Proposal: Insanely Complex US Passport Application
 

I've poked around online and this appears to be on the level, but if it's bogus I'd love to know.

The State Department has apparently proposed a new "biographical questionnaire" for US passport applicants that demands a berserk level of detail... lifetime employment history, including the address and telephone number of every supervisor you ever had; every address you ever resided at, and your mother's address one year before you were born; detailed of "religious ceremonies" performed at birth; and on and on.

An alleged draft of the questionnaire is here (PDF warning).

I couldn't fill this out. I doubt most members of Congress or federal judges could fill this out.

It sounds like a joke, and the mainstream media either doesn't know about this or has ignored it, but there's credible blog coverage here and a docket of negative public commentary at Regulations.gov here. The two-month public comment period apparently ends today, 25 April.

I can't tell if the idea is to use the questionnaire selectively, on new applicants who raise flags in the system (which I think would be Jim Crow-level unconstitutional), or hit everybody with this. In which case get ready to dig up the home address of the anesthesiologist who attended your birth in order to visit Toronto.

Does anyone know any more about this?

OK, that is about the craziest thing I have ever seen. If something like that IS true, I guess I am glad I have another passport from another country for pete's sake!!

I have to wonder about the intended audience for this. There is a question in there about "What document did your mother use to enter the united states before your birth"?

I wonder if this is for children born to "maternity holiday" visitors to the states.

Where can one comment on it, anyway?

Use the link to Regulations.gov in Post #1.

I thought this was only meant for people who could not provide original birth certificates or other documents proving citizenship?

Perhaps I am wrong, but I guess this info is to help an investigator to establish legitimacy for anyone who does not have proper documentation. I do not believe it is for all applications.

This is beyond crazy. The person or committee who came up with these questions needs to get heads examined.

Stay tuned - the next edition of this form will include:
1. List and time periods of all persons you have ever dated.
2. List of every road trip you have ever undertaken that has lasted more than 24 hours
3. List of all your dreams within last 5 years. This will help the government determine what you think of and ensure that you are no threat to the US government.

:-)

From what I have heard, you are correct.

At least for now (insert ominous drum roll...)

There is another thread about it here

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-even-had.html

Most of the media is missing out that for 99.5% of the people applying for a passport every year (about 14 million), they will be able to prove their citizenship and not need to fill out this form. They expect only 75,000 people to actually need to use this form.

If for example you have a passport already, that proves your citizenship, and you won't need to do this form. If you can produce a birth certificate, that proves your citizenship and you won't need to do this form.

Yep, it's amazing that a lot of people are ignoring the text in section C- it would only apply if you were born in the US, and if your birth wasn't recorded until a year or more after the fact, or if you weren't born in a medical facility. How many people does that realistically apply to?

Thanks
I figured it must be something along these lines. Good thing my entire family already has their passports! :) Who wants to deal with that mess?

My own mother could have benefited from an alternate means of establishing citizenship. She was born in Arkansas, to parents who were both native-born US citizens.

There were a lot of "irregularities" concerning my mother's birth certificate. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say that getting a passport was difficult for her, made easier because her own mother was still alive and could swear an affadavit to amend her birth certificate.

I know of other people, mostly elderly now, who never got birth certificates. They were born in the US and are fully legal citizens, but never had a need for a real birth certificate, until now.

None of the above is necessarily true. Actually there are already examples where the above assertion has been given the lie by how things have already transpired with US passports already issued even when the applicant had a birth certificate showing birth to a US citizen parent -- that is even with a birth certificate from a state authority within the US or even for those issued a US government Consular Report of a US citizen born abroad.

While the government has consistently claimed that this form will initially be used for less than 100,000 persons, this approach will not be limited to that number of persons.

And what guarantee is there that the information provided on that form will never be used for purposes of conducting a fishing expedition or to drag in who knows what and whom and prosecute people who dare to fill out that form? Nothing really, when push comes to shove.

No, I will not use crazy to describe it...It is exactly an example of the government abusing their authority.

What the hell that these questions are related to getting a passport anyway?

Already having a US passport doesn't immunize persons from being subjected to this same kind of approach going forward too.

If you were born outside the USA or outside a hospital then you are required to fill out the "long" version, even if you can provide a raised seal birth certificate. Moreover, the level of detail being requested is above and beyond what should be necessary to prove residency for near everyone.

Even if you can provide a raised seal birth certificate it seems that you are required to complete all but section C. It is unclear to me what my schooling or job history has to do with being a citizen.

Regarding how to object, the easiest way to do so is to email [email protected]. You must include the DS form number (if applicable), information collection title, and OMB control number in any correspondence. For this particular abomination those details are DS-5513 and Biographical Questionnaire for U.S. Passport; there is no OMB control number currently assigned.

If you want to see a sample letter (the one I sent in earlier this afternoon) check out my version here: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewan...-a-lot-harder/.

ETA: The stricken part above might not be true, though it apparently all depends on if they decide to believe your initial application or not.

How to object:

See post 21 in the other thread, it has a link that has directions on how to file comments.

All comments need to be made by midnight eastern today.