How To Acquire and Fill Out Passport Applications

There are three ways to acquire and fill out passport applications:

1. Visit any Passport Acceptance Office, including all three Chicago City Clerk Offices to acquire hardcopies of application forms. These forms must be filled out by hand.
2. Acquire .pdf versions of the Passport Applications from the Forms page of the State Department website. These forms must be filled out by hand.
3. Fill-out your application online on the State Department website, then print-out and bring a copy of the completed form into a Passport Acceptance Office.

Please note: passport applications must be signed in person in the presence of an approved agent at the Passport Acceptance Office (i.e. Clerk’s Office). Signing a passport applications outside of the presence of such agent will invalidate the entire application, requiring the applicant to complete the entire application again from scratch.

Bring All of the Required Identification

In order to accept a passport application, the Clerk’s Office must be presented with all of the following for each applicant:

1. Original or Certified Copy of Birth Certificate, Certificate of Naturalization or an Expired Passport (not older than 15 years from date of issuance). All documents must be original documents with certified seals on them. Photocopies will not be accepted.
2. Valid Picture ID – State ID or Driver’s License are both acceptable forms of identification. ID cards must not be expired and must include your picture, signature, issue date and expiration date.

Submit Your Passport Application

Visit a Passport Acceptance Office, i.e. any of the three Chicago City Clerk Offices. Applications cannot be submitted online, nor can applications be submitted by anyone other than the applicant. Please note that all minors 16 and under must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian to sign the passport application, and that minors under 14 years old must be accompanied by both parents or legal guardians to sign the passport application.

Check the Status of Your Passport Application

There are two ways to check the status of your passport application:

1. Online. Visit the State Department’s Passport Application site, then click “I have read…” and then click submit, then select “Check Status”
2. Via phone. Call the State Department’s Passport Acceptance Status hotline: 877-487-2778.

For privacy and security reasons, the Office of the City Clerk has no access to passport application status information.

Acquire Passport Photos

Acquiring passport photos is easy: you can get them at any of the clerk’s office when you come here to submit your passport application. Photos cost $8.00. However, if for any reason you prefer to acquire photos from another vendor (say from a photo processing store, drugstore, etc.), just make sure they meet the following State Department-issued specifications:

• color prints (not black/white)
• 2″ x 2″ in size
• Subject of photo (i.e. applicant) must be facing forward with eyes open
• Subject of photo (i.e. applicant) must be in front of a white or off-white background