How to Apply for a Passport in Knoxville Tennessee : visasupply.com

Editor's Note: U.S. passports are currently taking up to seven weeks to process using the government's expedited service. It is possible to get a passport in less time by scheduling an appointment with the Passport Agency by calling 877-487-2778 and appearing in person at their office.

A growing number of Knoxville residents are obtaining U.S. passports as international travel grows, especially among employees of large companies with a strong presence in the area. Knoxville is best known as a college town and home of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. However, the regional economy is also driven by the transportation/logistics, tourism, clean energy, technology, tourism, and advanced manufacturing and materials industries.

When Knoxville submitted its successful bid to host the 1982 World’s Fair, the Wall Street Journal called it “the scruffy little city on the Tennessee River.” Although the community planted thousands of trees and cleaned up its downtown profile for the global event, the nickname stuck. The recent marketing slogan “Keep Knoxville Scruffy” helps attract millions of visitors to its historic landmarks, recreational opportunities, and the Sunsphere, the World’s Fair centerpiece that remains a major tourist attraction. Knoxville has more restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city. The renovated downtown also includes Volunteer Landing, a river walk and public park on the Tennessee River. In 2022, visitors spend $1.22 billion in Knoxville alone. The city is also only 30 minutes from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the country.

As Tennessee’s third-largest metro area, the Greater Knoxville economy has played a key role in the state’s growth in recent years. The federal government accounts for two of the largest area employers: the Tennessee Valley Authority, the multi-state power utility and resource development agency based in Knoxville, and nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a nuclear energy research facility that helped develop the atomic bomb. Other top regional employers include medical providers Covenant Health and Tennova Healthcare; the Dollywood amusement parks in Sevierville; and Maryville-based manufactured home manufacturer Clayton Homes.

Tennessee has also become a major vehicle manufacturing center in recent years, with Nissan North America, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford building or expanding their operations. Vehicle manufacturing now accounts for one-third of the state’s manufacturing jobs. In East Tennessee, major auto parts manufacturers include DENSO Manufacturing (Blount County); JTEKT Automotive and Carlex Glass (Monroe County); Eagle Bend Manufacturing, SL Manufacturing, and Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee (Anderson County); and Takahata Precision America (Scott County). Since many high-tech manufacturers have their corporate headquarters in Europe and Asia, they also send their Tennessee-based employees overseas for training—all of whom require passports to make this international journey.

McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is a passenger, cargo, and military airport located 12 miles from downtown Knoxville in Alcoa. Five carriers serve more than 2.5 million passengers annually and 12 domestic destinations. The city is also served by Interstates 40 and 75 and a river barge port, creating a logistics corridor that serves the entire East Coast. The main campus of University of Tennessee, the state’s flagship university system, is based in downtown Knoxville. The metro area is also home to numerous private and public colleges and universities, including Bryan College, Crown College, Knoxville College, South College, and Tusculum College. UT’s Center for Global Engagement offers international study opportunities that further boost the need for passports.

Overall, the Knoxville region’s continued growth means more East Tennessee residents have the means to travel internationally for business and/or pleasure. Of Tennessee’s 6.9 million residents in 2022, more than 196,000 lived in the city of Knoxville and more than 900,000 lived in the Knoxville metropolitan area (Greater Knoxville). The nine-county Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville Combined metropolitan statistical area (MSA) reported some 1.2 million residents in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, and Union counties. In 2022 the U.S. Passport Agency issued 240,686 passports to residents of Tennessee, a slight increase over 2018’s 240,387 passports.

To travel abroad, adults (ages 16 and up) need a U.S. passport. The passport is good for 10 years, after which it must be renewed. To obtain a new passport or renew an existing one, you will have to appear in person at an authorized passport acceptance facility. Employees at these government facilities will verify your identity and your documentation. You will also have to appear in person if:

You previously held a child’s passport (only good for five years);
Your passport expired more than five years ago; or
Your passport has been lost or damaged.

In Knoxville, there are three options to obtain a new passport: visit a local passport acceptance facility; drive to the Passport Agency in downtown Atlanta (by appointment only); or, in certain circumstances, use a private passport service such as Visa Supply to expedite delivery.

(NOTE: If you already have an adult passport in your possession that is in good condition, and it expired less than five years ago (or has yet to expire and you wish to renew), click here to learn how to renew a passport: https://www.visasupply.com/passports-and-visas-101/post/passport-renewal-in-atlanta.

