How to Fill Out Form DS-11 for a U.S. Passport

To fill out Form DS-11 for a U.S. passport, use the State Department’s online Form Filler at travel.state.gov to type your information, print the completed form, and leave the signature and date blank until an acceptance agent watches you sign at your in-person appointment. Everything else on the form — legal name, name history, date and place of birth, Social Security number, parents’ details, contact information, and mailing address — should be typed if possible, or written in black ink if you complete the PDF by hand.¹

Make Sure DS-11 Is the Right Form

DS-11 is for first-time applicants, all children under 16, anyone whose most recent passport was issued before age 16 or expired more than 15 years ago, and anyone whose passport was lost, stolen, or significantly damaged. If none of those describe you, you probably qualify for the mail-in renewal form DS-82 instead. Everyone who files DS-11 must appear in person at a passport acceptance facility so an authorized agent can verify identity face to face.

Working Through the Fields

Open the Form Filler on travel.state.gov and answer the questions on screen. When you print at the end, only your signature and the date next to it should be added by hand. Handwritten forms are still accepted, but the Form Filler catches formatting errors before you get to the appointment.¹

Name and Name History

Enter your full legal name exactly as it appears on your citizenship evidence. If you have ever used another name — through marriage, divorce, court order, or any other reason — list every prior name in the name-history field. The Department of State cross-references your entries against existing government records, and anything that does not match slows the application down.

Date and Place of Birth, Sex

Enter your date of birth and place of birth as they appear on your birth certificate or other citizenship document. Under current State Department policy, the sex field reflects sex assigned at birth, and the nonbinary “X” marker is no longer available for new applications, renewals, or replacements.

Social Security Number

Provide your Social Security number. This is a federal tax law requirement, not just a passport rule, and the Department of State forwards the information to the IRS. Leaving the field blank or entering an incorrect number triggers a $500 penalty unless you can show reasonable cause, and the Department of State can also refuse to issue the passport.²³ If you have never been assigned a Social Security number, enter zeros in that field.

Parents’ Information

The form asks for each parent’s full name, date of birth, place of birth, and citizenship status. Provide this regardless of your age. These fields help the Department of State trace citizenship through a parent’s records when needed.

Contact Information, Emergency Contact, and Mailing Address

Enter a phone number and email address so the Department of State can reach you quickly about any problem with the application.¹ The emergency contact should ideally be someone who is not traveling with you, since the point of that field is to reach someone on your behalf during an overseas emergency. Read the mailing address back to yourself carefully. Your passport is delivered by mail, and a wrong address puts a document containing your identity information into the postal system with no one waiting for it.

Book, Card, or Both

DS-11 lets you request a passport book, a passport card, or both on the same form. Check whichever box or boxes apply. Adding expedited service, if you want it, is also a choice made on the form.

Do Not Sign Before Your Appointment

This is the mistake that costs applicants the most time. The signature line must stay blank until you are standing in front of the acceptance agent. Signing beforehand invalidates the form and you start over with a fresh copy. At the appointment, the agent administers an oath, you swear that everything on the form is true, and then you sign and date. That signature carries the weight of a legal declaration, and false statements are punishable under federal law.⁴

What to Bring to the Appointment

The completed form is only part of what the agent needs. Bring everything below, or the appointment will end without your application being sent forward.

Proof of U.S. Citizenship

If you were born in the United States, bring a certified birth certificate from the vital records office of the city, county, or state where you were born. Hospital souvenir certificates do not qualify. The document must show your full name, date and place of birth, parents’ names, the registrar’s signature, the issuing office’s seal, and a filing date within one year of your birth. If you were born abroad, bring a Certificate of Naturalization, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a Consular Report of Birth Abroad.⁵ Your original citizenship document travels with the application and is returned to you separately by mail.

Proof of Identity

Citizenship evidence and identity evidence are separate requirements.⁶ The simplest way to prove identity is with a government-issued photo ID: a driver’s license, a state-issued ID card, a military ID, or a previous U.S. passport. If you do not have any government-issued photo ID, you can bring an identifying witness who knows you personally, has their own valid ID, and is willing to sign an affidavit at the appointment. The witness cannot be someone you are paying to help with the application.⁷

Bring photocopies of the front and back of whatever ID you present, on standard white 8.5 x 11 paper. The agent keeps the copies and returns the originals.

