Ask the Consul – Passport Pickup

Once your immigrant visa has been approved, it is easy to pick up your passport! When you first started the immigrant interview process you created a profile at www.ustraveldocs.com. There you chose one of two passport delivery methods: (1) pick-up at a Mailboxes Etc. location free of charge; or (2) premium delivery to your home or office for $9.75 USD per passport. So your passport arrives at the location you chose!

You can go back into your ustraveldocs.com profile to remind yourself of your chosen location for pick-up, to change the pick-up location, or to track the location of your passport.

Remember that from the time of your immigrant visa approval, it takes up to 10 business days for your passport to arrive at your chosen Mailboxes Etc. location.  We cannot guarantee your passport will be available before this time, so please make your travel plans accordingly.  Make sure that the email address on your profile is correct because that is where you will receive a confirmation when your passport arrives.

It is important to note that some of you will receive just your passport upon pick-up, while others will also receive an immigrant visa packet.  Previously all first-time immigrant travelers to the United States were required to hand-carry an immigrant visa packet and present it at the Port of Entry to the Customs and Border Protection authorities.  In 2017, the Department of State began to use an online application center to collect, review, and process the required documents previously contained in the packet. As a result, some immigrant packets are now transmitted electronically to Customs and Border Protection. Eventually everyone’s visa packets will be electronic, but for now we have a mix. If your immigrant visa has the annotation “IV DOCS IN CCD” your packet has been transmitted electronically.  You can find additional information on electronic processing at https://nvc.state.gov/ceac.

Regardless whether you are picking an immigrant visa packet or just your passport, you will need to present your identification card –original and a copy. Adults picking up minors’ documents will need to present their identification card – original and a copy – as well as a copy of the minor’s birth certificate.

Only you can ensure that all the delivery information is correct.