Option 1: Appear at an Acceptance Facility

The most common way to obtain a passport is visiting a passport acceptance facility. This link allows you to find the closest facility to your home or office: https://iafdb.travel.state.gov. Tennessee residents can visit one of the local county courthouses that serve as a passport acceptance facility. You can make an appointment at one of the four Knox County Clerk’s Offices (https://www.knoxcounty.org/clerk/passport.php) across the county to obtain your passport. Appointments are not required at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office (https://jeffersoncountytn.gov/county-clerk/#passports) on Main Street in Dandridge, about 30 miles east of Knoxville. The Knox and Jefferson offices charge a $35 passport agent fee in addition to the government passport fees. If you want your picture taken, the Knox offices charge $12 while Jefferson charges $10.

The basic form for a new passport (DS-11) is available online at https://pptform.state.gov/. You can complete the form online and then print it out, and take with you to the acceptance facility. (Do NOT sign the passport form in advance, as the government agent must witness your signature.) You may also fill out the DS-11 form by hand at the passport acceptance facility.

You will submit supporting documentation along with form DS-11. The required documents include:

Your long-form birth certificate or a government-certified copy of that certificate. {If you need to order a new copy of your birth certificate, we recommend using VitalChek (https://www.vitalchek.com), a private company with an easy-to-use process and less expensive rates.}
For naturalized citizens, their original certificate of naturalization.
State-issued driver’s license.
One photo that meets all passport image criteria, and properly attached to the application. (See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/photos.html.)
A check or money payable to the U.S. Department of State. The basic passport fee is $130. Additional charges apply for expedited service and other options. For a full list of fees, please visit https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/fees.html.
Another $35 payable via check, money order, cash or debit card to be paid to the passport acceptance facility for the identity verification process. (Check with the specific facility for the exact forms of payment they accept.)

Passport acceptance facilities are government offices but they do not actually issue passports. These facilities will verify your documents and forward them to the State Department’s Passport Agency. The normal turnaround time for renewals by mail is eight to eleven weeks. Expedited service within seven weeks is available for an added fee. You can also pay extra for return delivery in two days (rather than the typical first-class mailing).

Option2: Apply in Person at a U.S. Passport Agency

If you need to travel within the next month, you will need to apply in person at a federal passport office. There is no federal passport office in Knoxville, so the closest location is the U.S. Passport Agency in Atlanta. The downtown Atlanta office at 230 Peachtree Street is about a three-hour drive from Knoxville. You can ONLY apply in person here if you can prove the need to travel within the next two weeks – or four weeks if you are traveling to a country that requires a visa. You will need to fill out Form DS-11 and make an appointment directly with either office by calling 877-487-2778. Note that the agencies are busy during the summer travel season and around the holidays, so give yourself plenty of lead time.

For your appointment, bring the identification listed above, as well as:

Your appointment confirmation number
Proof of travel plans, such as your flight itinerary, hotel reservation or cruise tickets
One passport photo
Methods of payment. The agency takes major credit cards, debit cards, cash, checks and money orders. In addition to normal costs, there is an additional $60 expediting fee.

Contact information, directions and other details about the Atlanta Passport Agency are available at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies/atlanta.html.

Visiting the Passport Agency is more expensive and may be less convenient than using an acceptance facility when you factor in the added costs for transportation and your time. However, if you need a passport quickly, it is worth the extra effort. Unlike a passport acceptance facility, the Passport Agency can issue your new passport – often on the same day or the following day.

Option 3: Use a Private Passport Service

The third option is to use a private passport expediter such as Visa Supply to speed up the turnaround time. For this option, you still need to visit a passport acceptance facility so a government official can verify your identity and documents. Normally the facility can only forward your documents to the State Department for processing. However, if you are using a courier service such as Visa Supply, the acceptance facility will seal your documents in an envelope and return them to you. You will then take that envelope back to our office so we can ship it to one of our couriers in San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, or Washington, D.C., so we can expedite your passport application.

Our office is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, which is about a 3-hour drive from Knoxville. If you want Visa Supply to help you, it is usually better to visit our office in-person so we can take your passport photo; help you prepare your DS-11 application; plus review your documentation. You can take these documents to the DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court in Decatur (about a 30-minute drive from our office), and then return the sealed envelope to Visa Supply so we can expedite your application with the Passport Agency.

Since Visa Supply is a private company, we charge a fee for our services (in addition to the government’s $190 expedite fee for a passport book). Beyond the convenience of using our office, we make sure your application form is filled out correctly. We also take your passport photo and will ensure that it meets the government’s specifications. Our basic service starts at $100. Customers receive their new passport (along with the old one) within seven weeks; for additional fees we can also get passports renewed in as fast as one week. Please call us for the latest details.

Knoxville residents with questions about obtaining a new U.S. passport can schedule a telephone call through our website. Our free consultation will explain the process of getting a passport and help you understand the different options for getting a passport based on your international travel plans.