch, requiring more costly expedited passport service.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the routine processing time for a passport is between eight and 11 weeks.
Paying an additional $60 fee to the State Department to expedite an application speeds up the process to five to seven weeks. Patty said a slight majority of applicants this year have paid the federal government’s fee to expedite their applications.
Then, some applicants opt to pay a third-party service to accelerate their applications even further — for instance, for emergency or last-minute travel. These third-party vendors physically deliver those applications to the regional federal passport office in Miami, but their involvement can double an applicant’s cost for a passport.
“Our hope is that by making the process more convenient to our residents, it will help them avoid the need for third-party services and exorbitant fees,” said Patty.
No appointment is needed to take advantage of Passport Saturday. Clerk staff will be on hand to accept, review and certify applications for first-time passports or new passports for individuals whose previous passport was issued more than 15 years ago, whose name has changed, minors under age 16, or whose passport was lost, stolen or damaged. (Note, most passport renewals can be completed by the applicant using Form DS-82 and filed by mail.) Residents can also get their passport photos taken for a nominal fee.
Go to stjohnsclerk.com/passports for important information and details about required documentation, forms of payment accepted by the U.S. Department of State, and any special requirements. Passport applications are available through the Clerk’s website or at travel.state.gov/content/travel.html.
While in-person passport processing and passport photos are the only services offered at the Aug. 6 event, the Clerk’s website offers many other resources online year-round, including payment for traffic citations and court-ordered financial obligations; purchase of certified records, such as wills, marriage licenses and divorce decrees; and real-time search of court records and official records.