Passport Photo

Bring one recent color photo, 2 inches by 2 inches, printed on photo-quality paper, taken within the last six months, with a plain white or off-white background and a neutral expression or natural smile. Both eyes must be open and facing the camera. Eyeglasses are not permitted; the only exception is recent eye surgery, which requires a signed statement from your doctor.⁸ Get the photo taken before you arrive at the appointment. Scrambling for a new one because you wore glasses in the first is a common reason people leave without submitting anything.

Payment

You pay two separate fees to two different recipients.⁹ The application fee goes to the U.S. Department of State, paid by check or money order made out to “U.S. Department of State” with the applicant’s name and date of birth in the memo line. Personal checks, certified checks, cashier’s checks, and traveler’s checks are all accepted; credit and debit cards generally are not. The $35 acceptance fee goes to the facility itself, and payment methods for it vary — call ahead so you arrive with the right form. Expedited processing adds $60 to the Department of State payment. Faster delivery of a finished passport book adds $22.05; passport cards ship by First Class Mail only.

Extra Steps If the Applicant Is Under 16

Every child under 16 applies with DS-11, and both parents or legal guardians generally must appear at the appointment with the child and sign the application.¹⁰ If one parent cannot attend, that parent submits Form DS-3053 (Statement of Consent), signed in front of a notary or passport agent rather than signed at home and notarized afterward. The notary’s date and the parent’s signature date must match, the consent expires 90 days after notarization, and the non-attending parent must include a photocopy of the front and back of the ID shown to the notary.¹¹

You also need to prove the parent-child relationship. A U.S. birth certificate listing both parents usually covers citizenship and parentage together. Otherwise, bring a foreign birth certificate, adoption decree, custody order, or court order that shows the relationship, plus proof of any name change since the document was issued.¹² If you have sole legal custody, bring the court order granting it; if the other parent is deceased, bring the death certificate. Any custody arrangement that mentions joint custody or requires both parents’ permission for major decisions is read as requiring both parents’ consent for the passport.¹⁰

If You Are Replacing a Lost or Stolen Passport

Answer the questions on DS-11 about where and when the passport went missing. Complete answers there are generally enough on their own. If you leave the details out, the Department of State may pause the application and ask you to submit Form DS-64 separately.¹³ Reporting the passport as lost or stolen immediately invalidates it, so if you think the old one might turn up in a day or two, it may be worth waiting before you report.

Where and How to Submit

DS-11 is submitted in person at a designated passport acceptance facility, typically a post office, public library, county clerk office, or other government building with a trained acceptance agent on staff.⁴ Search for the nearest one on travel.state.gov, and check whether it requires an appointment before you show up. At the appointment the agent reviews your documents, watches you sign, administers the oath, and sends the package to a passport agency for processing.

How Long It Takes

As of early 2026, routine processing takes four to six weeks and expedited processing takes two to three weeks. Those windows begin when a passport agency receives your application, not when you hand it to the acceptance facility, so add up to two weeks of transit time before the status even appears online.¹⁴ You can check your application status on travel.state.gov using your last name and date of birth, or your application number. If your travel date is closing in faster than expected, call 1-877-487-2778 to ask about options for speeding things up.¹⁵

1
U.S. Department of State. Passport Forms
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6039E – Information Concerning Resident Status
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Department of State. 22 CFR Part 51 – Passports
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eCFR. 22 CFR 51.21 – Execution of Passport Application
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eCFR. 22 CFR Part 51 Subpart C – Evidence of U.S. Citizenship or Nationality
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eCFR. 22 CFR 51.23 – Identity of Applicant
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eCFR. 22 CFR 51.24 – Affidavit of Identifying Witness
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U.S. Department of State. Photo Requirements
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U.S. Department of State. Passport Fees
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eCFR. 22 CFR 51.28 – Minors
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U.S. Department of State. DS-3053 Statement of Consent
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U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16
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U.S. Department of State. Report Your Passport Lost or Stolen
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U.S. Department of State. Processing Times for U.S. Passports
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U.S. Department of State. Checking Your Application Status